Me.

I think what PEN is concerned about is pressure being put on publishers not to publish books they would otherwise (or have already!) choose or have chosen. Especially when the pressure comes from employees within a publishing house, or those outside it, who do not understand that many publishers hold to the principles above. Of course, publishers can reject a book for any reason. I see the intervention of PEN (not widely known as a conservative body) as an indication there's some trouble in understanding the principles, and it's worth reaffirming them.

Thanks for this.

I really disagree. The nature of the writer is to take on multiple perspectives, and - as a matter of art - to understand the nature of both the powerful and the powerless. I guess I am thinking of literary writers here, more than I am commercial.

Clarity avoids misunderstanding. I think you'd be better off hosting discussions you wish to curate in private groups, like everyone else.

Be clearer in your instructions next time, if you'd like them followed. The title was ambiguous.

Ha, you used a /voters of good faith, which I am. Next time, say 'US voters of good faith'.

My suggestion to you, then, would be to ask the mods if you can restrict conversation in Chat to US residents. Truth doesn't vary by nation. The sky's blue here too.

Well, it's just not true. Besides which, no-one here has that power. I'm finding the whole me and LMD-focus a bit bizarre, tbh.

It's an opinion with no basis in fact. And spreading it makes you no better than anyone else who uses that tactic. It's actually beneath you.

No. I did not run anyone off. It would be a really good action to retract that lie.

Well, that's my general starting point, lol, and I talk myself around/up from there.

If you make it to AU, please do feel free to get in touch for a coffee or whatever. I think you'll find Im not the anti trans Boogeyman of imagination. Ah, ty but no need. I make that semi-public. I agree on not using it, but it's not private.

You have a very funny way of showing it. Life has taught me to trust actions, not words.

Report if you've got a problem, otherwise it might be time to put up. I decide when I stop, except if I break board rules in which case a mod decides. Or, you can keep getting personal. Up to you to decide on your interpersonal conduct. The chance I'm going to be voluntarily silent on the topic when some else raises it is nil. Legislation is helpful in terms of anti-discrimination too.

The horses are being pulled back into the barn on child transition, particularly blockers. That's good. Practice was way, way ahead of evidence there. I think other aspects are being pulled back as well. Sporting bodies, for example, are making their own codes and increasingly looking to open and female only categories. This movement - freedom from.discrimination in the public sphere for people who present differently from their sex - would be stronger if it did not rely on the literal belief of others in untruth, and I hope activists get savvy and start walking back some of their wilder metaphorical claims. I'd include the outsized importance of pronouns in the workplace and elsewhere as one of those wilder games.

OK, who said it was enough to remove males with a trans ID? I wish the medical profession had been as rigorous as you might think on this issue.

I answered 'why do you care' in good faith. People can disagree on whether I should care, but, sad to be me, I do, for reasons stated.

It might help if people actually stated they were against those things? How about 'no gendered dress codes AND, oh boy, isn't the evidence base for transition weak?' Or 'gee, there's a real increase in GD - we need to care for these kids AND we can question why it's happening.' Etc.

Ah, here.

Anyway, where were we before the bizarre PCOS interjection?

I think it's fair to believe that the political situation is so terrible that you'll defend absurdities lest you give aid to the enemy. It's not fair or just to ask everyone else to do the same. It's batshit crazy we have this rapid reorganisation of society around reified gender, and I don't often feel like just sucking that up. So I don't. Consider it part of my healing from my tragic sad, shitty life, as sneezy so kindly put it.... Do not tell me the sky is green and expect me to repeat that. Nah, fam, it's blue.

But goodness, I'm sorry children's health care and women's rights are tiring! OK, I know that's snarky and unhelpful. Sorry. Momentary pissed-offness got through.

All part of the same spectrum of being asked to believe, speak and act in ways that are counter to (I believe) actual progress on issues of justice, including for women and children.

I think you go back to principles. Is it right to support rapists in women's prisons just because some people don't take rape by elected officials seriously? No. Both things are bad. Be against both!