".....She loves her daughter, no condition
Thank-you Mum for bucking the trend teaching me women
can do it better than men"
- Cara Mackay
A note to the Scottish Government children are not miniaturised adults. Parents have a responsibility to stop their children doing daft things because children are daft.
When young they take great pleasure and fun, in imagination, imagining they are a pirate or a princess, they play with imaginary friends and create worlds for their toys. Children do not understand the boundary between their make-believe and reality. They are easily confused and easily influenced, they are crippled with shyness and a desire to fit in, they fear they will disappoint, they are afraid of being different, being singled out, laughed at.
A parent’s job is to help the child navigate these difficulties, to build the child’s confidence, and keep them safe. It’s up to the parent to tell the child, ghosts are not real, to help the child understand reality and its limitations. It is up to the parent to build the child’s confidence and let the child know they are perfect just the way they are. The state of course has a role, but the role should be to support the parent because no child benefits from being alienated from their parents, and parents will fight tooth and nail to keep their child safe and healthy.
The SNP-Green government suffered a crushing and embarrassing defeat over their ill-conceived and unpopular Gender Recognition Reform Bill, which would have given any man the right to self-id into the safe spaces of Scottish women and girls. Self-Id ripped the once united independence movement apart and has left a legacy of great bitterness.
But in their next act of enormous self-harm, in this election year, the SNP are doubling down and introducing a bill of evilness and stupidity, piloted by a minister who is not up to her job. The bill intends to ban conversion therapy.
What is conversion therapy? You may well ask because in common with other SNP bills of incompetence, the terms are not defined.
There is no evidence that ‘conversion therapy’ is a problem in Scotland, the government admits it has no information on the number of individuals who have been subjected to conversion therapy or the number of groups or institutions in Scotland that are believed to practice conversion therapy.
But worse, this bill is the opposite of what it says on the tin; it will allow homosexual children to be ‘converted’ to heterosexual children via social, medical, and surgical transition and if their parents argue against and try to prevent this harm, they face seven years in prison. What on earth are the SNP thinking?
The bill is fronted by an inexperienced minister, Emma Roddick, who is only an MSP because the SNP gerrymandered the list system in 2021. The gerrymandering was to remove a prominent voice for women’s rights with Emma Roddick ‘accidentally’ benefiting.
The bill does not define 'conversion therapy', in fact the government’s admit ‘there is no agreed definition of conversion therapy’. It is beyond ridiculous that the SNP intends to ban something they cannot define. They cannot define 'gender identity' beyond make-up and dresses, nor can they define ‘harm’.
Would putting a gay child on puberty blocking drugs and mutilating their body be defined as ‘harm’? To most of the world ‘Yes it would’. However, should this dangerous bill become law, if a parent tries to prevent their child from being put on this medical pathway, they can be jailed for up to seven years.
If a child does not conform to gender stereotypes, the parent can no longer relax and say ‘Just be yourself’ instead the parent has the worry that the school will trans their child without their knowledge. If the parent finds out their child has been trans'ed and is not supportive, under this law the child can be removed, and the parent charged.
There are further consequences; the gay child of socially conservative parents terrified to come out in case his parents get arrested. Very religious parents can have difficulty with their children’s choices, usually they come round, but under this bill instead of dialogue continuing, the parent may fear criminal charges and cut off contact.
What about the de-transitioner, can a parent support their child’s de-transition? - only if they are prepared to risk jail. Transition is one way and there is no going back.
Things a parent is not allowed to do under this bill:
· Restrict or monitor a child’s behaviour.
· Deprive the child of freedom of action.
· Control a child’s day to day activities.
· Prevent the child from dressing in a certain way.
· Prevent the child from associating with certain people
· Prevent the child from taking part in certain activities
The list of things a parent is not allowed to do is a reasonable definition of the role of a parent; keep the child safe, make sure the child understands their
responsibilities and teach the child boundaries. But “No, you can’t go to an all-night party you are only 12” could be a criminal offense under the conversion therapy ban. “You aren’t wearing that outfit we are going to a funeral” – Jail. “No, you can’t get a tattoo” – Definite Jail.
The proposed legislation is, by the admission of the minister responsible, an extension of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act which concerns adults. The government contends that children's brains are not fully developed until they are 25. The government should therefore understand a child is not a mini-adult.
The role of a parent is to guide and teach their child as the child grows through puberty into adulthood. The SNP Government clearly has no understanding of parenting which the SNP seems to believe is ‘coercive control’. Maybe they haven’t yet grown up and are still in their bedrooms screaming ‘I Hate You’ at their parents.
In this election year the SNP should prepare for a fight, the women’s groups that mobilised against GRR and won are mobilising again. This time it is to protect vulnerable children and support their families, children that are homosexual, autistic or have suffered trauma. These are the children most at risk. Women and parents and those in loco parentis will fight tooth and nail to protect children.
“
Women don't endure simply because we can;
No,
Women endure because we aren't given any other choice.
- they wanted us weak but forced us to be strong.
”- Amanda Lovelace
To the SNP - drop this dangerous bill or face an army #WomenWontWheesht.