Lesbians: the cause of, and solution to, all life’s problems

With thanks to Homer Simpson

Lesbians are the problem

Last week’s UK Supreme Court judgement was all about biological versus certificated sex, a binary problem with no compromise position. It’s clear that the lesbian intervention helped the judges come to the conclusion they did by presenting the problems caused for same-sex attracted people by a ‘certificated’ approach to sex:

The very basis of our sexual orientation (and, indeed, everyone else’s) depends on a biological interpretation of the word ‘sex’. Our ability to meet and associate in single sex organisations depends on it. It’s a huge relief to us that the court affirmed that ‘sex’ refers to biology, not identity. This means that there is no such thing as a trans lesbian- there never was, of course, but now it’s official. This has upset TransActual who, in their letter to Keir Starmer, describe it as ‘new’ and ‘offensively erroneous’:

In other words, lesbians are once again saying no to men and this makes us a problem.

Lesbians are also the solution! 

Trans rights activists have chosen lesbians, and especially butch lesbians, as the solution to the problem (alongside the usual demonisation of JK Rowling and allegations involving mythical pots of far-right cash) because women who don’t conform to feminine stereotypes are so beyond the pale that we can’t reasonably be viewed as women at all. This means, in TRA logic, that if lesbians can be allowed in women’s spaces, so can men.

This is all being presented firstly via the medium of toilets. TRAs have focused, once again, on ‘we only want to pee’. It’s all about the loos, and here come the lesbians as a useful prop.

Here’s Dawn Butler MP speaking in the debate on the Supreme Court ruling in the House of Commons. She was the only MP to mention lesbians in that debate, and it was all about the toilets:

Kate Osborne MP also mentioned being challenged while using ‘facilities’ in the Lesbian Visibility Day debate:

As did the ever-reliable Nadia Whittome MP, who thinks that lesbians fail to meet ‘Euro-centric’ standards of womanhood, and women should therefore welcome men in their toilets.

It’s not just MPs who hold these views. Apparently some lesbians have such masculine appearances and attributes that we’re going to be banned from anything to do with women.

Of course, it’s not just toilets: we’re also useful for our romantic/sexual histories. The Equality Network, in their letter to the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, chooses to interpret the ruling to mean that any lesbian who has ever been romantically involved with a man can never actually be a lesbian. Her lesbianism must be denied because of her past sexual history. Presumably the Equality Network has never heard of Adrienne Rich and the concept of compulsory heterosexuality. 

This despicable approach is not taken with any other minority sexuality, and it’s used purely as a means of redefining lesbian relationships to include men. 

So, lesbians caused the problem by asserting our boundaries, and we can fix it by having them taken away. Plus ça change.