I’ve been away from the keyboard for a while, haven’t I? I dropped my motorcycle going around a sharp curve in the road at a modest speed. It landed on my ankle, and I broke the fall with my arm and shoulder rather than by putting my hand down. My wrist would shurely have broken had I not held my grip on the handlebar. The motorcyle suffered minor damage, limited to a scratched fender, mirror, windshield, and clutch grip. I sustained a broken clavicle, four cracked ribs, a bruised arm and ankle. I heard my helmet hit the pavement, but I felt no impact. It’s a good helmet, and while safety people say any helmet that’s been in an accident should be replaced, I’m going to keep this one. It’s been proven worty.
I’ve had my left arm in a sling since May 20, and since my job entailed keyboarding to a large degree, my manager told me that rather than try to muddle through with typing one-armed, I would be better serving the company if I took a disability leave. And since our insurance covers full pay for short-term disability, I agreed. Now, you may have noticed that I used the word “entailed.” Past tense. And that’s because in my absence the decision on staffing was made.1 I have been laid off from my employer. I don’t name my employer because I am still eligible to apply as an inside candidate until mid-August and don’t want to jeopardize opportunities or close any doors.
But, there is a potential obstacle in writing this under a URL with my name right there. In expressing my viewpoints, and with Google as powerful as it is, finding my “transphobic views” right there on a first page of searches, could kill my chances with some employers. And, I won’t name my company but I will name the industry - banking. I have worked in the banking field for 18 years.
My former employer does support LGBTQ causes, and I am happy about it from the LGB side, but not so happy on the TQ side. There never was a suggestion made to my group to add pronouns in the bio, except by one of the teammembers and the rest of the team let it slip by unremarked. So, it would seem like my former employer wouldn’t exclude me for this. But, they don’t have to select me, and if that was the reason that I would be passed by I would never know.
The reason that I do have cause for concern is that banks on TERF Island (Britain) have been closing accounts of customers for the reason that the customers have expressed gender critical views. The Times may have a Paywall, but here is a quote from the article:
A women’s rights and gender equality campaigner is having her bank account shut without explanation, her family said last night.
Professor Lesley Sawers, 64, the Equalities and Human Rights commissioner for Scotland, has been with the Royal Bank of Scotland, a subsidiary of the NatWest Group, for 32 years.
However, two weeks ago, she and husband, Allan McKechnie, were told that their joint account, containing thousands of pounds, would be shut next month. In a letter, RBS said that it would be ceasing its “banking relationship” with the couple and they would have to make other banking arrangements “outside of the Natwest group”.
Along with other examples of how transgender groups have exercise influence (see the Saga of Caroline Farrow,) it does give lie to the claim that they are the “most oppressed” minority group. If the are at the point where they can lock Charles’ subjects out of the banking industry for contrary views on gender, it’s a sign that they are not, in fact, the oppressed. Pulling the strings of the Establishment is a pretty good trick if one’s neck is under the heels of “transphobes.”
This is not the only example, RBS are not rogue actors. The Yorkshire Building Society has closed the accounts of a vicar who expressed thoughts. Is there a link to Stonewall? It looks like it, though they claim they do not advise banks on operational matters. So, there will not be a paper trail from Stonewall to HSBC (nor any of the Lloyd’s subsidiaries.) Staff may be getting the message that it is fine to do so and taking action on their own:
Craig Mackinlay, the Tory MP for South Thanet, said he was concerned that decisions were being made by “activist banking staff” and lenders were hurting those who “dared air a view”.
“With most banks signed up to Stonewall, one wonders if too much discretionary power now sits with some activist banking staff,” he said. “Diversity, inclusion and equality works both ways including the right to a variety of opinions in a free society.”
On Monday, Mr Farage said there was “no coincidence” about banks signing up for Stonewall membership and shutting down the accounts of those who were gender critical.
A spokesman for Stonewall said that it did not pressure banks on operational decisions, adding: “There are no requirements in the Diversity Champions programme over how members engage with any customers, and we do not seek to influence operational decisions for any Diversity Champion on matters such as these.
“Our Diversity Champions programme simply provides resources and guidance to support member organisations to include and support LGBTQ+ colleagues at work.”
While I may not share many views with the people listed above whose accounts have been closed, or been labeled as stalkers by the Surrey police, I do share the alarm that the transgender lobby have the power to control public criticism of transgender issues within both the police departments and the banks.
That’s an expression of power that everyone should alarm all. It does reveal an authoritarian nature within the transgender lobby.2
Feminists, racial minorities, gays and lesbians, the denizens of District 9, the Rohingya, the Uyghers, the Armenians in Turkey, Holocaust survivors living still, the Turks on Cypress, et al, would like to know how the banks and police came under the aegis of the “most oppressed minority” so quickly and how the clenching remains so tight.
I’m back posting again. Soon I’ll be back riding and running. But I’m posting under my name and I don’t know if this will affect my hireability. Of course, I’d rather not work for anyone that would exercise power over me in the transgender arena.
I use the passive voice here because I don’t know who made the decision, but it was a logical one and not related to my injury. I had the least seniority on my team except for the guy who started the same day. He was in the middle of a project at the time that the decision was made, so it made sense to let me go. I have severance, so I won’t be panhandling for the mortgage at least for 9 months.
I struggle with how to refer to all of those in the ranks of transgenderism. I can’t call it a community, because they are disjointed and their only commonality is the primacy of gender identity over everything else.
Thank you for your service in protecting the rights of gender critical people. It's quite something to behold how such a powerful lobby group can still view themselves as victims while destroying the lives of so many.