Read on Twitter
The absolute scenes playing out amongst the Alba/Wings crowd has prompted me to finally actually use this Twitter. Thread on the utter nonsense being spouted 
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The central claim being made is that Stonewall supports paedophilia. This is completely untrue and incredibly dangerous - and a pretty clear rehashing of a very old trope that LGBTI+ are a danger to children
The âevidenceâ (and I use the term very lightly) of this relates to subclauses a and g of clause 14 of the feminist declaration drafted by the Womenâs Rights Caucus ahead of the Fourth World Conference on Women (a UN conference)
The Womenâs Rights Caucus is an international coalition of organisations, trade unions and other bodies that work in their respective countries and at the UN to advance gender equality, womenâs rights and peace. Funnily enough only the LGBTI+ orgs are getting attacked
Now, onto the clause in question. First, subclause a. This is about healthcare, but it has been cherrypicked, taken out of context and wildly misinterpreted and misrepresented. Hereâs the subclause in full https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="đ" title="RĂŒckhand Zeigefinger nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: RĂŒckhand Zeigefinger nach unten">
âEliminate all laws and policies that punish or criminalize same-sex intimacy, gender affirmation, abortion, HIV transmission non-disclosure and exposure, or that limit the exercise of bodily autonomy, ...
including laws limiting legal capacity of adolescents, people with disabilities or other groups to provide consent to sex or sexual and reproductive health services or laws authorizing non-consensual abortion, sterilization, or contraceptive use;â
The bit about âsexâ is not about sexual intercourse, but rather about medical services to do with biological sex (i.e. healthcare services for intersex people) and sexual and reproductive health services
It is NOT saying that paedophilia should be decriminalised, itâs saying that people should be able to receive healthcare
Now, onto the second piece of âevidenceâ: subclause g. Again, Iâll quote that subclause in full https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="đ" title="RĂŒckhand Zeigefinger nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: RĂŒckhand Zeigefinger nach unten">
âEnd the criminalization and stigmatization of adolescentsâ sexuality, and ensure and promote a positive approach to young people& #39;s and adolescentsâ sexuality that enables, recognizes, and respects their agency to make informed and independent decisions on matters concerning...
their bodily autonomy, pleasure and fundamental freedomsâ. This has, again, been taken to mean that the document is advocating for the legalisation of paedophilia, and again this is complete rubbish
What this clause is essentially saying is that adolescents should be able to have relationships with other adolescents. It is absolutely not saying that adults should be allowed to have relationships with adolescents
Iâd urge you to read the full document at http://iwhc.org/wp-content/upl âŠ">https://iwhc.org/wp-conten... - itâs quite clear in saying that people should be protected from abuse and coercion
This needs to be called out, because what you have is bad-faith actors twisting information to the point where it has no relation to reality to paint groups of people they dislike as being dangers to society
Now, Iâm an openly gay man whoâs co-chair of an organisation that has always stood firmly against bigotry, so thereâs a fair chance Iâll get some abuse by standing up, but when faced with hatred we cannot stay silent, it must be called out for what it is
I think one of the things that should always guide us when we campaign for independence is our vision for what sort of society we want to build, what sort of country we want to live in. I want to live in a country where fundamental human rights and dignity are respected
Most folk Iâve spoke to also want to see that, but unfortunately there are folk out there who treat groups they see as being âotherâ as being less worthy of rights, respect and dignity
There are folk out there who want to marginalise, undermine, just generally harm groups they see as âotherâ. We must call them out, because otherwise they bring our politics to a very dark place
