Burn the Ladder

@downloadfest.bsky.social - seem to have two accounts

@downloadfestival.bsky.social has confirmed that they are following the #ehrc guidance and banning trans people from single-sex spaces. As a trans musician and a fan who has attended download, I shan’t be attending again. If you know any lgbt artists performing this year please reach out to them.

This performative allyship hurts the lgbtq community. They made this decision before the EHRC guidance so have no excuse. Keep them out of #pride - I hope @manchesterpride.bsky.social & @brightonpride.bsky.social refuse their sponsorship in future events.

They have refused to change their branding from “everybody welcome”, and refuse to cease sponsorship of pride events, citing their large lgbtq workforce. They acknowledge that this decision harms the trans community, but consider it a reasonable compromise to keep other customers satisfied.

They told me that they have to consider the “reasonable concerns” of “biological women”, but that they are “sorry” they had to make this decision. They have not shared with me any document justifying this decision as a “proportionate means to a legitimate aim”.

They then changed their story and told me that this has been their policy for years, and directed me to a small corner of their help page which does not actually specify that at all. This is enforced by whether or not a customer receives any complaints - i.e whether or not they “pass”

@puregym.bsky.social this thread is about discrimination at Puregym. They have banned me from the women’s facilities, and have told me that they are implementing a sex-assigned-at-birth policy regarding changing rooms. This happened before the Supreme Court ruling and new ehrc guidance.

Hang on I’ll see if I can change settings

Maybe you just pass for cis

They never made it clear how they intended to implement the policy, I have asked but they have ignored me. I can only confirm that ID is not a factor as my ID says female. If you get clocked, you’re out.

There’s nothing polite about segregation Theo, you’re just a transphobe in denial. If you wanna be a transphobe in denial, the Labour Party is right there. That’s their thing. Go back to twitter while you’re at it.

Puregym were doing it before the Supreme Court ruling - I have the emails to prove it.

They do ban trans people from changing rooms, I have the receipts. Puregym are not allies, they were doing this before the Supreme Court ruling.

I should specify, this was about a month before the Supreme Court ruling so they can’t even use that excuse.

I have been told they were interested in sponsoring our local pride… I have made the organiser aware so that’s not happening now :) let’s make sure ALL pride events know about this.

They actually banned me from the women’s facilities, told me they were implementing a trans-exclusive policy across their gyms, but have failed to tell me when they will publicly announce this policy, or whether they will change their “inclusive” branding. Cowards.

@carladenyer.bsky.social your letter to Bridget Phillipson is really encouraging, there is still a lot to do but it does reassure me that the greens will stand up for the trans community!

The interim #EHRC guidance just came through. It is a full Florida style bathroom ban. I am terrified. If our “allies” don’t do something now, then when? It will be too late soon.

“The government we deserve”, it’s on streaming sites and bandcamp :)

New song came out today! It’s about how the government is rubbish. If we can get it to number 1 maybe I can get on the telly and give keir and co an earful #folkpunk #transrightsarehumanrights #supremecourt

Are the green MPs planning on taking action to challenge this? I appreciate the kind words but we need real support with tangible consequences!

Februarys stuff is out :)

Just seeing how sharing videos works on here :) #folk #folkmusic #folkmusician - do hashtags do anything on Bluesky??

Same, but I do wish online recipes didn’t come with fantasy novels

Januarys newsletter has gone out :) you can still join and get a free live EP here burn-the-ladder.com/mailing-list

Now that meta specifically allows calling people mentally unwell on the basis of gender or sexual orientation I’m going to say what we’re all thinking… cis-het people are sick and need to go see a doctor.