WoLF Joined by Over 40 Organizations in Calling for UN to Abandon Regressive “Gender Theory” Framework
UN Headquarters (source)
Forty-three groups and 41 individuals representing ten countries have joined the Women's Liberation Front in calling for an end to the international implementation of “gender theory,” specifically in reference to gender identity ideology, in response to a call for input from the United Nations Independent Expert for the Human Rights Council.
The signatories include United Families International, caWsbar (Canada), The Countess Didn’t Fight For This (Ireland), Hands Across the Aisle (U.S.), LGB Fight Back (U.S.), OBJECT (UK), Standing for Women (UK), Spinifex Press (Australia), Trans Rational Educational Voices (U.S.), and Women’s Human Rights Campaign - Brasil (view the full submission and list of signatories here).
The call for input states that the Independent Expert’s report seeks to document how critiques of gender theory, “are being used to fuel violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and their particular impact on sexual and reproductive rights; as well as the impact of feminist thinking in the analysis of these phenomena and its contributions to possible solutions.”
The response put forward by WoLF documents how gender theory promotes harm to LGB individuals, women and girls, and liberal ideals such as freedom of speech—All in direct opposition to the stated goals and initiatives of the United Nations.
From the introduction:
“We abhor violence against women and girls, people who are same-sex attracted, and individuals who do not conform to sex-based stereotypes—and we applaud efforts to reduce this violence. However, the adoption by the United Nations Human Rights Council of the political religion that the Independent Expert calls “gender theory” does little to address this matter and instead results in the following devastating impacts (all in violation of UN foundational documents):
Reduced political autonomy of same-sex attracted people
Sterilization of children who do not conform to sex-based stereotypes
Elimination of single-sex provisions for women and girls, including sex-segregated prisons, shelters, hospitals, and sports
Inaccurate data collection, obscuring disparities between men and women, hampering efforts to improve women’s health, and falsely inflating female violent crime rates.
Decimation of free speech, with especially severe consequences for women, academics, and scientists
Infringement on freedom of belief for religious people and non-religious people alike
The Independent Expert is also required to consider that these negative impacts are particularly profound for members of racial, ethnic, or religious minorities, those with disadvantaged socioeconomic status, and persons who experience barriers due to language, health, limited mobility, or other experiences of disability.”
The UN should be aware of the impacts of so-called “gender theory” (gender identity ideology) on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and gender-nonconforming individuals (including youth). The response outlines the ways these groups are harmed by the UN’s promotion of “eugenics-adjacent” policies, including the modern “conversion” of same-sex attracted individuals and the sterilization of gender-nonconforming youth who cannot consent to such medical experimentation.
The response also points out multiple ways in which the UN’s promotion of gender theory is at odds with the UN’s own aims. For example, the UN recognizes women’s sports as an important tool for the empowerment of women and girls. Article 10 of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) states that women and girls must have “the same opportunities to participate actively in sports and physical education.” Yet, gender theory promotes the inclusion of male athletes in women’s and girls’ sports based on self-identification, depriving female athletes of opportunities.
Likewise, the UN launched an initiative in 2012 (Data2X) to promote the collection of sex-disaggregated data, recognizing its importances in national and international policy. Gender theory, however, directly interferes with the accurate collection of sex-disaggregated data, undermining the UN’s own efforts.
Especially concerning for the Human Rights Council should also be the threats posed by state-enforcement of gender theory to the most basic of civil liberties: freedom of speech, freedom of belief, and the ideal of independent scientific inquiry. All of these enlightenment ideals, long supported by the UN, are under attack in countries like the UK, Canada, and U.S. where gender ideology has been put into law.
The submitted response also notes the biased nature of the request for input itself, and calls for “oversight from the Human Rights Council to rein in an Independent Expert who is working contrary to the mission and goals of the United Nations system.”
Statements from Signatories
Natasha Chart, Executive Director of WoLF
“Both the wide ideological range of organizations and individuals who have joined us in this submission, and what public opinion research has been undertaken demonstrates the depth of the challenge gender identity theory poses to the fundamental truths and values of society. We hope the UN will listen, and refuse to adopt this secular political faith, before more damage is done to the rights of freedom of thought, conscience, and belief, or to academic and scientific inquiry.”
Liza Vespi, caWsbar
"In 2017 Canadian legislators amended the Human Rights Act to add 'gender identity and gender expression'. The amendment conflicts with women's sex-based rights and has already caused numerous human rights violations against Canadian women and girls. The Independent Expert should not help spread these harms across the world.”
Grace Melton, Senior Associate at The Heritage Foundation
“Targeted violence on the basis of any characteristic—including LGBTQI status or conduct—is repellant and wrong. And we should advocate for the protection of human rights and defend the victims of human rights abuses wherever and whenever possible. But gender identity theory is counterproductive to that goal.
We Are Fair Cop
“Fair Cop write in support of the response of WOLF to the UN Gender Theory Consultation.
We share the concerns of WOLF about the impact of the conflation of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ and the serious potential this has to do harm. We have particular interest and concern about the impact upon freedom of expression and we are challenging the UK ‘Hate Crimes Guidance’ in court, as it is having a significant chilling effect on the rights of people to exercise protected political speech around matters of sex and gender and reform to the existing law in this area.
We object to an ideology being promoted above material reality and being used to compel the speech of others. We, like many others, reject the idea that we have a ‘gender identity’ – we have a sex which is immutable but we ought to be able to live our lives without being shackled to any regressive stereotypes promoted by those who support ‘gender identity’. The rights of others to choose their manner of dress or sexual partners must be respected – but so too must the rights of those who do not accept an ideology of ‘gender identity’ which they consider harmful. We are particularly concerned by how perception based ‘hate incidents’ are increasing in number in the UK, linked to this elevation of ‘gender ideology’ above freedom of expression. This has lead to the police being seen as politicised, which has done great damage to the trust and confidence of many.
We are deeply concerned that we are seeing the rise of totalitarianism in what were once healthy democracies and we hope that the UN are alive to this danger and will take action to prevent it. Freedom of speech and expression is the bedrock of any functioning society.”
Marcia Barlow, VP Policy & Programs at United Families International
“This Independent Expert’s Call for Input is based on a host of false premises which undermine the safety, privacy and opportunity rights of women and girls, worldwide. It also stands in opposition to the international commitment to maintain and support Freedom of Religion and Belief. We should all be very concerned and focused on pushing back against such overreach.”
Laoise Uí Aodha de Brún, Founder & Spokesperson at The Countess Didn’t Fight For This
"We are proud to be a signatory of this outstanding and incisive submission by WOLF to the UN Consultation on Gender.
As a human rights and advocacy group, we represent a growing constituency in Ireland who are deeply concerned at how the new religion of gender identity has seamlessly replaced the old. Gender Ideology has been rolled out, top-down. In all countries, including Ireland, the same methodology is used;
-Self-ID brought in by stealth & often latched onto popular legislation like marriage Equality ( as outlined in the leaked Denton Document, referred to in the submission which names Ireland throughout)
-The trojan horse of LGBT anti-bullying resources used in schools to push gender ideology without any scientific basis and in breach of safeguarding guidelines as set out under The Children First Act.
-The trojan horse of "inclusivity' used to erase the words Mother and Woman from the lexicon as we are seeing in the proposed Labour Maternity Bill & the HSE CervicalCheck service
-Template Bills enacted to enforce the ideology across sectors by criminalising dissent ( Hate Crime, Anti-Conversion Therapies), indoctrinating the young ( expansion of the GRA to children) & elevating identity to trump sex/gender as a grounds in Equality Legislation therefore making it illegal to defend a female space from male incursion.
We will not stand by while our government houses criminal, violent, predatory males with the most vulnerable cohort of women in society, in the female estate; when a growing number of young women amputate their breasts and take testosterone in the hope of becoming men. Women & girls are not fodder for the gender machine. We do not submit to the new religion and are calling on the UN and the Irish State to meet their obligations to protect the sex-based rights of women and to safeguard children from this harmful ideology."
Graham Linehan, individual signatory
"I'm proud to sign this important and timely document which details the many ways in which currently fashionable gender identity ideology is a catastrophe for women and girls."