Myopic 'Woke' to Awakened Understanding

Anti-apartheid campaigner
Nelson Mandela

‘If there is one lesson we can learn from the struggle against racism, in our country as well as yours, it is that racism must be consciously combatted, and not discreetly tolerated.’ This assertion was famously made by Nelson Mandela[1] who spent 27 years of his life incarcerated for his anti-apartheid campaign against South Africa’s brutal white supremacist government. Finally released in 1990, the images of him walking to freedom alongside his then wife Winnie Mandela made quite an impression on me as I watched the live images as a Yorùbá-Nigerian child in my Scottish home. Having already experienced racism myself, I was very invested in the idea of equality and justice from a young age and embraced diversity in all the forms it manifests itself, celebrating multiculturalism in particular. For this reason, I would later go on to study social/cultural anthropology to help spotlight all cultures should be respected on their own merits. That stance led me to connect with people throughout the world, spending Christmases with my newly acquired global family ranging from Japan to the Navajo Nation. At the same time, I’ve taught communication skills in various higher education institutions across the globe so to easier disseminate my message of equality and respect far and wide, now spanning three decades. The combination of my anti-racism, multiculturalism and enhancing communication passions has all converged into the Scottish Racism Project to which I’m glad so many people have responded positively.

Timbuktu manuscripts of astronomy tables

Whilst the ‘deep dives’ research articles[2] and ‘real lives’ case studies[3] deal with sociology within a Scottish context, I still have a passion for cultural anthropology in a global context. Not only are human cultures across five continents fascinating, they always served to illustrate the idiocy of supposed ‘white supremacy’ and demonstrated the racism I’d experienced as a child was fundamentally wrong. Beyond the limited history curriculums I was subjected to during my Scottish school days, my anthropological learnings showed that Africans as the first people on earth were of course also the first to make advances in maths and science. Evidence of this includes an Egyptian papyrus scroll millennia before Greek philosopher Pythagoras was born in 569BC was found clearly displaying the mathematical theorem attributed to him.[4] Moreover, in Timbuktu’s Ahmed Baba Institute in Mali, 700,000 manuscripts/books from the 14th to 16th centuries can still be found. This includes a manuscript from Mauritania showing the phases of the moon.[5] Though this is about 150 years older than the birth of Polish polymath Copernicus or his Italian counterpart Galileo…raising some issues about the supposed European history of science. Again, this lays waste to the idea that European STEM innovation proceeded that of Nubian Africans when common sense surely should deduce the opposite. Along the same vein, people across the African continent were also the first to recognise gender diversity.

Gender changers: clownfish & cardinal birds

This in itself is another area of science considering many animals can in fact change gender[6] according to whether there’s a deficit/surplus of females or males in a particular environment. These include clownfish, hawkfish, sea bass, humphead wrasse, green sea turtles, banana slugs, butterflies, cardinal birds, frogs, copperhead snakes and bearded dragons. A few more examples[7] of these were in 2017 Blue Planet II nature documentary narrated by David Attenborough. Rather than fully changing gender though, some animals simply engage in gender bending[8] (called ‘sexual mimicry’ in biology). These include marsh harrier birds, giant Australian cuttlefish, red and olive colobus monkeys, spotted hyenas, red-sided garter snakes and lions. So if some sort of gender transition can happen in various instances across nature, it makes sense that this phenomenon residually manifests itself in some people resulting in the psychological state of gender dysphoria.[9]

Native American Two-Spirit Powwow Participants

This as well as other sexual minority identities have been understood and indeed accepted in cultures right across Africa, Asia, the Americas and Oceania long before the LGBT+ acronym became a movement in the west. This was clear through discussions with transwomen I befriended when based in Southeast Asia. Here are just a few of this wide range of peoples:

Africa[10]	Igbo people in Nigeria	assign gender around age 5
	Dogon people in Mali	maintain the perfect human being is androgynous/intersex NB: all the priests in the Dogon belief system are gay!
	Ambo people in Angola	the diviners in their belief system are transgender women
	Nuer people in Ethiopia	men can freely enter a feminine identity/role, thus marry a man
Asia[11]	Hijra people in India, Pakistan, Nepal & Bangladesh	transgender women (eunuchs) & intersex people hired for dances/performances at childbirths, weddings & fairs
	Bugis people in Indonesia	makkunrai (female), oroané (male), bissu (androgynous), calabai (transgender male) and calalai (transgender female)
	Ghazni people in Afghanistan	Sultan Mahmud upheld for deeply loving another man
	Persian people in Iran	Homoerotic stories of male-on-male attraction essential reading for students
Americas[12]	Gender roles acknowledged across native communities: 1. Female 2. Male 3. Two Spirit Female 4. Two Spirit Male 5. Transgendered
	Navajo people in United States (south west)	asdzáán (feminine female), hastíín (masculine male), dilbaa (masculine female = transman), and nádleehi (feminine male = transwomen)
	Lakota people in United States (north central)	two spirits = winkté (male who behaves as a female)
	Muxec, Zapotec people in Mexico	two spirits = an integrated 3rd gender people
	Machi Weye, Mapuche people in Chile & Argentina	two spirits = taken as spiritual leaders in the community
Oceania[13]	Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander people in Australia	Brotherboy = transman, Sistergirl = transwoman

Social media posts supporting celebratory LGBT+ perspectives in non-western cultures across the world

ARE co-founder 
Mélina Valdelievre

Over the years, coming across articles detailing these enlightened perspectives always brought a smile to my face. They were instantly shared across my social media platforms so to further enlightened my own social groups, same as various posts on anti-racism. The Scottish Racism Project is not only to consolidate all these knowledges, but also again to share them far and wide, aligning with other projects with overlapping ethos. These include various social justice groups I mention in my inaugural research article on education[14] such as Intercultural Youth Scotland (IYS)[15] and the Anti-Racist Educator (ARE)[16] comprised of a network of schoolteachers. In May 2020, I even went on to join the latter, happy to lend a hand their way. Considering my extensive training experience, I took their existing materials created by ARE co-founder Mélina Isabelle Valdelievre and adapted their structure & presentation in line with the higher education communication skills I teach. I additionally devised tailored organisation-specific training sessions, including one centring on football (similar to my second Scottish Racism article[17]) and also Bisexual Convention (BiCon).

ARE co-volunteer
Titilayo Farukuoye

This was a particular treat as I would get to share my cultural anthropology background/interest in communities across the world. It was also fun devising a ‘Rainbow Colours’ guess who warm up activity of famous UK BAME LGBT+ (used all the acronyms there!) Amongst the list was UK Black History Month co-founder, racial justice and lesbian feminist activist Linda Bellos. ARE co-volunteer, Titilayo Farukuoye (aka ‘Sarah Hugl’), the Anti-Racist Education Lead for IYS came on board to assist the BiCon training. She herself had a problem with the racial justice activist, derogatorily labelling Linda Bellos a ‘TERF’[18] i.e. trans exclusionary radical feminist, used in the UK and West in general for women who do not classify transwomen with ciswomen and therefore are considered transphobic. After doing some research though, I found there were people who disagreed that Linda Bellos should be classified as such including Guardian columnist Claire Heuchan[19] and Feminist Current columnist Meghan Murphy.[20] More importantly though was finding out many transwomen do not hold views dismissing Linda Bellos as transphobic, quite the opposite.

Transwoman Debbie Hayton

At this point, my inner anthropologist flared up, meaning I wanted to hear people’s experiences from the source (the benefit of this being clear from my secondary school days in Japan[21] and interacting with/discussing the culture there first-hand). This included transwoman Debbie Hayton[22] who has undergone gender reassignment surgery and hormone replacement therapy. A British physics teacher from the midlands, she socially changed her gender from male to female in 2012. However, she maintains that her actual sex cannot be changed and ‘she will always biologically remain a man’. The same is true of Miranda Yardley who 'describes himself s a transsexual and identifies as a man, even though he underwent gender reassignment to become a woman [in 2019]' Similarly, Kristina Jayne Harrison[23] underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1998 and maintains that transgender women and women ‘cannot be regarded as the same because they have different biology and backgrounds.’ The proclaimed socialist has also said:

Transwoman Kristina Jayne Harrison

As a transwoman I have identified not ‘as’ a girl or a woman but with girls and women for most of my life… I’m also a socialist who understands with absolute clarity, that there can be no progressive agenda that uses abuse and harassment to silence women; there can be no socialism of any kind, that tells women, we’re re-defining you, be quiet and submit[24]; and there can absolutely, never be any human liberation without women’s liberation. As someone who understands that, I value women’s rights as highly as I value my own trans rights. 

Like so many non-western cultures who have multiple gender classifications, Debbie Hayton and Kristina Jayne Harrison understand they are separate from ciswoman. For example, according to the Bugis people in Indonesia, they would be calalai (transgender female), not makkunrai (female). Amongst the Ambo people in Angola, they would be one of the diviners venerated in their belief system. My Navajo sistren and brethren[25] would also revere them as two spirit nádleehi (feminine male = transwoman) rather than generic asdzáán (feminine female).

Anti-Zionist Jewish political scientist Dr Normal Finkelstein 

In my view, we can also draw a parallel with the difference between being anti-semitic and anti-zionist in relation to Judaism. Anti-semitism is irrational and unwarranted hatred against people of the Jewish faith. Anti-zionism is the movement against people who hide behind the Jewish faith in order to brutalise, oppress and dispossess Palestinians in their own land. Anti-apartheid freedom fighters such as Nelson Mandela[26] and Archbishop Desmond Tutu[27] were avid outspoken anti-zionists, as is Dr Norman Finkelstein[28], a Jewish political scientist from the USA. Many try to conflate anti-zionism with anti-semitism in order to bat away any legitimate criticism and condemnation of atrocities against the Palestinian people. Dr Finkelstein however is not a ‘self-hating Jew’ with ‘internalised anti-semitism’ and insists his anti-zionist assertions won’t be silenced by the holocaust ‘excuse’.

Transwoman Miranda Yardley

Equally, Debbie Hayton, Miranda Yardley and Kristina Jayne Harrison are not ‘self-hating transwomen’ with ‘internalised transphobia’ for recognising that biological/physiological women and men are separate categories. Yet, various bodies including the LGBT+ Trade Union Congress, employment tribunals and even Twitter tried to label/charge Debbie Hayton and Kristina Jayne Harrison as being ‘hateful’ and ‘transphobic’(!) When a similar charge was brought against Miranda Yardley which led to a charge of non-violent harassment, the judge threw out the case on the first day citing no evidence. Miranda herself commented “talking about someone who is transsexual and who has lived his [or her] life as transsexual for a very long time as being anti-transgender is absurd.” The issue here is some try to conflate ‘gender recognition’ with ‘anti-transgender sentiment’ in order to bat away any legitimate distinction between gender physiology and gender identity, as well as criticism and condemnation of offenses/unequal privileges against ciswomen.[29] There are therefore clearly divergent attitudes/mindsets amongst the transgender community itself.

Racial Justice and Feminist Activist Linda Bellos

With this being the case and a stalemate between Titilayo Farukuoye and I regarding Linda Bellos’ inclusion in the ‘Rainbow Colours’ activity, I posed this LGBT+ question to an LGBT+ person i.e. our BiCon liaison who I will call ‘Kathy’. She had previously posed a BAME related question to us which we answered comfortably, so surely she’d be happy to reciprocate in this query. It turned out she was and suggested we not include Linda Bellos so not to alienate any of the training session attendees which I happily respected. Approaching Kathy was in keeping with my stance to always ask the source. I did this with my Muslim colleagues whilst based in Arabian Gulf who were happy, indeed grateful, to engage with the questions I posed about various aspects of their faith. Oddly enough though, Titilayo Farukuoye and ARE took issue with me posing this LGBT+ question to an LGBT+ person…

ARE co-volunteer Navan Govender

A meeting was called by ARE co-founder Hashim Ul-Hassan with yet another ARE co-volunteer, Navan Govender of The University of Strathclyde School of Education. Navan Govender started by asking me if I had heard of the LGB Alliance.[30] I replied I hadn’t, and he elaborated that it was a group of lesbians, gays and bisexual people that wanted to be separate from transgender people. The implication of his comment was seemingly that because BiCon was primarily an organisation of bisexual people, they would potentially be as ‘prejudicial’ as the LGB Alliance when it came to transgender issues. (Incidentally, as much as some people would like to kill the messenger, according to her personal experience, transwoman Debbie Hayton would disagree with that characterisation.[31]) However, the question running through my mind was how did that have anything to do with fellow social justice warrior Kathy? It’s still true that a bisexual person within LGBT+ communities can hold transphobic views, just like many Asians in BAME communities are anti-Black racists.[32] My assumption however was that someone like Kathy, who (a) volunteers her time to bring together marginalised people and empower them (b) has sought out anti-racist training to help further empower a smaller subset of marginalised people within that group, would most likely not be bigoted and thus give an insightful view on the query, which she did. So why cast aspersions on who Kathy is with regards to her worldview because of who Kathy is with regards to her sexual orientation? Reverse prejudice much?

Unique transgender health issues

Incidentally, during the meeting the fact that I’d responded to a question posed by Titilayo Farukuoye saying there is a clear distinction between the health and social needs of ciswoman with female anatomy and transwomen with male anatomy was also brought up by Hashim Ul-Hassan with a nefarious undertone. However, there was nothing nefarious about my factual statement. With regards to health, transgender people experience more mental health issues[33] than the average population. Also, they experience unique physical health issues[34] such as complications from artificial hormone treatment as well as natural anatomical illnesses such as prostate vs cervical cancer. One medical doctor I asked about this said transgender people born with reproductive anatomy which they do not identify with and thus conduct themselves differently in a social context would most probably ask doctors to refer to them as the opposite gender pronoun of their actual anatomy. This may lead to possible medical confusion that might cause for their treatment, prognosis, diagnosis, etc to initially be compromised. But in practice, medical doctors accommodate what the patient wants, and bear in mind their birth gender and hormonal treatments they have had when seeing them for illness.

Not acknowledging differences is prejudicial
in and of itself

In other words, acknowledging an individual’s transgender status is beneficial to their medical wellbeing. As I mentioned in my article on Scottish Racism in Medicine[35], in the same way as misguidedly saying 'I don't see race' can harmfully lead to medical racism (not having people of colour in research studies[36], giving student doctors inadequate training to spot/treat particular ailments[37] e.g. sickle-cell anaemia in West Africans vs melanoma skin cancer in Europeans), misguidedly saying 'I don't see anatomy' can harmfully lead to medical transphobia (not having transgender people in research studies, giving student doctors inadequate training to spot/treat particular ailments e.g. cervical cancer in biological women vs prostate cancer in biological men, recognising different signs of stroke between females & males, etc). As the same medical doctor said, ‘facts are facts: race/gender has its unique considerations.’

Unique transgender social issues: Naomi Hersi

With regards to social needs, transgender people experience a higher crime rates[38] than the average population. This also includes the higher murder rate of transwomen such as Naomi Hersi[39], whose killing was later reported problematically in the press which I was going to discuss in the training workshop. Acknowledging these genuine differences between cisgender and transgender people is asked on job applications on a small scale and national census forms on a larger scale in order to facilitate equity e.g. appropriate hospital funding and training for correct treatments or police funding and training for correct protection/patrolling. Indeed, France’s lack of acknowledgement about race allows interpersonal and institutional racism to run rampant which victims always complain about. Equally, not acknowledging transgenderism can lead to or expediate unchecked transphobia which is highly problematic. As a result, it is intrinsically beneficial to recognise both categories of women. How very odd and frustrating that showing this level of concern be misinterpreted as the opposite: showing a lack of concern for transgender people in this area. In the same way we shouldn't deny race exists to counter racism, we shouldn't deny physiological gender exists to counter transphobia (or indeed sexism).

We could expand on the idea of equity vs equality by doing a comparison with another area of disadvantage: disability. When I have taught students with physical disabilities or learning differences/ neurodiversity, I have not treated them equally in my lessons, I have treated them equitably. For example, rather than giving blind students flat paper worksheets like everyone else, I gave them embossed braille sheets. Rather than giving neurodiverse students similarly formatted worksheets like everyone else, I gave them ones with larger font, different colours, more visuals, larger size. In other words, rather than treating them equally, I treat them differently so they can participate equally: equity. Bringing it back to the transgender context; the issue for many is not initial ‘identity recognition’, it’s proper ‘social accommodation’ not based in insufficient equality, but more thoughtful equity.

ARE co-founder Hashim Ul-Hassan

In any case, one takeaway I got from the meeting with Navan Govender and Hashim Ul-Hassan was this. As a heterosexual person who falls within the sexual majority, I had privileged-ly presumed the other ARE volunteers themselves, including Titilayo Farukuoye, were not LGBT+: an example of my own myopia. However, if this was at least true of my co-volunteer, she never disclosed this at the time. (To clarify, I still do not know the sexual orientation or gender identity of any ARE member.) Hence, I approached Kathy, a known member of the LGBT+ community for an informed perspective to consolidate my research. Oddly enough, even though Kathy soon after sent an email stating her continued excitement for the impending training workshop inferring she herself appreciated the gesture of consulting her directly on the Linda Bellos question, ARE asked me to step back from the BiCon training.

This understandably led to great frustration on my part after donating a significant amount of my time and resources to:

- analysing Mélina Valdelievre’s training resources and ‘reverse engineering’ a session plan from it

- brainstorming further content/activities to add per BiCon’s initial request for different training packages we could offer at £500 or £1,000 for example.

- researching exhaustively for information and images of British BAME LGBT+ people

- researching exhaustively to further add to my already wide knowledge of gender fluidity in cultures of colour

- planning activities and creating related materials, organising and animating content for maximum engagement

- diligently responding to Kathy’s emails, organising update meetings with Titilayo Farukuoye and even securing a professional trainer to voluntarily give us I feedback during a practice run one week before the first BiCon training workshop in mid-August 2020 so we could sort out any possible kinks.

- creating a feedback survey on the Survey Monkey online platform

Regardless, after all of that tireless work, the last thing I wanted was to see it all goes to waste. So I forwarded the ARE team:

1. completed BiCon workshop pres with adapted & added slides

2. completed BiCon workshop session plan

3. research on British BAME LGBT+ people -> ‘Rainbow Colours’

4. research on gender fluidity across Africa -> ‘Gender Fluidity in Cultures of Colour’

5. research on gender fluidity across Asia -> ‘Gender Fluidity in Cultures of Colour’

6. research on gender fluidity across the Americas -> ‘Gender Fluidity in Cultures of Colour’

7. a video of featured ‘Rainbow Colours’ personality John Amaechi explaining ‘not racist’ vs ‘anti-racist’

In the wake of this, Mélina Valdelievre put together a ‘restorative justice’ email to bring things together again and insisted on the use of critical thinking to help reach a consensus. But at this point, I still thought it odd that a primary vs secondary research approach could be perceived as 'injustice'. In any case, as I’d previously stated to the ARE members, wider discussion is always welcomed in all issues to bring unique perspectives and new understanding. It can also bring clarity, which is important as Mélina Valdelievre’s ‘restorative justice’ email was an interesting mix of insight (using the anti-racist training workshop principles: striving for humility, acknowledge emotions: emotional labour, acknowledge emotions: fragility, be accountable for impact) and presumption (projecting inaccurate inferences on certain scenarios).

Use of 'feel' vs 'identify' in BBC video on global transgenderism

The insight came under ‘acknowledge emotions: emotional labour/accountability for impact’ specifically with regard to verb usage. During our discussions, I’d previously stated ‘there is clearly a distinction between the health and social needs of people with female anatomy vs people with male anatomy who feel female.’ The verb ‘to feel’ was also used by the presenter of a short BBC video about transgender people in different cultures[40] which I was going to show during my portion of the training workshop. What’s more, it was used by Debbie Hayton in her LGB Alliance comments. However, Mélina Valdelievre thought it more sensitive to use the verb ‘to identify’. To this, I responded that the masters and doctorate students I was training up in communication skills at the time were learning about paraphrasing and using synonyms to avoid plagiarism. If one chose to paraphrase a quote by changing the verb ‘feel’ to ‘identify’, depending on the context, I would regard that as an acceptable synonym and would not mark them wrong. However, the point is different meaning can arise in different contexts, and I did recognise the difference in Mélina Valdelievre saying ‘I feel French’ vs ‘I am/identify as French’ for example. That contextual difference for national identity could similarly be applied to gender identity, and was thus a fair point.

LGBT+ supporter Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

What’s more, when it comes to global majority cum UK ethnic minorities/BAME people, we all know that each ethnicity individually experiences prejudice differently, but it’s all collectively referred to as ‘racism’. However, when it comes to sexual minorities/LGBT+ people, we all know that each subsection individually experiences prejudice differently, but it’s not all collectively referred to as called ‘homophobia’. Because I acknowledged I was a privileged ‘heterosexual’ person vs a privileged ‘cisgender’ person during the exchange with Melina Valdelievre, she inferred my language choice meant I looked at the LGBT+ people as monolithic and seemingly proof of a nefarious microaggression, regardless of actual intention. This I compared to Igbo-Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who spoke out against the anti-LGBT+ law passed in Nigeria in 2014.[41] Not only did she call it unjust and undemocratic, it was also contrary to the broad, positive, pre-colonial regard towards sexual minorities amongst the country’s 250+ ethnic groups. However, during a 2017 Channel 4 interview, she too did not use the term ‘cisgender’ whilst expressing her support for transgender people[42] and recognising the unique nuances that support requires. She then clarified her stance afterwards and reiterated her support for transgender rights[43], at the same time as questioning western left-wing ‘language orthodoxy’ to the point that it ‘cannibalising’ itself when certain new terminologies aren’t used (versus the established respectful linguistic classifications for sexual minorities in other cultures across the world for centuries if not millennia). In any case, this is something I also recognised as a fair point.

Diversity and solidarity within LBGT+ communities 

Then again, the presumption came under ‘striving for humility/acknowledge emotions: fragility’ specifically about transgender discussions in a select neo-UK/Western/Eurocentric context. This I considered ironically constrictive considering the celebratory global perspective of transgenderism, homosexuality, etc I was going to be presenting in the training workshop, all the research of which I’d shared with Mélina Valdelievre the day before. In any case, she said it was my job as a privileged non-LGBT+ person to educate myself about LGBT+ issues and it’s not their job to do so. Though that is exactly what I did: upon hearing there was a controversy, I did research on it which turned up two opposing sides. The point is, I acknowledged I did not know it all and was open to learning. The issue for ARE was, after doing my research, where I decided to consolidate that learning from i.e. Kathy at BiCon. In other words, after reviewing secondary research by others (who themselves might have misinterpreted the source information), I switched to primary research conducted by myself (meaning the source information can be directly scrutinised). Even before becoming an academic, my preference has been and always will be a 'go and see for yourself' mindset and not relying on others' potential misinterpretations, and the same was true in this scenario. I went on to further elaborate that Mélina Valdelievre’s presumption that I see LGBT+ people as a monolith was wrong, I do not. I do however recognise they have more opportunity to encounter each other than I have to encounter them due to certain social conventions. For example, a writing organisation whose anthology my work featured in was specifically for BAME writers, and they have another anthology specifically for LGBT+ writers. Throughout the pitching/editing/publication process, they had been several meetings where they have encountered each other, just like the BAME anthology group. Thus LGBT+ people are (a) still broadly more knowledgeable than me or the average non-LGBT+ person on related topics (b) even if they themselves are not, can still point me in the direction of where I can find that knowledge (a strategy I picked up from a former telesales job).

Solidarity and empathy in representation

This was the case many moons ago when I was the Ethnic Minority (now BAME) representative of my university student union. They also had representatives for students who were mature, disabled, women & LGBT+. Whilst none of these categories are monoliths, the representatives knew more than the average person about the student groups that they represented. (As a Nigerian, I was still organising Indian Bhangra dance events and Chinese New Year celebrations for example, as well as African and Caribbean culture festivals. More universally, I would advocate for them ALL on race-related issues as they relate to each ethnic groups specifically, and expect the LGBT+ representative did something similar). In any case, I requested Mélina Valdelievre and I continue to critically engage on this discussion as needs be so a fuller clarity could be achieved. She and Hashim Ul-Hassan however decided to do the opposite and with the other ARE members disengaging me as a volunteer.

I asked why and Mélina Valdelievre’s response was ‘there is quite a lot of the “behaviour of argumentation,” in which you spend a lot of time trying to prove how much work you have done in the past to defend yourself, or how others and myself have made incorrect presumptions. Just as a white person might say they spent a lot of time working with ethnic minorities so they “can’t possibly be racist.”’ It was clear from this statement that she had genuine misinterpretations regarding the purpose of the information I have shared. It was not to ‘prove how much work I had done in the past,’ it was to demonstrate why I felt it appropriate to pose a LGBT+ question to Kathy. Mélina Valdelievre also classified the “behaviour of argumentation” as supposed ‘fragility’ on my part and apparently ‘showing off’. However, that assertion flew in the face of her original request for criticality.

Critical thinking literally means ‘the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgement’. To do this, we must see things from all sides to facilitate deeper understanding. Critical thinking is also an integral part of the communication skills I teach across the globe, including to the masters and doctorate students I was instructing at the time so they would be successful in their academic pursuits. Indeed, it fell into the very framework of the rubrics I was using to mark their work when all this was taking place. Critical thinking methods are graded at different complexities:

(1) One of the most comprehensive thinking processes is employing SPSIE = Situation, Problems, Solutions, Implications, Evaluation (including Suggestions/Recommendations, Limitations & Future Predictions).

(2) A middling thinking process is SACARE = Situation, Argument, Counter-Argument/Rebuttal, Evaluation.

-> Can also be represented as SCPE = Situation, Concession, Position, Evaluation.

(3) At its most simple, it can be DIE = Description (Situation), Interpretation, Evaluation.

For Mélina Valdelievre to say she wanted critical thinking and reflection, then to reject this as undesirable argumentation seemed contradictory in this particular context. Indeed, it is very disorientating to be requested to employ critical thinking…and then be admonished when I did so comprehensively. This could possibly have been based on either two things:

(a) There was a different understanding of critical thinking from the ones I’ve outlined above, though this was unexpected for two reasons. Firstly, as a university graduate herself, Mélina Valdelievre would have been required to employ similar critical thinking frameworks to her assignments during that time. Secondly, she now teaches at secondary schools which, because of mass access to online knowledge, has changed from merely teaching students to accept facts for memorisation like in the past (learning by rote) to questioning the facts being presented (criticality). The introduction of this process to students at a younger age led me to assume Mélina Valdelievre incorporated it into her lesson content and delivery. Though admittedly, there are different knowledge levels on the same subject. For example, maths is maths, but primary school kids are taught arithmetic whilst secondary school kids are taught calculus. Equally, criticality is criticality, but there are higher and lower order critical thinking that some may know/understand and others don’t.

(b) There was the same understanding of critical thinking to the ones I’ve outlined above, but perhaps only interest in the final ‘evaluation’ part and not the ‘thinking journey’ that led to the evaluation. However, if I just told Mélina Valdelievre that I agreed with everything without any supporting information or indeed proof of critical thinking, why would/should she or indeed anyone believe me? Isolated arguments/positions/claims without evidence loses credibility. It therefore seemed her request for criticality was performative rather than substantive.

Thus, our discussion was frustrated by wrongful assumptions on delivery (critical thinking scope) as well as content (transgender support).

Broken communication

I’d said from the very beginning, wider discussion is always welcomed in all issues to bring unique perspectives and new understanding. However, both Titilayo Farukuoye and Mélina Valdelievre were of the opposite stance and refused to engage in mature respectful communication. This ranged from Titilayo Farukuoye rudely interrupting me as I was posing a question to Kathy in the very first on-on-one Zoom meeting after the initial written correspondence and the brainstorming the difference between £1000-500 training offering that we could deliver, all the way to refusing to respond after she posed the question regarding the transgender discussion. Of this behaviour, Mélina Valdelievre stated, ‘I hope you realise how much emotional labour was involved for [Titilayo Farukuoye] and that you were not entitled to a response as it is exhausting having to show a person in a privileged position where they’re going wrong’, which is an assertion she went on to mimic herself.

I suggested we try talking rather than emailing so any misunderstandings could be repaired more readily, which she again refused. On one hand, this is understandable when dealing with strained emotions. On the other hand, it is unfortunately as the potential to foster proper understanding/clearing up misunderstandings on all sides is thwarted. As a result, conclusions were rushed here which were inaccurate, disappointing and indeed unexpected. Another aspect of the communication skills I teach is turn taking/respectful repeated engagement to help take a discussion further in a higher education context. But these university graduates were adamant in having the discussion stop in its tracks, solidifying their own genuine misconceptions.

Donated all funds & sent goodwill to ARE

With that, I was informed in August 2020 I would no longer be volunteering for ARE, a decision leading from a blindspot of conflating critical thinking with argumentation based in fragility: an example of their own myopia. Regardless, I recognised that a clouded mind did not override their good hearts. As such, I let them know that I would continue to recommend the ARE collective to others and vocally champion all the great volunteer work they do. What’s more, I donated to them the full rolling compensation for the BiCon work and subsequent multiple training sessions as well as the football organisation from before, alongside the research and training materials I’d created/enhanced. It was my hope that it would help them to carry on forging forward in the fight towards a truly racially just society. Moreover, I did not contact Kathy at BiCon directly to correct any possible false representation made to her of my stance because I wanted the anti-racism training that I’d put together for them to proceed uninterrupted. I simply signed off by saying that, as I do so much volunteer work in anti-racism, the likelihood is that we’d bump into each other in other groups, organisations, events and projects. I let them know that I looked forward to seeing and possibly working with them in those other forums too. In the meantime, I wished them nothing but goodwill.

So I remained quiet and let things be…but it seems that was a mistake on my part…

I continued with my own anti-racism work, which meant drafting even more ‘deep dives’ research articles and ‘real lives’ case studies within the Scottish context. To possibly reach an even wider audience, I wanted to expand these into the written medium of books, and so joined the Scottish BAME Writers Network[44], now the Scottish BPOC Writers Network (SBWN). It turned out to be a great forum to find out various types of information linked to the publishing industry. I therefore happily reciprocated in kind, for months sharing lots of BAME-related literary events, articles and initiatives such as for following:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2021/feb/13/call-for-new-writers-of-colour-as-entries-open-for-4thwrite-short-story-prize

https://www.ruppinagency.com/index.php/writers-studio/mentors/

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/macfestuk2021-celebrating-multi-lingual-poetry-mushaira-performance-tickets-114930078960#

https://writershq.co.uk/free-writing-courses/

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lush-libraries-unleash-such-happiness-tickets-136324978681#

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-black-books-webinar-tickets-141541316889#

https://www.untitledwriting.co.uk/voices

https://lolwe.org/submit/

https://www.ruppinagency.com/index.php/writers-studio/mentors/

https://www.facebook.com/events/439385473844100/

https://www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/#date=2021-03-08&event_id=63894

https://www.facebook.com/events/768618730719983/

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launch-the-race-conversation-tickets-142004081029#

https://repeatingislands.com/2021/03/04/celebrating-black-britain/

https://newwritingnorth.com/a-writing-chance/

https://deadinkbooks.com/new-submissions-window/

https://wakonte.cc/writing-the-way-we-speak/

My contributions were generally welcomed and met with appreciation by other SBWN members. What’s more, I signed up for various online SBWN events, including one with author Patrice Lawrence & Dean Atta scheduled for the 18th of March. Then quite suddenly on Wednesday the 17th of March, I received an email from the March 2021 SBWN Committee[45] (Alycia Pirmohamed, Andrés Nicolás Ordorica, Jeda Pearl Lewis, Dean Atta and Bhavika Govil) stating the following:

It has come to our attention that you have expressed views which breach/violate our Safer Spaces Policy: https://scottishbamewritersnetwork.org/safer-spaces-policy/

Because of these actions, your presence in our spaces, such as our Facebook group and/or events, makes them unsafe for trans members and participants.

SBWN Committee March 2021: Alycia Pirmahamed,  Andrés Nicolás Ordorica, Jeda Pearl Lewis, Dean Atta, Bhavika Govil

They went on to say ‘[my] actions have caused direct harm’ and I needed to ‘rethink [my] attitude towards trans rights’ before barring access to their online platforms. To say the least, I am very surprised by this and asked what in their estimation had breached/violated the safer spaces policy specifically for trans members and participants? This was a very serious accusation and should therefore be backed-up with irrefutable evidence, none of which was included in their email. My request that they forward this to me at their earliest convenience was ignored. I sent another stating it was the most basic requirement that they provide proof justifying their accusation and subsequent actions. If they had no evidence/proof that I have breached SBWN safer spaces policy, this would therefore mean their actions are based on speculation of which I again asked for the cause. In lieu of this, I proposed one way to counter any ambiguous speculation was of course by clear and open discussion. So I suggested that the SBWN committee set up an interview with me to ask anything they liked on the subject. Surely only after talking with me directly should any solid determination of my stance on the subject be made and then acted on accordingly. Indeed, I would supply them with my many pro-transgender posts on social media going back years as well as me challenging those who have expressed actual anti-LGBT+ concerns in general and anti-transgender sentiment specifically.

Social media posts supporting trans-related news reports 

Request for open discussion ignored

Shockingly, the SBWN committee completely ignored my request to investigate, instead stating they have a ‘believe survivors’ stance in order to make their participants feel safe. This is commendable, but was I also not a participant? Within their ‘safer spaces’ policy, if they were going to give someone the space to make an accusation, they should also give accused participants the bones of that accusation as well as space to safely redress it. Think about police procedures: you can believe survivors, but still have some form of proper investigation that examines all angles. In that forum, the assertion is ‘innocent until proven guilty’, yet not only were they asserting I was ‘guilty’, they were not giving me the details of what I was supposedly ‘guilty’ of.

Defamation legal advisors shocked by playground antics

In any case, with mere ‘belief’ I assumed that they themselves were not given any solid evidence to examine e.g. a screenshot or recording of supposed harmful remarks towards a protected class of people under the 2010 Equality Act. If not, then surely they could see how such a policy is flawed i.e. people could wilfully or indeed mistakenly mischaracterise/accuse someone else leading to a defamation case.[46] Indeed, why were they being so ambiguous with the specific view they had been told by some third party that I had allegedly expressed? Why were they not explicitly saying outright what had been relayed to them?

The SBWN committee had clearly already made a determination about ‘my view on trans rights’ on the basis of hearsay, which I found totally unacceptable. They even went as far as to make a redundant suggestion that I acquaint myself with training resources on the issue, to which I replied I was already well versed in:

- discussion tier 1: global perspective re transmen and transwomen

                     i.e. cultural anthropology and linguistic classifications across different societies

- discussion tier 2: UK/western world perspective re transmen and transwomen collectively i.e. legality

- discussion tier 3: UK/western world perspective re transmen and transwomen divergently i.e. socialisation

New SBWN committee member Titilayo Farukuoye 

This again brought me back to my request about what I was supposed to have said or done? And where was the evidence? I was not asking for someone’s identity at that point as I understand and respect the right to confidentiality. All I was asking was to be informed of the bones of the accusation against me. Surely anyone can agree this is/would be a reasonable request in any forum. This was certainly the stance taken by all the legal advisors I engaged with after informing them of SBWN’s actions. All were quite taken aback at the flippancy of their conduct, or indeed lack thereof. All were ready to engage with legal proceedings against SBWN with regards to their unfounded defamation, but I reflected on the problematic optics of BAME organisations being ‘brought to order’ by non-BAME establishments, to which all the lawyers specialising in defamation who I’d consulted belonged. In any case, the apparent source of the false accusation SBWN refused to investigate soon became clear in an April announcement of their new team/committee members, including Titilayo Farukuoye[47] with newly stated preferred pronouns as ‘they/them’ (indicating a possible non-binary identity if not other LGBT+ identities previously undisclosed when collaborating on an anti-racism project to benefit an LGBT+ organisation). With that, it became clear that the only prejudicial views here were held not by me, but by SBWN against me. Smdh…

The fallout from this problematic scenario was detrimental from so many angles. Firstly, because it meant since March the wider network of writers have lost out on many BAME-related literary events, articles and initiatives which I would have happily continued sharing with them, including:

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/toni-morrison-author-beloved-tribute-868572/

https://le.ac.uk/literary-leicester/annual-creative-writing-lecture-marlon-james

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/25/welsh-teacher-wins-uk-poetry-prize-with-poem-on-dual-heritage

https://www.spreadtheword.org.uk/applications-for-1-2-1-feedback-from-one-more-chapter/

https://arachnepress.com/2021/02/16/call-for-submissions-for-uk-resident-writers-of-black-asian-and-minority-ethnic-heritage-on-the-theme-of-maps-and-mapping/

https://blackfeministcollective.com/write-for-black-feminist-collective

https://thedecolonialpassage.net/submit-2/

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/weighted-words-launch-event-tickets-146590158109

https://www.jerichoprize.com/

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/02/such-a-fun-age-kiley-reid-review-white-liberals-black-people

https://content.yudu.com/web/1vcls/0A1xp12/BS090421/html/index.html

https://www.allstories.org.uk/

https://www.alfredfagonaward.co.uk/awards/2021-award/

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/leone-rosss-this-one-sky-day-with-nikesh-shukla-irenosen-okojie-tickets-147603182091

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/books-violence-and-resistance-24-eric-huntley-tickets-147078556923

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-black-books-webinar-tickets-151292709567

https://www.ncl.ac.uk/ncla/james-berry/#theprize

https://www.bklynlibrary.org/calendar/cbh-talks-olivette-otele-virtual-20210504

http://www.futureworldsprize.co.uk/prize/

Publication on Scottish Racism impeded

Secondly, because all this came whilst I was in the midst of participating in a SBWN initiative, specifically for a publication focusing on exposing the extent Scottish racism(!) However, on the backdrop of SBWN not doing their due diligence regarding this unfounded accusation, that particular endeavour ran aground, the full repercussions of which still remain to be seen. The great frustration here is that it was impeded by part of the BAME communities that would potentially benefit from it the most. It is the greatest irony that UK-based BAME people fighting for BAME rights/anti-racism ideals are seemingly against the knowledge and understanding of social cohesion from BAME countries/cultures. It is a frustrating paradox that those who purportedly want to decolonise a Eurocentric curriculum are seemingly so rooted in a select neo-Eurocentic view of respectful social inclusion. It's a phenomenon addressed in my intercultural intelligence education project 'What Colour Are Your Senses?' encouraging people to 'expand their horizons', becoming better travelled to unearth the innate extent to which the white gaze or indeed other types of biases seemingly penetrate. Thus UK-based global majority people can then better appreciate the world through a more global gaze. Yet, that's the reality of the situation when dealing with the myopic ‘woke’. Though to spin of Nelson Mandela’s quote, any sort of unjust behaviour ‘must be consciously combatted, and not discreetly tolerated,’ hence the sharing of this series of events.

That said, at each juncture I have always kept the doors of communication open, and this still applies now to all interested parties. Let's reduce the myopia all around, shifting from myopic 'woke' to awakened understanding.

Contact me if you'd like to see all the related materials and correspondence including from the legal advisors evidencing the content of this article.

~ by Abiọ́dún Ọlátòkunbọ̀ Abdul

instagram.com/abiodunoa

twitter.com/Abiodun_Abdul01

facebook.com/ScottishRaceRelations

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[1] Nelson Mandela by Himself: The Authorised Book of Quotations

  https://www.nelsonmandela.org/publications/entry/nelson-mandela-by-himself-the-authorised-book-of-quotations

[2] The Scottish Racism Project ‘deep dives’ research articles

  https://scottish-racism.blogspot.com/p/deep-dives.html

[3] The Scottish Racism Project ‘real lives’ case studies

  https://scottish-racism.blogspot.com/p/real-lives.html

[4] The Rhind Papyrus or Advanced Ancient Egyptian Mathematics (23^rd Nov 2016)

  https://afrolegends.com/2016/11/23/the-rhind-papyrus-or-advanced-ancient-egyptian-mathematics/

[5] Sahara with Michael Palin: Absolute Desert (30^th Nov 2002)

  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074p58

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahara_with_Michael_Palin

[6] 11 Animals That Can Change Their Sex (21^st Oct 2020)

  https://www.treehugger.com/animals-can-change-their-sex-4869361

[7] Blue Planet II wiki page

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Planet_II

[8] 7 gender-bending animals in the animal kingdom (29^th Sept 2016)

  https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/science/nature/article/2016/09/29/7-gender-bending-animals-animal-kingdom

[9] What is Gender Dysphoria?

  https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria

[10] The Splendor of Gender Non-Conformity in Africa (10^th Oct 2017)

  https://medium.com/@janelane_62637/the-splendor-of-gender-non-conformity-in-africa-f894ff5706e1

  If you say being gay is not African, you don’t know your history (9^th Sept 2015)

  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/09/being-gay-african-history-homosexuality-christianity

  Fighting for expression: how homosexuality is breaking out into Africa’s public life (31^st May 2016)

  https://thisisafrica.me/african-identities/fighting-for-expression-how-homosexuality-is-breaking-out-into-africas-public-life-2/

  Non-Binary People Aren't A New Phenomenon – We've Been Here As Long As Humans Have Existed (5 Dec 2018)

  https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/non-binary-travis-alabanza_uk_5c06aa1de4b0cd916fb0947d

[11] How Britain tried to 'erase' India's third gender (31 May 2019)

  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-48442934

  Shahria Sharmin has just been named as a jurors’ pick in this year’s Magnum Awards. She discusses her photos of people who describe themselves as mermaids (20^th July 2017)

  https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20170720-the-semi-sacred-third-gender-of-south-asia

  India Decolonising the Homophobic Legacy of the British Empire (2^nd Oct 2018)

  https://jimmyaajablog.wordpress.com/2018/10/02/india-decolonising-the-homophobic-legacy-of-the-british-empire/

  India transgender gurus in landmark Hindu procession (7 January 2019)

  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-46780219

  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-27031180

  It’s different now, but Muslims have a long history of accepting homosexuality (18^th June 2016)

  https://scroll.in/article/810093/orlando-shooting-its-different-now-but-muslims-have-a-long-history-of-accepting-homosexuality

  The Hidden Histories of Homosexuality in Asia (29^th July 2016)

  https://www.fairobserver.com/region/asia_pacific/hidden-histories-homosexuality-asia-77120/

  Stoning Gay People to Death in Brunei Is an Outrage and Not My Definition of Islam (9^th April 2019)

  https://theintercept.com/2019/04/09/brunei-stoning-gay-sex-anti-lgbt-law/

[12] Before European Christians Forced Gender Roles, Native Americans Acknowledged 5 Genders (19^th June 2016)

  https://bipartisanreport.com/2016/06/19/before-european-christians-forced-gender-roles-native-americans-acknowledged-5-genders/

  Two Spirits, One Heart, Five Genders (7^th Sept 2017)

  https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/two-spirits-one-heart-five-genders-9UH_xnbfVEWQHWkjNn0rQQ

  An Aztec Two-Spirit Cosmology: Re-Sounding Nahuatl Masculinities, Elders, Femininities, and Youth

  https://www.jstor.org/stable/3347344?seq=1

  Two-Spirit: Meet the Native Americans embracing their LGBT+ tribe members (5^th April 2019)

  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/native-americans-lgbt-two-spirit-a8853561.html

  The 2 Is Separate: Decolonizing Justice Through Two-Spirit Sovereignty

  https://www.colorbloq.org/the-2-is-separate-decolonizing-justice-through-two-spirit-sovereignty

  The Third Gender of Southern Mexico (26^th Nov 2018)

  http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20181125-the-third-gender-of-southern-mexico

[13] Pre-colonial communities’ history of gender fluidity (29^th July 2020)

   https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-53573764/pre-colonial-communities-history-of-gender-fluidity

   Brotherboys And Sistergirls: We Need To Decolonise Our Attitude Towards Gender In This Country (20^th July 2020)

   https://junkee.com/brotherboy-sistergirl-decolonise-gender/262222

   LGBTI Aboriginal people – diversity at the margins (13^th Aug 2020)

   https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/people/lgbti-aboriginal-people-diversity-at-the-margins

[14] Scottish Racism in Education

    https://scottish-racism.blogspot.com/2020/03/education.html

[15] Intercultural Youth Scotland (IYS)

    https://interculturalyouthscotland.org/

[16] Anti-Racist Educator (ARE)

    https://www.theantiracisteducator.com/

[17] Scottish Racism in Football

    https://scottish-racism.blogspot.com/2020/04/football.html

[18] Linda Bellos gets TERF'd (17^th October 2017) 

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmuHrQ1fTL4

[19] If feminist Linda Bellos is seen as a risk, progressive politics has lost its way (6^th Oct 2017) 

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/06/feminist-linda-bellos-women-trans-male-violence

[20] Linda Bellos on trans activism, coming out, and being a black lesbian feminist on the left (13th Nov 2018)

    https://www.feministcurrent.com/2018/11/13/interview-linda-bellos-trans-activism-coming-black-lesbian-feminist-left/

[21] What Colour Are Your Senses? - Stage 1: Changing Your Perceptions

    https://wcays.org/stage-1/

[22] Debbie Hayton | The Spectator columnists & writers

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/writer/debbie-hayton/

[23] Transwoman ordered to delete ‘hateful’ tweets about gender (4^th Feb 2019)

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/transwoman-ordered-to-delete-hateful-tweets-about-gender-tkt8rl2s9

[24] Why I’m with women for rights and autonomy for all (12^th April 2018)

    https://womansplaceuk.org/why-im-with-women-for-rights-and-autonomy-for-all/

[25] LGBT rights in the Navajo Nation

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_the_Navajo_Nation

    Navajo Nation's LGBTQ Pride Event Celebrates A Return To The Culture's History (11^th July 2019)

    https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2019/07/11/738099923/navajo-nations-lgbtq-pride-event-celebrates-a-return-to-the-culture-s-history

[26] Nelson Mandela Speaking on Palestine

    http://www.salo.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Nelson-Mandela-Speaking-on-Palestine.pdf

[27] Tutu: Israel's Humiliation of Palestinians 'Familiar to Black South Africans' (10^th March 2014)

    https://www.haaretz.com/israel-s-treatment-of-palestinians-like-apartheid-1.5331392

[28] Jewish professor calls out Zionist crocodile tears (9^th Dec 2017)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXn4rgtlgqw

[29] Transgender people who agree with using terms ‘men’ and ‘women’ too afraid to speak out, tribunal hears (18^th Nov 2019)

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/11/18/transgender-people-agree-using-terms-men-women-afraid-speak

    Trans rights will be durable only if campaigners respect women's concerns (13^th July 2018)

    https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/07/13/trans-rights-will-be-durable-only-if-campaigners-respect-womens-concerns

[30] LGB Alliance

    https://lgballiance.org.uk/

[31] In praise of the LGB Alliance (24^th April 2021)

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/in-praise-of-the-lgb-alliance

[32] Racism is not just a white problem – it’s time we Asians confronted our own prejudices (10^th Nov 2020)

    https://inews.co.uk/news/long-reads/racism-south-asian-prejudices-black-lives-matter-753885

   “Indian racism towards Black people is almost worse than white peoples’ racism” An Interview with Arundhati Roy (8^th June 2020)

    https://www.dalitcamera.com/indian-racism-towards-black-people-is-almost-worse-than-white-peoples-racism/

    How to talk to your Asian immigrant parents about racism while considering their lived experiences (11^th June 2020)

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/how-talk-your-asian-immigrant-parents-about-racism-n1229411

[33] Why Transgender People Experience More Mental Health Issues (6^th Dec 2016)

    https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/the-truth-about-exercise-addiction/201612/why-transgender-people-experience-more-mental-health

[34] Study finds health risks for transgender women on hormone therapy (9^th July 2018)

    https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/study-finds-health-risks-transgender-women-hormone-therapy-n890031

[35] Scottish Racism in Medicine

    https://scottish-racism.blogspot.com/2020/05/medicine.html

[36] Science's Institutional Racism (27^th June 2020)

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0262407920311258

[37] How Medical Education Is Missing the Bull’s-eye (25^th June 2020)

    https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1915891

[38] Trans people twice as likely to be victims of crime in England and Wales (17^th July 2020)

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/17/trans-people-twice-as-likely-to-be-victims-of-in-england-and-wales

[39] Media coverage of Naomi Hersi's death is a disgrace (26^th March 2018)

    https://www.stonewall.org.uk/cy/node/65106

[40] Pre-colonial communities’ history of gender fluidity (29^th July 2020)

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-53573764/pre-colonial-communities-history-of-gender-fluidity

[41] Nigerian authors condemn country's new anti-gay law (27^th Feb 2014)

    https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/27/nigeria-anti-gay-law-critic-adichie-kay-habila

[42] Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Interview (11^th March 2017)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP1C7VXUfZQ

[43] Chimamanda Adichie: I have nothing to apologize for over transgender women comments (23^rd March 2017)

    https://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/23/africa/chimamanda-adichie-transgender-row/index.html

    Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on transgender row: 'I have nothing to apologise for' (21^st March 2017)

    https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/21/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-nothing-to-apologise-for-transgender-women

[44] Scottish BAME Writer’s Network

    https://scottishbamewritersnetwork.org/

[45] Scottish BAME Writer’s Network (SBWN) Committee, March 2021

    https://scottishbamewritersnetwork.org/about/

[46] Defamation in Scots law: consultation (14^th Jan 2019)

    https://www.gov.scot/publications/defamation-scots-law-consultation/pages/4/

[47] Welcome new team members, Kelly Kanayama, Mae Diansangu and Titilayo Farukuoye (19^th April 2021)

    https://scottishbamewritersnetwork.org/welcome-new-team-members-kelly-kanayama-mae-diansangu-and-titilayo-farukuoye/