Graham Linehan show staged outside Scottish parliament after second venue cancels Makeshift outdoor show held after two venues cancel booking of comedian known for his gender-critical beliefs Severin Carrell Scotland editor @severincarrell Thu 17 Aug 2023 21.47 BST A comedy event featuring Father Ted creator Graham Linehan was staged in the open air outside the Scottish parliament on Thursday evening, after a second Edinburgh venue refused to stage it. The organisers, Comedy Unleashed, booked the plaza outside Holyrood’s main entrance, and erected a small makeshift stage for an audience of roughly 120 people, after failing to find another indoor venue. Linehan, seen by transgender rights activists as hateful and extreme in his gender-critical views, performed a short set, telling the audience he had been forced to try comedy after failing to find scriptwriting work for five years because of his stance on transgender issues. The first venue that had been booked for the event, Leith Arches, cancelled on Tuesday, sparking a fresh row about the law around gender-critical beliefs. Linehan, 55, had said he was considering legal action against Leith Arches for discrimination on the grounds that gender-critical beliefs are protected under the Equality Act. On Thursday he refused to comment to the Guardian about whether he would take legal action, but told the audience the last few days had been the strangest of his career. “It’s been such a strange day. I think I’ll leave it there. But I just wanted to say, first of all, I’m really sorry that you got messed around today. As you can tell, despite the animal cruelty, there’s not really much to these jokes … “It’s just insane. I mean, I’ve been fighting this stuff for five years, and I’ve never seen anything as insane as [the] last few days.” After the first venue cancelled, Comedy Unleashed told ticket holders that it had arranged for a second venue to host the show, but on Thursday afternoon it said the new venue had also cancelled. Andy Shaw, Comedy Unleashed’s cofounder, said he carried no ill-will towards the second venue. “I just think it’s become such a big issue that people are just getting cold feet and don’t want the attention, and I understand that,” he said. “It’s not ideological at all. They just want a quiet life. It has been the hardest gig I have ever organised in my life. It should be a lot easier.” Earlier, Shaw said they had finally found “a very unusual place” at very short notice. He said the show, which features five comedians including Linehan, normally ran for 150 minutes with two intervals but Thursday evening’s show would be significantly shorter. Earlier this summer there was a row over the cancellation of an interview-based event involving Joanna Cherry, the gender-critical Scottish National party MP, as part of this month’s Edinburgh fringe. The venue, the Stand, cancelled the show after its staff complained about Cherry’s gender-critical beliefs. It had to reverse the ban after Cherry produced a legal opinion, based on recent court decisions, that the venue was unlawfully discriminating against her. After initially failing to explain its reasons for banning the Linehan event, Leith Arches published an updated statement on Instagram. It said: “We work very closely with the LGBT+ community, it is a considerable part of our revenue, we believe hosting this one-off show would have a negative effect on our future bookings.” Michael Foran, an expert on equalities law at Glasgow University, said Leith Arches could defend its decision in law if it could prove the event was cancelled for reasons other than Linehan’s gender-critical views.
Transgender women banned from women's chess events please log in to view this image The International Chess Federation (FIDE) says it is temporarily banning transgender women from competing in its women's events. The FIDE said individual cases would require "further analysis" and that a decision could take up to two years. The move has been criticised by some players and enthusiasts. Many sports governing bodies have been working on policies towards transgender athletes, but chess does not involve comparable levels of physical activity. However the FIDE told the BBC it wanted to analyse the impact of these policies and did not want to rush this process. "The transgender legislation is rapidly developing in many countries and many sport bodies are adopting their own policies," it said. "FIDE will be monitoring these developments and see how we can apply them to the world of chess. Two years is a scope of sight that seemed reasonable for the thorough analyses of such developments." It added that transgender players could still compete in the open section of its tournaments. Yosha Iglesias, a trans woman professional chess player with the FIDE rank of chess master, said the policy would lead to "unnecessary harm" for trans players and women. "This appalling situation will lead to depression and suicide attempts," Iglesias said. Woman Grandmaster and two-time US Women's Champion Jennifer Shahade also criticised the FIDE decision, saying the policy was "ridiculous and dangerous". "It's obvious they didn't consult with any transgender players in constructing it... I strongly urge FIDE to reverse course on this and start from scratch with better consultants," Ms Shahade said. UK MP Angela Eagle, who was a joint winner of the 1976 British Girls' Under-18 chess championship, said: "There is no physical advantage in chess unless you believe men are inherently more able to play than women - I spent my chess career being told women's brains were smaller than men's and we shouldn't even be playing." "This ban is ridiculous and offensive to women," she added. In its policy decision, FIDE also said that trans men who had won women's titles before transitioning would see their titles abolished. Chess is classified as a sport by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
It's what has been believed for thousands of years. Of course, now there are hormone drugs etc and operations to try to change that. For me, men who do it will always be trans women, but it would get them quite a long way to where they want to go. Good luck to them. What I'm sure of is that just because a bloke puts on a dress and lipstick, doesn't make him a woman.
“Where’s the Pride flag?” “**** knows. Just put out the Twister mat.” please log in to view this image 6:
