The Interview (3)
by
Angharad.
We finished our practical sessions and were analyzing the results which showed how much the local water courses were polluted by both sewage and industrial waste, neither causers of the pollution being interested in resolving it. It seems that standards now don't exist in the UK and people can do as they like. Fiona came wearing the almost uniform of the majority of girls, jeans and sweat shirt or similar top. She wore minimal makeup and we had minimal reaction. The odd student or member of staff muttered under their breath but no calls of abuse were shared aloud. It seemed as in the 'Nine days Wonder', was over and she was just different but tolerated. So things settled down and we got on with concluding our analysis when suddenly the sky fell in.

The Supreme Court, from which one expects a degree of maturity and common sense showed none, they ruled on what constituted being a woman. I admit I was devastated, they had betrayed us, the transgender community, throwing us under the bus to meet with the demands of the rightwing press and influence. We were suddenly non-people and could do anything that involved using anything that was labelled female only space, so that meant things like public toilets or changing rooms. They didn't say what we supposed to do because their pronouncement was all contradictions and also reneged on the Gender Reassignment Certificate I had, which declared that I was female and to be treated as such. It effectively tore it up.

The TERFs had won, showing that they don't have any compassion because transgender women were now a nothing although it was illegal to discriminate against us unless you were a judge or using their pronouncement, when you could be. It appears that top judges are just as confused as anybody else and seem to be 'bought' by the Nazi lesbians that the TERFs are. I had a think about it and although very depressed because they had just rolled us back twenty years before the gender act was passed, I went in to college to do my job and educate these children and try to get them into university, if that's what they wanted.

The name calling began as soon as Fiona walked in. She hadn't done anything but people were asking about the toilets and not sharing it with a fag or an 'arse bandit', 'shirt lifter' or worse a man. Girls were protesting and the boys just stirred the pot. I tried to minimise the disturbance where one of the girls who had seemed okay before, now asked if Fiona had a dangly bit, so she should go to the boys toilet or stand behind a bush in the car park. There was then increased cheering and jeering and Fiona was in tears. I went to try to low level comfort her but she stood and then ran out of the laboratory sobbing loudly.

The girl who had insulted her, perhaps abused her was sitting laughing and seemed proud of her attack. I wanted to punch her in the face, she so richly deserved it, but as an adult I had to stay in control of my class. I would report her for abusive behaviour but I suspect we'd have her parents complaining and showing the same lack of understanding and intolerance. I was tempted to do everything I could to fail her as a reward for her lack of compassion, but realised that made me as bad as her.

I went in search of Fiona who I hoped hadn't done anything stupid and eventually found her in the disabled loo, sobbing her heart out. What ten days ago seemed to be her dream had been turned into a nightmare by five judges. They had done the same to me but being a sane adult, I had to get on with it. How dare they? If somebody attacks you or kills you, say drops a missile on you for no reason like Russia and Israel do, they would be considered guilty of a war crime, except the United Nations has no balls and doesn't seem to be able to stop them. Perhaps, chucking Russia off the permanent committee would be an effective answer, but that wouldn't stop them assaulting Ukrainians, it seems might is right. I still had some thinking to do on this because arguably the legal system had just demonstrated that cliché to be very correct, just as much as the Orange One in America did. Showing that technology and science may move ever forward but human behaviour is going backwards.

I obviously couldn't go into the loo as well as Fiona but had to try and coax her out, it seemed to take forever, and when I did I couldn't really comfort her. I couldn't explain why people were so horrible to each other, just that they were and the atmosphere at present was for the bullies to win. I hoped for a revolution and we guillotine them in the local park, but that wasn't what I really wanted, I wanted everybody to accept each other and live in peace and harmony. It had about as much chance of happening as energy produced by fission, providing us with cheap power and pissing off the oil companies who have been destroying our lovely planet for a hundred years.

In the end I took Fiona home, she was still weeping and I must admit I felt like joining her. I spoke briefly to her mother but I suspect my explanation lacked coherence but I did manage to say it was fellow student abuse and was based on yesterday's Supreme Court pronouncement. She nodded and I saw tears in her eyes before she went in to comfort her daughter. My final statement was the college would be investigating it, but I suspect they will abandon Fiona to please the loud mouthed bullies who were in the majority. It's the politics of the spineless, but it applies to all levels of institution from parliament down, plus there are some TERFs in many of the institutions who are sharpening their claws. Maybe we do need a revolution, but a peaceful one - yeah, like that's going to happen, more likely to have transgender individuals erased from history. I supposed I had better watch my back, I wonder how I'd look wearing a yellow star on my clothes.

One of the problems in living in stealth is you tend not to keep in touch with possible support groups, I was therefore spending my free time brooding on what would happen next. I knew for certain that no sympathetic god would descend in a chariot and save the day, because he like compassion amongst the bullies, didn't exist. Christianity is something largely missing from so called Christians, it always has been ever since the Church of Rome butchered the opposition sects in the early Mediaeval period. Truth was I couldn't imagine what would happen next, I couldn't believe what had happened so far, so what would happen to Fiona, I hated to think. It was nearly every woman for herself, oh of course I'm not a woman anymore, legally anyway.

Oh well, I think Dickens' quote is appropriate, 'the law is a ass - a idiot.' So thinks Mr Bumble in Oliver Twist.. The quote is best taken with a cuppa, or a stiff drink but I had learned my lesson with alcohol, it has no place in my world, it didn't help when I was a student trying to sort myself out and it wouldn't happen now, it's just a waste of money and can lead to all sorts of disease including liver disease and diabetes as well as losing control. Thinking transgender people never want to lose control, it could expose them, which is now very important because in order to have any form of existence or better life, one was going to have to ignore the law but quietly and remembering the early stages of going out in public, don't look shifty and stay confident and most people won't challenge you.

How we could have a two tier system is baffling to me as I thought the previous method seemed to work for all its faults, except activist always want more, so young men who were quite good at their sport wanted to compete as women and men do have advantages, stronger and heavier bones, bigger muscles and heart and lungs. This is why most women are wary of male predators because men can overpower them and hurt them either physically or mentally. I'm totally with them on that score, being as I thought a weaker female, moderately attractive, I could be attacked and hurt by a larger male, so I didn't put myself at risk if I could help it.

In the late afternoon, I went to see the principal and told him of what happened to Fiona and how the other girl had made such aggressive abuse of her, all verbal because usually girls fight with insults rather than blows, but they can be equally harmful and in Fiona's case they upset her. She was very vulnerable and that girl saw it and struck like a hyena would. I doubly wanted to hit her or better still humiliate her in front of a large group and fail her. The latter would be difficult as she was on the better half of the class. I'd have to wait and see what happens, bide my time so to speak. It didn't make me feel good, in fact quite the opposite but no one could have predicted five fools could destroy the lives of under 9000 people who thought that a piece of paper gave them protection. How wrong could we be?

The principal didn't know what to do and was waiting for guidance from up the foodchain. I said I would go and see Fiona and talk to her and try to talk her into completing the course, she certainly was capable of it. I don't think a university would have too many problems and by then they'd have a system in operation, and they'd still presumably take her.

I phoned and spoke to her mother, she told me Fiona was very distraught at what had happened and when I asked if I could go and see her she didn't sound very confident of Fiona being able to deal with me. I assured her I'd be very gentle and supportive. I went at midday and she was right Fiona was still very distraught.

She wanted to know why it had happened, I wasn't certain but I suggested that a group of women who felt threatened by transwomen had spent years building up to this and had gained some very powerful and wealthy backers. They possibly made a difference otherwise it could have been transwomen in sport that brought it about, now even those who hadn't had a male puberty would no longer be able to compete as it depended on birth sex, which shows how inadequate the thinking of the supreme court judges was. They might be experts on the law, but they didn't have the critical thinking to be scientists, nor were any called to give evidence, in fact, it seems that no transwomen were called even though there are several with qualifications in law, one a judge and several barristers. It was in my view a kangaroo court and I hope is overturned at the European Court of Human Rights, which the Tories have been trying to leave for a number of years. Perhaps right will eventually triumph but right as in correct not politics, the latter are toxic and poison everything they touch, look at the USA for example.

"So I'm a nonperson now am I?" she asked me.

"No you are exactly the same as before and as transgender you are protected."

"As long as I don't want to pee," she said wrily.

"I hope that we'll have some system in operation before very long to minimise any aggro, for now use the disabled ones."

"But I'm not disabled, am I?"she asked.

"No, you're not. This has to be the most ridiculous outcome from a judicial investigation and affects nearly nine thousand people, I'll bet they wouldn't do it on religious grounds because if they looked deeply enough all religions would be lacking a logical base, they're all cons but it would cause riots and people would die. Perhaps we need some mass protests to show how many are affected but then lots wouldn't come because they are in deep stealth and it could give them away."

"So what do I do, Dr Hudson?"

"I think you tough it out, try to be seen as playing ball with the law but ignore the snipes and stupid comments and I shall do my best to stop it. I have reported the girl who was nasty to you, as far as I know she discriminated against you, that is still an offence, so I suspect she's going to have a very uncomfortable time with the principal. He actually supports you but obviously has to watch his own step to be seen as neutral, but he's a nice man and he does want to see you succeed and go on to university or get a job in the environmental department of the council or something like that. Personally, I would recommend university, it gives you greater credibility and usually better pay, which is important."

Fiona agreed to come back the next day and I gave her notes on what she had missed, she seemed appreciative of that. I was in the class and as she walked in and the rumble started. Jane Grant tried to make stupid comments and laughed at them. I stopped the noise by saying when I had studied hyenas on the African savannahs they had sounded incredibly like her. The class then found a new target and she left the room in tears. I left it to see she was alright, she was, she was phoning her mum to say I had humiliated her. she was wrong if I had humiliated her she didn't have much moral strength and I would point this out to her mother, if she came and complained. They ain't seen anything yet. I can fight with my tongue too and I am cleverer than most of them. If they want to play hardball, I can do the same, I just have to avoid them hiring an investigator and digging too deeply in my past. Hopefully, I've covered my tracks quite well and I transitioned on my bachelor's degree, so even that was presented to Jenny Hudson and a subsequent master's and doctoral degree were the same. I had changed my surname as well as my first name so unless they knew my original one they wouldn't find me easily and I had nothing published until I was a woman.

I felt my comments were justified and as Fiona was an accepted transitioning student and thus recorded as a transwoman, Jane's comments were an offence, as transwomen are still protected against discrimination unless you were a Supreme Court Judge then senility and stupidity may get you off.