Richard Dawkins, a British evolutionary biologist and author has urged his supporters to support a statement opposing the gender identity movement and the prescription of puberty blockers to children who want to transition.
The 80 year old author of "The God Delusion" took to social media this week to share "Declaration on Women's Sex-based Rights," a statement that "re-affirms women and girls' sex-based rights, and challenges the discrimination we experience from the replacement of the category of sex with that of 'gender identity.'"
The declaration has earned over 26,900 signatures across 153 countries and 400 organizations as of writing. It is supported by a myriad of feminist organizations and businesses all over the world and is spearheaded by the Women's Human Rights Campaign headquartered in Suffolk, United Kingdom and which describes itself as a "group of volunteer women from across the globe dedicated to protecting women's sex-based rights."
According to the Christian Post, the declaration firmly opposes gender reassignment surgery and the use of puberty blockers on children, as well as laws that define the term "mother" to include someone who is not born female. The declaration also expressed support for sex-based rights.
The declaration lamented how the concept of "gender identity" is now being used to reassign children who do not conform to traditional sex stereotypes into another gender and youth who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria. It raised the concern of how medical interventions often "carry a high risk of long-term adverse consequences on the physical or psychological health of a child." These medical interventions include "puberty suppressing hormones, cross-sex hormones, and surgery," most of which are being used on children "who are not developmentally competent to give full, free and informed consent."
The declaration also condemned hte use of "the category of sex...with the language of gender" in "United Nations documents, strategies, and actions," which they believe has caused "confusion" and undermines the "protection of women's human rights." It lamented how "gender identities" are now being given rights and protections, which in turn erodes the "gains made by women over decades."
This is not the first time Dawkins opposed the gender identity movement. Earlier this week, he also expressed support for British philosophy professor Kathleen Stock, who recently left her teaching position at the University of Sussex. Stock was heavily criticized for her views on gender identity, with protests sparking over it.
Dawkins took to Twitter to describe Stock's book, "Material Girls" as "excellent" and "refreshingly sensible." He added, "If her arguments seem laboured, it's because she's daily surrounded by obscurantist logomachists."
In October, Stock argued that gender identity is not more important than biological sex, "particularly when it comes to law and policy." She concluded that people simply cannot change their biological sex, an opinion that trans activists opposed her for, The Guardian reported. When Sussex's chapter of the University and College Union (UCU) released a statement siding with transgenders in the debate, Stock took to Twitter to share that they had "effectively ended [her] career at Sussex University.
