Sunday, February 18, 2007

Mother & Father Are Now Offensive Words

The Scottish NHS (supported by Stonewall) has just brought out a document entitled FAIR FOR ALL - THE WIDER CHALLENGE - GOOD LGBT* PRACTICE IN THE NHS. You can read all 56 pages of it HERE. Apparently we should now no longer use the term 'mother' or 'father' for fear of offending...

Here's a quote from the taxpayer funded document...

Using the terms “husband”, “wife” and “marriage” assumes opposite sex
relationships only and will automatically exclude all LGB people. Using the term
“partner” and “they/them” to refer to the partner will avoid this problem. This
is also inclusive of all heterosexual couples, regardless of their marital status.

LGBT people can and do have children, sexual orientation or gender identity
has nothing to do with good parenting or good child care. According to a Scottish wide survey, one fifth of LGBT people have children. Some children will have been born or adopted into heterosexual relationships before a parent had ‘come out’ and some are born into samesex relationships or adopted by an LGB individual. Individual circumstances lead to varied family structures and parenting arrangements. It is important to be aware of this. When talking to children, consider using “parents”, “carers” or “guardians” rather than “mother” or “father”.

So now you know. I don't know how much public money was wasted on this document, but it's money that should have been spent on patient care.

* For the uninitiated LGBT stands for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender

52 comments:

Henry Whitmarsh said...

Sometimes I despair. All I ever wanted was to be equal, but these self annointed representatives of lgbt folk just make the whole thing look ridiculous and grasping.

Anonymous said...

We can counter this nonsense. Always use the expressions "Your husband" and "Your wife" and express surprise when told the parties are not married. If you are feeling particularly bolshie you can ask, "Why not?"

Anonymous said...

Hmm..Mr Dale, You have let us down here by only giving a partial view of the facts.

You have clearly glossed over what the policy is for childrens' grandparents.

Should these now be referred to as 'female maternal grandparent 1' and 'male maternal grandparent 2' in the case of a lesbian couple ??

Anonymous said...

This is all very well, but has anyone told the children ?? If anyone asks a Scottish ten-year old, 'Where's your guardian', they may well get the response :-

'I dinnae ken, we have the Daily Record in oor hoose'...

[with sincere apologies to any Scottish readers for the crap accent]

Anonymous said...

And it misses out on one important point: taking a lead from the people you're actually dealing with so as to relate to them and not cause offence, especially when these people are vulnerable.

Gavin said...

OK. I get it. So....The correct way for an NHS staff member to inform a man whose wife is starting to go into labour that there are no beds available, is to say "I'm very sorry, but we are unable to accommodate your partner of the female gender but who may or may not be a lesbian or indeed who may have experimented with lesbianism in her past, at this hospital today, Sir...ooops I mean Sir as in person of the male gender, not precluding that you may be a person of the female gender with an unusually bass voice, who may or may not be...."
Right. Glad that's all sorted out and that everything is ship-shape and correct!

Old BE said...

Why don't these idiots just let the nurses and doctors use their own brains to decide what the best way of referring to someone is?

Do we have to be micro-managed through every minute of the day?

MANTEX said...

What on earth is LGBT??

It sounds like some new variation on a Bacon Lettuce and Tomato sandwich.

Anonymous said...

After 8 years of the Lab/Libdem coalition in Scotland I can't imagine why anyone would be surprised by this!
Just further "dumbing down" of family life through a politically correct philosophy, which seems hell bent on trying to marginalise large groups of people in the hope of avoiding offence to a few.
And the sad thing is that some people especially the elderly do not like having their wife/husband of 40+ years being described as their partner, they quite like the fact they are married and still think that commitment deserves some recognition.

Anonymous said...

See what confused idiots the Scottish NHS has running them....a few more votes for the SNP there no doubt.

It is modern Secular Blasphemy Law


Why did you explain the acronym LGBT by putting homosexual women in lower-case Iain.?....you'll be getting a knock on the door from the thought Police and a trip to Room 101

Anonymous said...

I'm with Chatterbox on this one. The trouble with this "let's not offend anyone" language, is that it will most certainly offend huge numbers of people.

The vast majority of (may I use this word without offence?) MARRIED couples - by which term I mean a man and a woman, to make things clear - are very offended when their spouse (husband or wife) is referred to as their "partner", and the longer they have been married the more offended they are. My mother wouldn't have known who you meant if you had referred to my father as her "partner" - he was her husband for almost 50 years and she was in no doubt as to their status!

Don't their feelings count then?

Raedwald said...

My old dad used to say that only nouns had gender; people had sex.

Anyhow, my local NHS trust here in London has dropped all this old-fashioned gay, lesbian whatever malarky and now refers to 'men who have sex with men' (and presumably also to 'women who have sex with women', 'men who have sex with men or women', 'men who have sex with anyone' etc. though I haven't seen those ones yet)

Anonymous said...

Those LGBTers with their demands to be treated with respect. Who the hell do they think they are?

Anonymous said...

Ah, Iain. You're the beneficiary of nearly 40 years of legislated tolerance and you still sound like a reactionary maiden aunt.

Pray tell, we know what you're against on this matter, enlighten us with your alternative manifesto. Go on, dear boy, be constructive for a change.dsapfopu

Anonymous said...

Yes Raedwald because as iain can no doubt confirm some of those MSM (Men who have sex with Men) are in fact married, and to women.

The world is horribly confusing and the best efforts of these PC types to increase Schizophrenia and assorted Mental Illnesses should not go unpunished.

We have some very psychaitrically disturbed people given power and influence in this society

Anonymous said...

My bet is that no-one involved with this comedy is gay.

Remember the punchline to the "Madam Butterfly is racist" story - the spokesman from the Japanese emabassy said it wasn't.

Anonymous said...

Who would have thought that the NHS is Scotland's largest employer?

Not the oil industry, and its subsidiary operations such as oil rig building, specialized steel production, oil refining, specialized oil-based product manufacture; not power generation, not agriculture and associated tourism and heritage industries, not cutting edge elctronic technology, not even out sourced service industries.

And even the biggest and most important Scottish employer has to devise, write and publish a pamphlet on common courtesy and the nature and practice of good manners because they cannot recruit a properly brought-up workforce.

Never mind an educated, entrepreneurial, investing, productive manufacturing, dynamic, scientifically, technologically, linguistically, artistically - what you will- wealth- contributing
nation of men and women; Is the clearly failing education system the next biggest employer?
Agreed, the NHS is the largest single employer but many of the the other sectors ought to be bigger than the NHS if they're functioning at all.

The globalised sectors of the UK economy are funding all this; there is a limit to how much of this long welfare tail the functioning economy can be persuaded to bear.

Anonymous said...

I don't know how much it cost either but it was to much.

Prodicus said...

Trumpeter Lanfried - nice one. Love doing that, to make the point but also for the satisfaction of seeing the noses of the pc brigade being bend to one side as they come smack up against someone prepared cheerfully to show up their rubbish for what it is: mangled language in the service of social engineering, to the great damage of society.

Anonymous said...

Never mind a Clause 4 moment for the Tories, maybe it's time for another Section 28 moment?

Anonymous said...

"* For the uninitiated LGBT stands for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender"


Thanks for that clarification, Iain. I always thought it was something to do with Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato rolls.

towcestarian said...

Don't know about "partner" and "guardian", but I sure as hell am gettin' mightily peed off with hearing the beeboids and other dumbed down media types constantly referring to mothers as "mums".

Anonymous said...

LGB is a company which makes garden railways and the little toy passengers.

This is useful information if someone mentions LGBT and you want to play dumb.

Anonymous said...

hatfield girl is back !! where have you been, poppet ?? what have you been doing ? you've been away too long, but it is great to have you back.

The Hitch said...

Bi sexuals are just greedy bastards, although it must be f***** great to be able to out at night and be guaranteed a jump without being Ro****

Guido 2.0 said...

Hitch: For the record, Manic has already clearly stated the following ...

"There is no such thing as a bisexual. A bisexual is simply a homosexual who hasn't made his or her mind up yet... between men, women and children, that is."

Cheers

Teh Guido

Anonymous said...

Hmmm..They are concerned about 'staff journeys'..good to see that they are taking transport issues seriously..

but fear not, they have a solution - 'referral pathways' - that will make it easier for the nurses in their high heels on a cold and frosty morning..

Does anyone reading this crap have the slightest idea what they have to do differently at the end of it ?

It runs to over 50 pages - does a busy GP really have time to be fartarsing around with this in his surgery ??

Any stereotyping is completely intentional..

Anonymous said...

Towcester- It's the same with magazines and newspapers advising people not to forget to eat fruit and veg. That drives me crazy!

Back on topic - the left hates the family. The left knows the family has been the bedrock of society since time immemorial. The left intends to destroy the family.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

"The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of IngSoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible." (George Orwell)

Stonewall is a pressure group dedicated to neutralising all critical opposition to its constituency. in this case by commandeering language, our most basic tool. Some people disagree with aspects of the homosexual lifestyle, whilst, quite reasonably recognising the right of Gays and Lesbians to partake in society without fear of persecution. For this, these people are labeled homophobic, and are themselves turned into victims and scapegoats.

This kind of assault on our freedom to own our language is born of fascism, nothing less. It is a paradigm of tyranny of the many by the few.

I hope very much that in years to come, ordiary people will realise that minority group tyranny was an abberation - a function of political correctness - and that we may once more live in enlightened times when we all have the freedom to live and think as we wish, not as someone believes we should.

The Hitch said...

guido 2.0 (tim)
I disagree
sex is sex and sometimes it goes with emotion, a gay man may indeed fancy some women as some straight men fancy some other men.
Confusing for some not so confusing for others
Who cares!

Anonymous said...

Wrinkled Weasel - I have been banging on for the last year that the phrase "political correctness" was just thought fascism in fancy dress.

That is why there is no such thing as "political correctness gone mad". It was always mad - as in insanely controlling.

To try to take the words 'mother' and 'father' away from children is wicked. They are the two most comforting words a child can hear during its childhood.

Yes, such directives are Newspeak and are intended to be thought tyranny.

Anonymous said...

"Those LGBTers with their demands to be treated with respect. Who the hell do they think they are?"

What of those heterosexuals who wish to be treated with respect by not having their mothers, fathers, husbands and wives called "partners" and "guardians"?

Laban said...

There was a silence; then, clearing his throat, "Once upon a time," the Director began, "while our Ford was still on earth, there was a little boy called Reuben Rabinovitch. Reuben was the child of Polish-speaking parents."

The Director interrupted himself. "You know what Polish is, I suppose?"

"A dead language."

"Like French and German," added another student, officiously showing off his learning.

"And 'parent'?" questioned the D.H.C.

There was an uneasy silence. Several of the boys blushed. They had not yet learned to draw the significant but often very fine distinction between smut and pure science. One, at last, had the courage to raise a hand.

"Human beings used to be …" he hesitated; the blood rushed to his cheeks. "Well, they used to be viviparous."

"Quite right." The Director nodded approvingly.

"And when the babies were decanted …"

"'Born,'" came the correction.

"Well, then they were the parents–I mean, not the babies, of course; the other ones." The poor boy was overwhelmed with confusion.

"In brief," the Director summed up, "the parents were the father and the mother." The smut that was really science fell with a crash into the boys' eye-avoiding silence. "Mother," he repeated loudly rubbing in the science; and, leaning back in his chair, "These," he said gravely, "are unpleasant facts; I know it. But then most historical facts are unpleasant."

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Right that does it. I'm going to ask people I meet if they've met anyone good while cruising or cottaging recently. If it's acceptable to assume that people are straight when you don't know, then there can be no objection to assuming people are gay either.

Anonymous said...

And Boothroyd, no harm in assuming that all gay people go cottaging and cruising, apparently.

Anonymous said...

with regards to the confused of above as a gay man I've spent 20+ years wondering what on earth transgendered people have to do with lesbian and gay ones. These days in ultra LGB circles you'd be hounded for leaving out the T part.

Johnny Norfolk said...

Further evidence of just waht is wrong with Britain. Who is going to free us from all this rubbish.

Anonymous said...

Johnny Norfolk - why don't you do it? Why not get a group going?

Americans do, all the time. That is why American politicians are so frightened of American voters.

Janejill said...

Whatever happened to LTAHAW? I used to have to interview people to decide if they were or not! Playing God indeed. The ones I hated doing were the APF - any guesses?

Scott M said...

How tragic. One sentence in a 98-page document suggests that nursing staff might do well to engage their brains and not make assumptions upon initially meeting someone -- and, you know, actually talking to someone to find out the facts.

And from that, words like "banned" and "political correctness" get thrown about. Not because they're either true or appropriate, but because it (a) makes for good copy and (b) means that nobody ever has to entertain the concept that there might be a better way of approaching situations.

Anonymous said...

by an LGB individual.

How can anyone be a Lesbian-Gay-Bi-Sexual individual ?? !!!!

Serf said...

Doctors and Nurses have to train for years to be able to do their jobs. Yet the NHS treats them like brainless idiots, and political pawns.

Nationalised Monopolies are not a good idea.

Peter Briffa said...

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007080145,00.html

You've made the papers again, Iain.

Anonymous said...

verity [9.30 PM] That's it! We fight back with the phrase "thought fascism". Whenever someone mentions political correctness we say, "You mean thought fascism?"

Welcome back, verity.

Anonymous said...

No,no,no,no,no Yes!

LGBT! we just used to say AC/DC

Anonymous said...

I rather resent being lumped together with the trannies; sexual orientation and 'gender alignment' are two very different issues.

Anonymous said...

* For the uninitiated LGBT stands for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender

The initiated, without fail, refer to Lesbian, Gay, etc. The p.correct sequence is mandatory and much admired by those clergypersons who piously refer to humankind.

Anonymous said...

I'm not in any way homophobic or such, but that does not make this offence to common sense any the less.

Whenever someone mentions political correctness we say, "You mean thought fascism?"

Truer than you might suppose.

The first people to embrace political correctness called it Politische Gleichschaltung : 'political synchronising', or 'working towards the will of the Führer'.

Yup, the whole sick idea originates with the Nazis.

Perhaps every time someone insists on crap like this direction to the Scottish NHS, a quick Nazi salute and Sieg Heil! might be appropriate. Don't forget to click your heels.

Sir-C4' said...

It's stupid things like this that make me explode and want to go Rambo on those cretins.

Roger Thornhill said...

While we are at it, why does the MSM always put the word "baby" in front of the name of anyone who is a baby - "Baby Charlotte" etc etc.

AAARRRRGGGH!

Anonymous said...

These people are idiots. Homosexuality is NOT natural. You do not see male dogs screwing other male dogs do you? What about cats, goats, etc...

It is all you homo's that are confusing society. A CHILD COMES FROM A MOTHER AND FATHER DUMMY. NOT FROM MOMMY AND MOMMY. I cannot wait until God comes down and burns all of you into a pile of ashes for not listening to any of the "Life Manuals (Bible, Torah, Qu'ran, etc)" that were left on this planet not to only christianity, but to ALL tribes of the world. Hmmm, maybe that was for a reason....

But let's put it this way, If I was Noah, I would have thrown the homo's overboard. You are not a bunch of Asexual amphibians.

I pride my day on making you all feel uncomfortable in every way as you do to my REAL family. I love my ANTI-GAY shirt collection. It is funny.

But I will let the Creator judge you all. I just wish you would all burn and leave your unnatural ways out of my childrens lives. Do consider this hate speech. I am not violent in any way but by pen, but I do HATE what is against REAL nature and what is obviously wrong in our creator's eye.

It's Adam and Eve. Not Adam and STEVE!

According to religion everywhere, you are married the second you stick the rod into the hole. Try reading it sometime. You buttpluggers and bushbiters call yourself "open minded" but have neglected the most important aspect of humanity: The ability to OBJECTIVELY read and learn from others mistakes. Remember the story of Babylon? No?

Intercourse was designed for procreation, not to say it is not pleasing and fun and should be conducted multiple times daily with your MARRIED partner. It was not designed for your buddy to plug your browneye.

You can all die now.