Today, Anneliese Dodds, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, has pledged in a Guardian article that ‘Labour will lead on reform of transgender rights.’
At first glance, you could be fooled into thinking this is a positive intervention. For starters, Dodds has rowed back on the policy of self-ID, perhaps after seeing the chaotic collapse of the policy under the SNP in Scotland. Labour will also maintain the need for a diagnosis of ‘gender dysphoria’ before someone can obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate. Dodds says that the party will not seek to remove same-sex exemptions permitted under the Equality Act 2010 either.
But when you dig beneath the surface, it becomes clear that the Labour party will still push a regressive and divisive ideology should they get into power. And by attempting to back both horses, they risk alienating everyone.
When you dig beneath the surface, it becomes clear that the Labour party will still push a regressive and divisive ideology should they get into power
In terms of the specific proposals, Labour would abolish the safeguard of having a panel of independent and anonymous doctors make decisions about Gender Recognition Certificates. Instead, Dodds says that only a single doctor, with a registrar, will be needed. She argues that this will lead to the removal of ‘invasive bureaucracy’.
But in reality this may allow applicants to go to one of the many private gender clinics in the UK and pay a few hundred quid to get a diagnosis, possibly after just a single conversation with a doctor. After they receive a certificate, they could potentially then be allowed to enter a number of women-only spaces. This undermines safeguarding.
Equally, it appears that Labour do not believe that the Equality Act 2010 should be amended to clarify that ‘sex’ means biological sex – a crucial change required to properly protect women in the UK.
The most ironic statement of all from Dodds is her call for a ‘degree of care from responsible politicians.’ It is worth examining the ‘care’ and ‘responsibility’ shown by the Labour party and its parliamentarians in recent years. Just last month, Keir Starmer and Anneliese Dodds met with Stonewall managers – including chief executive Nancy Kelley and chair Iain Anderson, best known for his recent disastrous interview with Beth Rigby. Given that Stonewall appears to be hell-bent on pushing gender ideology, which is to the detriment of women, children and LGB people, this is very telling.
Keir Starmer has said previously that he believes one in 1,000 women have a penis and that ‘transwomen are women’. In 2022 he delivered the keynote speech at the Pink News awards, pledging to ban ‘all conversion therapy’(which, under the current proposals, would effectively force therapists to affirm children with gender dysphoria, leading towards a pathway of medical transition). Starmer’s Labour has also pledged to introduce tougher ‘hate crime’ laws with longer sentences ‘for those who commit hate crimes targeted at someone’s sexual identity, transgender identity or disability’, which could end up criminalising someone for ‘misgendering’ another individual.
The Labour party has refused to adequately defend Rosie Duffield after she spoke out against the dangers of gender ideology. Yet it has continued to indulge MPs like Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who in January snarled at Miriam Cates in parliament that she was ‘transphobic’.
The truth is that over recent years the Labour party has shifted, almost beyond recognition. It has abandoned its foundational principles and instead become fixated on identity politics.
The Labour party has shown us very clearly what it is. No matter what Dodds says, if you value biological reality, women’s rights, child wellbeing, and free speech at all, Labour is not for you.
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