The Lib Dem LGBT twitter feed is annoyed at Mumsnet

Bumping in case anyone wants to check out current tweets.

I've not had a single canvasser round here. I think there is a secret mark on my front door, saying avoid at all costs

Bumping. Keep up the pressure when the canvassers come round!

Yes some men don't get it - which is why we need the statistics eg. 217 years until Women's pay is equal or 100 until Women have equal political representation.
Reasonable people can be argued with if you have the facts.
Some are just bigots - and the rule someone in the Lib Dems suggested of counter-arguing 4 times then walking away seems sensible - even if I struggle with it sometimes.

Even the Women's Equality party isn't ideal as even if it did better, it has policies (or lack of them) that don't answer some of the problems (e. g. Brexit).
And the idea that a new centrist party with the Blair's could be the answer seems bizarre to me.

What I'd like is: a new voting system, parliament to move out of Westminster at least temporarily, a new voting chamber with enough seats, up to date voting and horseshoe rather than "them and us" seating.
And Radical policies together with brave MPs

Red take care of yourself. Thanks for your erudite and informed posts I have learnt a lot from you.

Another politically homeless one here.

I wonder if, if any party was brave enough/sufficiently invested in taking women's concerns seriously to openly state that they've noticed that a lot of women are worried about this issue and will be actively looking into the issue in more depth if that would be enough to win them the election. How many British women are feeling politically homeless right now? It's not just this issue, both Brexit and Corbyn have added to that problem in their own ways, but just in terms of this one, how many of us are there?

I'm a lifelong lefty who never thought I'd not support Labour, and now I'm willing to actively campaign against them if I need to. I assume there are Tory women who felt the same after the Maria Miller fiasco. And here we have LibDem women saying the same, that their party has made it clear that it doesn't think they matter. The Greens? Well, "non-men" just about sums it up.

WEP aren't going to do it, so it's just a thought exercise, but still - how many of us are there? Enough to swing an election if we decided to vote strategically?

Bekabeech

I was using an example, from one of the hundreds I have, from over 20 years membership & activism in the Lib Dems.

The Lib Dems have always had a problem with women. I remember being told by a fellow activist that we didn't need to do anything about the lack of female MPs because it would just increase exponentially & naturally!

Sorry but you really can't extrapolate from one Lib Dem to the party as a whole, it is much more than the other parties a place where if you get 5 members in a room you have 5 opinions.

Also I do think/hope things are changing. The membership has doubled - and I don't think "the men in grey suits" quite know what that will mean. And the women like Layla Moran certainly know how much it has to change (and poor Layla represents much of the diversity of the party).

But I do think "Headquarters" is creaking at the knees.

Not long after posting that I hadn't had a response, I got a response!
It just said "your complaint is being passed to the local party" so no mention of my concerns about the LGBT+ twitter account and I doubt the local party is going to address that! Hopefully they'll do something about their councillors comments about there being no glass ceiling for women though (it's just a limit to women's ambitions according to him!)

RosenbergW - so right!

The Lib Dems have always had a problem with women. I remember being told by a fellow activist that we didn't need to do anything about the lack of female MPs because it would just increase exponentially & naturally! 6 years later there were no female MPs!! And that was the only reason AWS shortlists came in - because they were shamed into it - political expediency. Oh the hand wringing over all those lost opportunities for men!

The left are no better - the most sexist men I know are Labour supporters.

At least the Tories make no pretence about their sexism.

This is a marginal issue, that must people haven't heard of be Shaw it has no impact on men! That's it!

"There's lots of people, heavily involved in the Lib Dems but not part of a certain group or groupings who have had no idea of what is being said in their name. There had been no big debate about Self ID - just a small group of people who have taken it upon themselves to decide what the policy should be and an incompetent leadership group who have put zero critical thinking into dealing with it. They've outsourced policy on it to an SAO who have then silenced or bullied anybody who had suggested that Self ID might conflict with women's rights."

I think this is true and accurate and I think it is the same situation in Labour, Cons and Greens tbh. A couple of loud people with lots of time on their hands pushing policy in an area most people have little experience or knowledge of, then crying bigot and transphobia if anyone ask questions.

I think this has been deliberately coordinated and that these few people have influence over and contact with each other across their parties. It is a big scam and they get away with it because politics is male dominated and those men just don't give much of a shit about women.

I've voted LibDem my whole life but feel disinclined to continue doing so.
I had a dismissive reply from my letter to my LibDem MP about my concerns about proposed changes to the GRA.

I feel like there's a vacuum being created here. Not Labour. Never Conservatives. Not even Greens. So who now?

Superb - thank you both. I assumed it'd be some facebook thingy so didn't even bother to google.

Any other mumsnetter LDs fancy joining? It does look like it's infrequently updated.

There is a Lib Dem Women group it has the same status as the LGBT+ one. Email: [email protected] Website: www.libdemwomen.org.uk/

I joined fairly recently having come across them at an event.

www.libdemwomen.org.uk/about

Also pleased to see you lot giving your council candidates some valuable feedback- my experience so far is that party members and most volunteers are fairly oblivious to any of this ”official” lib dem position.

Incidentally as we are in a campaign period use of the Lib dem brand assets is closely controlled. I imagine though that the twitter account got permission an age ago and is now assumed to be fighting for naice diversity stuff so they can say what they want. You'd think a number of complaints would make someone pay attention, but we'll see...

LD membership is in excess of 100000 AFAIK - more than Conservatives. Local organisation has generally been good.

The Women's group seems a bit dead at present, but it could be re-invigorated to provide a check and balance to the group controlling LGBT+.

I found much of interest in the response from that LD person Bekabeech, but for the mo one question:

Is there a Lib Dem women's group? I just assumed they didn't have one. Do you know how to get in touch with them?

I'll join.

(BTW also to red, and all of us battling away alone or in groups)

Thanks for that post @Bekabeech it makes sense. The Lib Dems are a relatively small and (in my experience as a member) not very well organised party. I still haven't received a response to my complaint, however I grouped it in with another complaint about sexism from a local councillor so I'm hoping the delay responding to me is them looking into that!

Okay this has derailed massively since yesterday.

But on my small part I emailed a number of prominent Women and the Diversity person in the Lib Dems. Raising my concern about the criticism in this thread and elsewhere.

And so far have received one considered reply. Which actually contains in it the true reason that some of you may feel unlistened to and fobbed off.

"Party HQ simply does not have any resources to keep up with the fast moving social media world in which we live, and with the best will in the world, no one from HQ will ever have time to read Mumsnet. I think we employ one single person on the social media side of campaigning. This does, unfortunately, leave a gap - which others rush to fill. I can only say that I do believe that this is a minority, albeit a vociferous one, and I hope that it is - and will continue to become - less and less prevalent in the party and that we will become much more diverse."

Which is the nub of the situation. The Lib Dems may have a large number of members now, but doesn't have many resources compared to Labour (union backing) or the Conservatives (wealthy backers and businesses). It doesn't have a large head office.

In fact the same issues are likely for any new "centrist" party and even I suspect for Macrons En Marche.
Without a huge party machinery, most things are carried out by willing volunteers. This means that any new member does have the chance to make a change, but also that not every message is tightly centrally controlled.

If those of you who are Lib Dems tear up your cards and leave then the party won't change. If you fight within the party then maybe change will happen. The Women's group seems a bit dead at present, but it could be re-invigorated to provide a check and balance to the group controlling LGBT+.

@RedToothBrush

I too would like to say thank you for all your thoughtful and well researched posts.

As a political issue, i find Self ID incredibly threatening and consequently incredibly stressful to deal with. I have been a political activist, off and on, for many years and I've never experienced anything like it.

I take breaks from it all from time to time as well, for my own well being.

Do look after yourself and take some time away if you think it might help.

@RedToothBrush - if you need a break, take one. I'm another one who would like to thank you for so many insightful posts on here. You've been inspirational and informative and I'm grateful to you.

Let's not fight each other. If some one wants to join this group, they can, however I am very concerned about being outed so I am doing what I can on my own and think that lots of other people feel the same.
The term 'pile on' is not the worst I've ever heard. I'm glad that people are emailing these companies.