Lord Paddick resigns the LGBT LD executive

There is a smallish (I hope) coterie of young men who are desperate to banish "terfs" from the Lib dems. The LD's Radical Association voted 89% in No Confidence in their Chair who, in this powerfully liberal summary from our friend Hickey:

For those who haven't been following this, the chair in question turned out to be a TERF. This is what we think of TERFs in the Lib Dems.

mobile.twitter.com/HickeyWriter/status/971547308608368640

The chair (and I believe one other association committee member also forced out) was a woman, in case that's relevant.

From a 10 second Google, hickey seems to be chums with the chair of LGBT+ Lib Dem group plus some of the members of that group (this is from his website).

Oh how cosy.

"And he's haranguing Paddick for retweeting Rose of Dawn, a trans person".

Rose is not the right sort of trans obviously.

I hope he doesn't take this approach on the doorstep.

From a 10 second Google, hickey seems to be chums with the chair of LGBT+ Lib Dem group plus some of the members of that group (this is from his website).

What a fierce ally he is.

And he's haranguing Paddick for retweeting Rose of Dawn, a trans person.

Thanks for the link to that Hickey thread. Blimey - what arrant nonsense, shouted in a tone of righteous indignation.

The claim that 'EVERY TRANS PERSON I KNOW' (his capitals) defines the purpose of WPUK as being to 'force trans people out of public life' is provably daft when several prominent trans women are members and speak at events.

It certainly is an effective showcase for the TRA lack of truth or logic.

In which Lord Paddick is schooled as to how the word transphobia means both everything and nothing at all.

Who is that self righteous misogynistic idiot, anyway?

Ive been a loyal LibDem voter and party member for years - don’t think I’ve ever voted anything else. And this year I can’t bring myself to vote for them over the behaviour of this small group of people and the way it’s been handled, and I feel sad.

Perhaps, if Brian comes out of this realising that the trans umbrella hosts wildly different populations, it will be a good thing? I notice that he is not seeking out young TIFs/transmen or young women who have desisted. It would be good if he did because these are more distinct populations.

I like that Paddick isn’t taking the accusations lying down and asking for examples. Good for you Brian. It’s a horrible slur that is slung around far too lightly.

That hickey thread is quite a read

In which Lord Paddick is schooled as to how the word transphobia means both everything and nothing at all.

But yes sweary, here's to having higher expectations than "hurrah for not believing us to be fascistic violent cronelike hate merchants"

I agree Brian is struggling with the idea he's been official rep for a group with a point of view that does not accept any dissent. And now he's being publicly shamed for deviating from the one true view, and in a local election campaign period.

And agree that he gets WAY less hassle than women do for daring to debate.

I'm still pleased he's done what he's done though- both he and Sophie from WEP have attempted to engage with "both sides" and got a panelling for their "transphobia" on twitter.

I'm wondering if he feels the feminist "side's" tweets painful in the same way many of us felt like we had our arses handed to us when we first posted on this on this board on the subject I know it's not just me, I deserved to be challenged on my woolly thinking.

Anyway, here's to BP taking a breather before returning to the argument. He seems to be recognising their behaviour as profoundly illiberal, so that is something.

That hickey thread is quite a read mobile.twitter.com/HickeyWriter/status/989251080201670657

Hickeywriter speaks to BP entirely differently than he does to the women he tweets at though. There’s far more respect and far fewer threats.

I get that BP is doing the right thing and is at the start of the journey, but I think the gratitude going his way is so demonstrative of our socialisation. We shouldn’t have to be cheerleading a man being OK at us, we should be allowed to ask him to step up and do better. Politely of course, but saying that’s not yet good enough shouldn’t be something we can’t do.

He's still trying to be on the fence in spite of the insane abuse he's getting for daring to speak to women.

He's got as far as comparing it to an intractable neighbour dispute in policing. At some point, he's going to have to accept the blindingly obvious: the comparison is not an intractable neighbour dispute; it's to coercive control and domestic abuse.

I feel for him because it must be painful to realise that you were white knighting for an entirely different group of people than you thought you were white knighting for.

And Red is right about consensus building.

He is doing the best job by far of any politician so far of standing up for listening to all sides and calling out intimidation.

More and more people are understanding what is going on and the dynamics of the debate - and what it actually means for women and the gay community, particularly lesbians.

All parties are going to need answers to the kind of questions Woman's Place UK are answering, because voters will be asking them.

He did retweet the comment from the transwoman who said the violence and intimidation is coming from one side only (TRA side).

So of course he is vilified for the abhorrent act of retweeting that.

As Paddick has become more educated on the issues, he's been distancing himself from the TRAs. They really don't like that.

Paddick is now saying to people being sympathetic to him on twitter re the way LGBTLD are behaving towards him that they should be in his shoes for a while. He still doesn't get it. We have been on the receiving end, particularly from the LGBTLD account and we've had far worse than he has with people mansplaining why he's wrong. We get threats of violence - this isn't happening to him.

He's still trying to be on the fence in spite of the insane abuse he's getting for daring to speak to women.

They are absolute idiots.

Paddick has a high profile in the media and they've alienated him for the terrible crime of listening to women. He will have nothing to do with them now, he has his reputation to think about, and associating with them in the future will reflect badly on him. So he's out. They are fast running out of allies. No moderates left, just the zealots running the show. Who will, of course, turn on each other in time.

So predictable that they would turn on him. As sure as night follows day.

He needs to get the Party to take action though. That Twitter feed makes the Lib Dems come across as a bonkers fringe party.

LGBT Lib Dem are going after Paddick on Twitter.

IMO, it's really not a good look in the run-up to the local elections.

DH joined the LDs over Brexit, and (although I consider myself a floating voter) we've voted for them fairly faithfully for the past however-many elections because we've generally agreed with their policies.

We are both wavering, not because of the issue per se, but the really ugly behaviour we're seeing. I can actually see myself spoiling my ballot for the first time .

I would hope that as a former senior police officer Brian realises why giving angry males access to vulnerable women in their spaces is a bad idea.

I disagree that he's having a particularly hard time, the comments he is getting is nothing compared to the wrath unleashed on women who wrongthink.

... and it's all kicked off again.

LGBT Lib Dem are going after Paddick on Twitter. Presumably because he wouldn't do what they instructed him to do.

twitter.com/brianpaddick/status/989272223193141248

Someone has said that the account is damaging the party by the way it speaks to the public. I agree and I really hope something is done about it.