Caroline Lucas on Aimee Challoner in the Guardian

Is she stepping down as an MP too, or just leader?

Yeah she is co leader with Jonathan Bartley who has been photographed quite a bit alongside AC and has so far said absolutely nothing about any of it.

Because she is already stepping down, ItsAll.

Any flak will be on her and Jonathan Bartley (other co-leader) will sail on regardless without being tainted by it.

If he gets reelected.

I'm probably being thick, but isn't Lucas co-leader of the party? Why is she the one dealing with all of this on her own?

Shock was my main reaction to this. I didn't expect her to write anything until their investigation is complete but this ... this is codswollop. I'm torn between thinking she can't really believe this herself but is pushing the party line and thinking my word, she really does believe it, and I can't decide which would be worse.

Never voting GP again ... they aren't my choice for FPTP elections, but I've always put them 2nd in elections involving PR. Not any more.

Amongst all the other verbal gymnastics, there is no apology. There should as a minimum be an apology that DC was within the Green Party on her/JB's watch. She is taking no responsibility. I understand wanting to wait for the internal investigation before further action against others but that does not preclude a personal apology.

It reads like thoughts and prayers after a mass shooting.

I’m gutted reading this, I had huge respect for Lucas, I am a member of the Green Party and accept that it attracts more than it’s fair share of oddballs, but feel that environmentalism is the most important cause we have and until today felt Lucas in Westminster was a force for good. I also think that the Green MEPs do brilliant work.

Reading this, it’s dangerous nonsense. I’m going to withdraw my membership, the party no longer represents me. I currently feel politically homeless.

I agree with placemats
I think it just stings a little bit more when it's Caroline Lucas because we assume she would empathize with us, at least to some degree. And she is the official head of the party,
However, I am LIVID with each and every single member of the Green Party who has played any role in this.
With special ire for all the disrespectful twerps who are minimizing this and pretending like nothing is happening.

We will survive by focusing on our shared objective – for all women, whether cis, trans, lesbian, disabled or women of colour, to feel safe

jaysus. Caroline, lesbians, disabled women and women of colour are not men for fucks sake.

I'm not even touching 'cis'. It doesn't mean anything.

All this hand wringing about the whole trans thing and what's being forgotten is the rape and torture of a little girl.
It's sickening.

Women shouldn't be burdened with shame alone.

The shame of this fiasco lies totally within the structures and policies of all the party members, from the top down to the volunteers.

Being trans is the only thing protecting AC

A world in which AC being "trans" would not matter.What would that look like? A 21 year old with the same experiance,background & vile behaviour would not have been in this position of influance and power.Background checks and monitoring would have been far more stringent.A person running for deputy leader of the Green Party would more than likely have a broad and documented view on a wide range of green issues.They would have been pulled up & bought to book for calling people "TERFs" "SWERFs" "Cunt" ,for initiating a block list of 50.000 (or according to AC 80.000) gender critical people-mostly women.The engaging of DC as an election agent,MC running for a council position in 2018 despite being possibly ineligible due to a conviction within the past 5 years for animal cruelty.This article is adding insult to injury.Just what are they afraid of I wonder?

In the article she talks about expecting to get shit for writing it. The corollary must be that she would expect to get even bigger shit if she took the gender critical/rad fem side. It's a no win situation and she has chosen the side where she considers there is least to lose. And for now at least she has made the correct judgement.

I will say, outraged as I am, that I still believe that Caroline is a fundamentally decent woman. But the Green Party set up reeks of Stockholm syndrome.

In a similar way, many people who have trans friends cannot open their minds to the harms of the ideology because it just feels too disloyal and their friends are decent ordinary people.

I agree 100% with carceral. The issue here for me is not that she is coming out with the usual trans women are women shit. It’s that she is trying to minimise the massive safeguarding failure in her own party. In her position I would feel a deep sense of shame that I had allowed this to happen under my leadership and would immediately announce a review of procedures. She clearly has no shame.

I'm pretty sure she's trying to obscure the Green Party's failures by creating a smokescreen of "oh it's transphobic".

I think this is spot on. See the following tweet by another senior Green, this time their business spokesperson. Deflecting with accusations of transphobia appears to be their strategy.

mobile.twitter.com/rachel_shares/status/1035222744294719494

Wondering if AC doesn't realise that Glinner actually wrote that joke. I wouldn't be surprised.

In my humble opinion, I think the Green Party's conduct here looks a lot like what happens in the Catholic Church when they are accused of sexual offenses.

Deny
Minimize
Demonize the people asking reasonable questions
Close ranks to protect the institution
Showing more empathy for the person who was part of the misconduct (because we all know AC knew what DC was accused of, but did nothing) rather than victims of violence
If the Greens are providing any legal assistance to defend the Challenors, then the similarities will be... eerie.

What about acknowledging AC and DC's use of legal injunctions to stop debate about trans issues within Green conference? Hardly a beacon of democratic process.

Challenor, Madigan, Sleeze
All have made careers out of being trans
If trans didn't matter Challenor would be any common or garden saddo, nothing more

Looks like getting covered in shit is a woman's job.

This. Exactly. Take one for the team, CL.

Omnishambles I completely agree about Bartley. What a cowardly slime ball.

Hackmum, bang on.

Politicians have advisors. The GP advisors must all be activists or half-wits, or a combination of both.

The few times I've been on Twitter, it's struck me just just many people affiliated with the Green Party seem to be in their early twenties.

Rabbits My apologies, I get it now.

Very clever.