Councillor removed from lead role for 'engaging with transphobic posts on social media'

Update of a sort

https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2023/10/28/parents-seek-apology-from-council-leader-for-calling-their-concerns-baseless-smears/

"Understanding lived experience" doesn't change facts. Trans women could all be being publicly tortured in the streets on a daily basis and it wouldn't change the fact that they're not women.

The Conservative Party don’t seem to run their party that way. I say that as someone who has never voted for them. I have voted for all the parties on the left at one time or another. The parties of the left all seem to have this problem.

There's something deeply chilling about "subject to her undergoing training".

We live in strange times. People demand the banning of convertion therapy but at the same time are runing their political parties as though this in North Korea.

Has politics always been this bad, and it is only now with social media etc., that more information about the reality of political practice is slipping out?

There's something deeply chilling about "subject to her undergoing training".

The Ministry of Love.

The DEI ideology, particularly the gender identity component of it, absolutely gives power to the mean girls wherever they are, in councils, workplaces, charities…

These would have been the women crying witch and getting other women burned at the stake in the time of King James.

Of course they aren’t only ones who can bully, and worse, with impunity thanks to the new sacred dogma. A chance to have absolute and unquestioned power over others is attractive to and brings out all the worst people, both men and women. Narcissists, psychopaths, sexual predators all thrive in the kind of conditions currently being created by the authoritarian diversity and inclusion movement.

It’s all very confected and ‘Mean Girls’, isn’t it?

She still having the little red book thrown at her

Councillor Thomson apologised unreservedly and the Labour council leader Bella Sankey said: “I have also taken the decision to remove Councillor Thomson from her lead role on city centre renewal while further investigation is carried out and subject to her completing training.”

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/23866004.brighton-hove-transgender-row-tweets/

Some of the comments are quite heartening, though imply that the Greens are just eploiting this to try and undermine Labour who only recently took over the council.

Not hat any of that makes the bullying and hate Councillor Alison Thomson is experiencing any less shocking. In fact even more so.

Ohhh sorry, I thought you were in Brighton so having a supportive message in the local paper would help

Yeah, I'm mulling it over.

But 'let her know'? I have no connection to Alison Thomson and I don't live in Brighton.

fwiw I think you should go to the local paper - let her know she has people’s support!

I'm not going to reply to her. Patronising and passive-aggressive in a couple of sentences! But I am mulling over a letter to the local paper.

The Labour Women's Forum, Part 2! 😀

I expected no reply to the email I sent, posted upthread, but this morning in my inbox:

Hi duc, I think you misread my email, which said:

"It is Labour’s policy to be fully inclusive and this means supporting LGBTQ+ people in gaining equal rights."

I didn't mention additional rights.

But thanks for emailing, and I wish you well.

Kind regards,

(her bold, not mine)

I didn't misread anything. "Equal" to what, or whom, exactly? I really see no point in continuing this exchange, tempting as it is. Likewise, it crossed my mind to take it to the letters page of the local paper, but I don't think I will. But the message seems clear: if you're not prepared to recite the catechism, Labour don't want your vote.

I like the appeal to PBShelley. You are many, they are few.

The councillors seem to have inherited something from the council in 1926, though as Labour they shouldn't have. Sorry for tangent, but it's about real people on the turf of Lewes Road. Mostly men unfortunately. But protective of women.
https://ignitingtheflameofunity.yolasite.com/1926-general-strike.php

Brighton and Hove council seem exclusionary of actual women.

My father's family was Brightonian, one branch is still in Hove actually. I remember looking out from Granny's flat off Hartington Road at the teeming rows of houses and wondering where they all worked. There were huge numbers of people living there, and I don't think they have all been replaced by pod people. Surely most of people in Brighton are still normal, and want a Labour Party like the one my grandfather (railway guard) had supporting him during the General Strike, when the local hunt was trying to whip them into submission, but the police played football with the strikers outside the station.

@IcakethereforeIam thank you that made me laugh!

You could ask if she understands what a metaphor is?

I’ve been lurking - I emailed Bella Sankey (Lead Member) as a constituent my email and her reply below:

Dear Cllr Sankey

I was dismayed to read the article in the Argus about the recent events with Cllr Thomson. Her dismissal from the development role, her forced apology and her required re-education for expressing views held by many - including the leadership of the Labour Party, that biological sex cannot be changed and that there are complicated balances of rights to be considered when weighing up the rights of women and trans people seems disproportionate and potentially unlawful given that her views are protected under the Equality Act.

I am very aware that the debate has become toxic and that politically there is a delicate path to be found but to require an adult woman to disavow reasonable and widely held views is to dismiss not just her but all of us who feel this matter requires a more nuanced and woman centred view.

Regards,

Dear Emily,

Many thanks for your email.

We respect everyone’s right to hold their own beliefs and acknowledge that the Courts have deemed gender critical beliefs to be a protected characteristic under the Equality Act. Indeed, it was the Labour Party that brought in the Equality Act 2010, which as well as protecting those who have undergone gender reassignment from discrimination and harassment, also provided in law protection for single-sex spaces.

We of course respect the rights of those who advocate for single-sex spaces as protected under the law. We also recognise that a person holding gender critical beliefs may or may not be transphobic.

However, we believe Cllr Thomson’s retweets crossed a line – in particular by endorsing a tweet which described a trans person as being analogous to a person seeking to become a dog and further seemingly questioning the right of trans people to exist.

We reserve the right to challenge any expression of beliefs which causes harm or undermines the dignity and safety of others. At a bare minimum, discussion of this topic must ensure and uphold the respect and dignity of trans people and Cllr Thomson’s retweets fell short of this standard. Cllr Thomson offered an immediate apology and has asked to be supported in understanding better the lived experience of trans people.

Across all our equalities work, we seek to take an intersectional and nuanced approach understanding the diversity and complexities of individuals. We are responsive to and respectful of the diversity of the city’s population.

With best wishes,
Bella

Any ideas for a snappy reply?

I just replied to the Labour Women's Forum woman who emailed me earlier (see posts on previous page upthread).

Hi [redacted],

What jumps out here is that my email was all about women's rights, and your reply was all about trans rights. Are women's rights not important to you? I am all for fair rights for trans people too, but I'm unclear what additional rights you think they should have, in addition to the rights already provided by the Equality Act and the GRA. Self-ID on demand, perhaps? Likewise, I don't require re-educating into correct thinking, any more than Alison Thomson does, as you rather patronisingly suggest. What I do know is that humans are mammals, and like all mammals, they cannot change sex. This is simple biological fact. We all knew this when we were ten years old. Why do so many seek to deny it now? And the sufferers from this are overwhelmingly women. Women who are seeing men in their prisons, men stealing their prizes in athletics, swimming, and other sports. I thought this was exactly the sort of thing a Labour Women's Forum would want to discuss. Sadly, it appears I am way off the mark.

I did in fact click on the link you provided, hoping it might put a bit more meat on the bone as regards what actual policy changes they were campaigning for, if any. Sadly, there was nothing like that on offer. Except, 'please support us financially', of course.

It's hard to escape the conclusion that women come bottom of the list in the Labour Party's priorities these days. Doubtless female voters will come to the own conclusions. I know I have. So no, Vicky, I don't think buying any tickets would serve any purpose, would it?

Regards,