GMN Labour Manifesto response

Bumping this for anyone who hasn't read it. It's an excellent, well written piece with some very useful points when talking to candidates.

This document also has useful talking points for anyone who is doorstepped by the Lib Dems, given the similarity of their policies on sex and gender.

Yes, it's good to have that other perspective laid out so clearly.

I hope someone might send it to Evan of PM at 5 p.m.

I think so too @ScrollingLeaves, it slightly pains me to say and/or think it but I wonder if seeing it’s not ‘just women’ who are affected by this might help people grasp that there is a real actual issue here.

That is so well argued, calm, fair and measured.

I think it would be a good thing if all the leaders, their deputies , and proposed ministers of health, were made to sit down and read it in public, on television. No getting up or fiddling with pens or glasses of water. It would take them about 20 minutes.

I am quite sure that most, including Rishi Sunak and Kier Starmer have not yet given any real thought so far to the problems described; and this isn’t even about the 50% of people who are girls or women.

It not being about women might help them bear to read it, actually, as that brings a new perspective to the matter.

Plus they are so used to TRAS saying “But Section 28… here we go again” that something from the Gay Men’s Network would give them pause for reflection.

That's such a helpful document, thank you Dennis. It's positive and constructive and gives me lots of starting points with my Labour candidate (I'm in a marginal Labour/SNP and you can hardly move without bumping into the Labour candidate and campaigning team).

This is really really excellent. It is concise, easy to follow and really comprehensively covers the issues with labour’s manifesto. I am going to share this with several people I have been discussing these issues with, as it is so accessible. Thank you so much for sharing it.

Does anyone else frequently get moments where you sort of zoom out and wonder how on earth we got here, arguing about the meanings of what used to be such obvious concepts? It would almost be funny if it wasn’t so frightening and damaging to people’s lives.

Thank you Dennis. That's a thoughtful, nuanced and constructive response to the manifesto.
Really great.

That's a great document. It brings together the Cass Report, conversion therapy ban and clarification of "sex" in the Equality Act really well.

I'm aware there's been a bit of a split on whether clarifying the Equality Act creates unintended consequences because it ratifies categories of "biological sex" and "legal sex" but as I understand it, clarifying the EA would be more beneficial than not. The GRA still needs to go in the long run IMO but clarifying sex in the EA would mitigate a lot of issues (and limit the ambiguity from which the GRA currently benefits) in the short term, including protecting same-sex attraction, as per this document. It also sounds considerably more achievable than unpicking the GRA from current laws e.g. those under the ECHR.

'In Australia the biological definition of male/female was removed from the 1984 federal Sex Discrimination Act 1984. As a direct result lesbians may no longer meet in public “pride centres” because the Australian Human Rights Commission takes the view that this amounts to “gender identity discrimination” against “male lesbians”

JFC.

Magic, thanks for that, Dennis. That is a fancy looking document. Footnotes!

Very useful.

Thanks Dennis - I haven't seen a single canvasser, that's because I live in a very safe Labour seat, and they are all busy in all the Tory areas. It's almost like they don't want my vote.