To think you can’t call yourself a liberal anymore if you don’t agree with gender ideology?

[Spookygoose]

I’ve always considered myself a liberal and I agree with all aspects of liberal political viewpoints, apart from gender ideology and the idea that there are more than two sexes. I hate the idea of being viewed as conservative or a Tory, but it seems these days people who reject the gender ideology movement are labelled conservative. Can you be a liberal and not agree with this?? I understand everyone is an individual and specific viewpoints differ from person to person, no matter what political identity they call themselves, however it seems anyone with anti trans views are labelled conservative. I think it’s more of a thing in America but maybe it’s becoming a bigger thing here too?..As a gay woman, one of my biggest issues with it is I feel it’s erasing gay rights and making society more homophobic

Aren't liberals supposed to be, in essence, "do what you want as long as it doesn't harm anyone else"?

Gender ideology does harm others. It goes way beyond dressing as you like and choosing a name your prefer. It makes unethical science experiments out of children and erases women's rights to any single sex spaces including prisons, sports, changing rooms and personal care. It compels speech, changes the definition of everyone and forces the world around it to change to reflect the individual's false self image. It's the opposite of liberalism.

That's partly because its been a very deliberate tactic by parts of the far right to turn the trans debate into a Trojan Horse to bring the centre of gravity in feminism over to the right.

They couldn't have done this if the Left hadn't made it so impossible for GC people to remain with it and accused all dissenters of being far right fascists. The Left wanted to sacrifice women to this ideology and then blamed them when they refused.

I think it’s different in the states, but here accusations of being “right wing” for not supporting the batshittery of gender ideology is yet just another tool to try and shut women up.

I don't think the modern Left actually wants to gain influence and change the world. It wants to perform, postulate and masturbate to its perceived superiority and doesn't actually give a shit about the working class, women and neutralising the real far right. It can fuck off. Independent candidates for me.

As a feminist I'd add this isn't about left or right it's MEN who are in charge - of both - not giving a crap about women.

All very well to be live and let live if it's not your loo or spaces.

I don't have an issue with anyone until they do something that takes respect or agency away from someone else, whoever you are from whatever political or gender, you are then officially a wanker.

I don't think our Labour is left now though, is it? Starmer not being sure what a woman is, the PIP scandal, Raynor (who I like but, well, really?) and the 2nd home tax debacle...they're more centre if not slightly right of centre.

Left would have taxed the super rich and not hesitated when they saw genocide.

I’m still pretty happy we don’t have the previous bunch of idiots in power. Labour are doing some stuff I thoroughly approve of like restarting Sure Start, some great energy policy and a tenants’ bill and some I don’t (massive deportations) but makes some sense and they said they would do.

Post Supreme Court ruling Id like to forget this bonkers period ever happened really, and that includes every politician who found themselves saying something ridiculous to try and appease the unappeasable. People can transition if it means something to them provided they’re adults.

Liberal Voice for Women - look them up OP !

But gender ideology is the opposite of liberalism, it is totalitarian with huge disproportionate punishments for wrongthink. But this state of affairs happened by accident because genuinely liberal people didn't think through the consequences of adopting the new genderist faith. Hopefully the tide is turning. Genuinely liberal people uphold the rights and freedoms of genderists to believe what they want about gender and want to ensure that genderists have equality, and also uphold the rights of sex-realists to understand that physical reality is immutable and that they are not required to believe in genderism, or to pretend that they do. The Supreme Court ruling was helpful in clarifying that the freedom to identify as a new gender does not give anyone the right to force others to treat them as the opposite sex, because sex and gender are different. This is very much a liberal stance allowing everyone the freedom to live.

https://communistparty.org.uk/2025/04/18/joint-statement-on-the-uk-supreme-court-ruling-on-biological-sex-and-the-equality-act-2010/

That is exactly where I stand. But I worry that I can no longer express my beliefs without running the risk of being seen as racist, anti trans, etc.

Being liberal is allowing people to be themselves and not interfering in it where it doesn’t affect others. Of course you can be liberal and disagree with basically anything as long as you aren’t forcing your own opinion on anyone.

That is a very eloquent way of putting it. I'm actually not particularly gender critical but only because (particularly on here) I've read some nasty anti trans posts and it riles me up, but I completely agree with what you've said there.

The best things about democracy are the fact we don't have to put anyone in a box - we have freedom of choice and action within the 10 commandments. Being centrist is a starting point for me and I can swing further left and right on any topics I see fit. I don't tie myself to either side for EVERYTHING and it feels ridiculous to me that people do and vote that way for life.

I really never understood this generation's obsession with labels and ideology - they all have to be bi-curiously-trans-acceptingly straight or whatever. IMO we spent a lot of time in the 90's fighting out of boxes like this so that it wasn't any matter if the guy chatting to you in the library was gay, who cares?

It's like the 140 "milk" options that end up being cancerous or worse for the planet - if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.

Yes the farce that you can change sex has captured large swaves of the left sadly. Its a cult ideology and individuals need help with their mental health issues rather than pretending they can 'change sex' and all will be fine.

Your dna indicates your biological sex. You cannot change sex. Twaw is spouted by culture members of this ridiculous ideology.

I'm a liberal who is also GC. I voted Labour at the last election and would do the same if an election was called today. I don't think you need to agree with everything that a political party says in order to vote for them.

I’m glad I learned to think a little for myself in the time before labels were crucial.

I always thought that once you accepted a label, you gave up the ability to think for yourself.

Sod labels.

Sorry, now I've caught up with the thread I can see that pp had already linked to the Communist Party, so apologies for duplicating. Even before the supreme court ruling, they had a very eloquent position statement on their website, which has been a refreshing sanity check in an era of political madness, whatever your wider political position.

Who on earth thinks that the CP are liberal? They are hard left. The clue's in the name.

The hard left, and the left in general, are not liberal. Liberals are wishy-washy centrists and free-market laissez-faire types (neo-liberals as they used to be known). I should know, I am one (a wishy-washy centrist that is).

Better than a rigid turd of anything else either side, huh? 😄
I feel the same.

"Liberal" is used as the opposite of "Conservative" in USA politics because they have no left-wing parties there. The US Democrats are similar to UK Conservatives on most issues, with the Republicans being more like Reform. But this is where the whole thing about politics not being a linear spectrum comes in. Left vs right and Liberal vs Authoritarian are two very different political axises. The Green Party are very Left Wing but are also extremely Authoritarian and Anti-Liberal on all sorts of policy issues that have nothing to do with gender.

Did people call themselves liberal anyway? Most people in the UK would say leftist… liberal is an American term in my experience.

Im centrist with left leanings. I don’t fit on a political binary with only two points.

There used to be the idea of the ‘liberal left’ a while back but I think that’s for the birds now as the left tends to be more authoritarian.

Well, of course you're right, but socialism in the UK has never been interested in women's rights. You'd think they would have grasped that equality should be for everyone, but no.
I came to that conclusion in about 1982, and nothing has happened to make me change my mind.

Proper liberalism: “Your right to swing your fist stops at the end of my nose”

To be a liberal you must be able to distinguish where people’s noses start.

Gender ideology (and much of what gets called liberalism) is a petulant refusal to do that.

Unthinking permissiveness makes liberalism impossible.