Labour’s NEC Set To Confirm Trans People Allowed On All-Women Shortlists

[busyboysmum]

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/labours-nec-set-to-confirm-transsexual-rights-to-all-women-shortlists-for-parliament-trans-women_uk_5a66782ae4b0e5630072d118

Btw i am not suggesting the suspended person has harrassed anyone...but the reasons for suspension are likely to go beyond being gender critical or there would be many more suspensions.

Fekko, indeed...but we all know who does the vast majority of unsung work. All those facilitated men would get a shock if women withdrew their labour.

I think we're fucked. self id aws seem to me to be so clearly in breach of existing equality law that for them to go ahead knowing there are legal challenges brewing suggests to me that they want to be told they're not allowed to have them.

And then they can go 'oh damn, no aws, but it's not our fault, it's the fault of this equality law which needs amending.'

I agree I am also uncomfortable with this, especially considering the ways in which this individual has sometimes acted. I am not sure their behaviour has always been above scrutiny and therefore I fear things will come out that may damage the cause. I think we need to be dispassionate stick to the law.

Does anyone know how to contact JJ privately? I can't use Twitter without outing myself and can't dm her as she doesn't follow me

How can they decide to act unlawfully?!

I mean, they can decide to allow self-ID for internal party positions if they like - even though rule changes are supposed to be voted on at conference, it's not the law of the land.

But I thought there was a prima facie case that AWS are specific legal exemptions based on the protected characteristic of sex.

If this is the case, the best they can do legally is announce they'll change the law if they ever get into government.

As to the cash - happy to donate again to protect the signatories from witch hunting by Labour and challenging any unlawful announcement about AWS.

Ella
Ask her to follow you so you can DM her. She can always unfollow after

Interesting political dynamic brewing here.

If the Cons think that this will lose Labour votes and help them win the election, then what happens to the GRA?

I would not be surprised if it quietly is dropped due to lack of parliamentary time.

We shall see.

Can twitter users post GC re Labour tweets with

#labourlosingwomen

I would not be happy if the fund was repurposed either. I'm horrified at what's going on, but the original aim was to make a legal challenge about AWS which might have wider implications for other organisations. I might consider donating to a separate request for legal fees to challenge a suspension but the original aim is too important to get sidetracked from.

I would not be surprised if it quietly is dropped due to lack of parliamentary time.

Well that would be a nightmare because then at the next GE I'd have to choose between:

• Vote for the continued torture of disabled and poor people and to decisively do away with the nhs
• Vote to obliterate women's spaces and protections
• Disenfranchise myself

Just when I was starting to feel represented for the first time in my adult life

Is this a huge issue outside of this bubble though? I mean, for me, if Labour push ahead with it it's the end of me voting for them.

But for most people I imagine this wouldn't even register in any sort of decision making process about who to vote for? Or I am underestimating?

I think this might be the suspension:

twitter.com/search?q=dr%20radfem&src=typd&lang=en

So "all women" is now a completely meaningless term, since it incorporates however many men want to join in, on their own say so.
It's actually terrifying

Once the right wing press start announcing that labour are bringing in a peepers charter etc etc I think that might be quite catastrophic for labour.

Do you think this whole thing is a Tory trap?

Yes I wouldn't really be happy if this money was used for that one person either. I guess it's all part of a bigger picture of what constitutes 'transphobia' which would then have wider implications, but I'm not the biggest fan of the person in question from what I have seen, and I think it would be better to focus on the AWS thing.

So the NEC will be making their decision today?

I think the legal challenge to aws being opened to self iding males is more important and think it would be a shame if the fund was spent on one person

I do agree with this, but presumably contesting the suspension wouldn't just be about protecting one person but would also contest the idea that gender-critical views are a disciplinary matter within the Labour Party

I think it may be the legalities in that bringing forward a test case, you need an actual person who has been disadvantaged by the policy to bring it. So a woman who has missed out? This way will bring up all the issues of legality and use someone who has the strength to get through the court case, which will be tough.

Sorry, when I said 'I'm not the biggest fan', I don't mean for that reason I wouldn't want the money to be spent on focusing on her suspension just because it's her.

Sorry I've not read the full thread but it's sloppy journalism - I couldn't see it said that this if for trans who don't have a GRC - the distinction hasn't been made between self id and people with a GRC on the AWS. So the protest comes across as transphobic.

(In a rush apologies if said)

I wonder if male allies would be prepared to stand on AWS to demonstrate the stupidity of this. If large numbers, really large numbers, of male-presenting males put themselves forward for the next shortlist, saying "I identify as a woman", how could the party justify excluding them from participation?

I also agree about the fund.
There are certain tweets that dr radfems has posted that has made me cringe, I think we could end up looking really bad if it went to court and the idea that we are all just evil bitches would be cemented. I think it’s better to be dispassionate and go for the fact they are breaking the law and then the conversation would be centred around the law and why they need to exist rather than what is considered a hateful tweet.

Germaine Greer is trending on twitter at the moment. I got excited, thinking she must have stepped in to talk sense, but she's made some pretty controversial (or at least, open to big misinterpretation) statements in the Independent about Harvey Weinstein. Her stand on transwomen is being used as evidence of how out of touch she is. Not good timing.

Also trending is Rosie the Riveter (wartime 'We can do it' poster) who has very sadly died. An inauspicious day for women in the news.

Yes, there doesn't seem to have been much focus on the fact that it is the self-id element of this that people aren't happy with. The 'rad fems don't want trans women on AWS' type headline isn't quite accurate is it?

Quick question about self id - if a male wants to be on an AWS in the Labour Party, do they literally just have to tick a box to say they self identify as a woman, or do they have to provide other evidence? Do they have to fill in a form to get a 'self id GRC' ?