Reposting WhenHarpySings as it may have got lost:
"My notes from the Lib Dem fringe meeting in Brighton:
The meeting had the following people speaking at it:
Karen Lindsey, who edits LibDem Voice (their member magazine)
James Morton of the Scottish Transgender Alliance
Emma Ritch, Engender
Sarah Brown (Lib Dems)
Sal Brinton (President of the Lib Dems)
Unless something below is in quote marks consider it paraphrased.
Karen Lindsey:
A core liberal value is not to allow marginalised groups to be victimised, especially in the media. A person’s identity is not a subject for debate- we must stand against attacks. In Scotland, the tone is friendlier and there is more collaboration in the voluntary sector.
James Morton:
This is about making sure transgender people don’t have to go through red tape. They want their brith certificate changed without red tape or panel.
Here are the three things we want:
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Remove the psychiatric requirements to getting a GRC and the 2year time delay. We want a statutory self-declaration- which will be legal declaration. Lying on it would be punishable. This is about people living permanently in their new gender, not flip flopping back at random. {Note- this seems to contradict what James Morton said at the We’re Still Here Conference- where they did discuss being able to legally change back without it be viewed as ill intentions.}
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Remove age restrictions on the GRC. Kids in distress should be listened to. Kids don’t have much ID and don’t want to be outed as trans. Puberty blockers are reversible, just pause puberty.
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Non binary people should be able to get a gender neutral birth certificate. They may present as one gender or the other on a part time basis or want to opt out of gender entirely. Non binary ID is not taken seriously.
Dont’ bother with people on Twitter- talk in person to the people in the “moveable middle”. Allies can help with this.
Emma Ritch:
How do we reconcile feminist and trans understandings of rights. In Scotland VAWG orgs have to be inclusive as a condition of funding. We have trust and strong relationship with Scottish Transgender Alliance.
As a feminist group we have been collaborating with other women’s orgs so that we are all on the same page and we could communicate that women’s organisations were in favour [of the proposed changed to the GRA in Scotland] & we had no concerns.
English women’s organisations are contacting the Scottish organisations about the “difficult conversations” they are having to have around this issue.
One reason the tone of the debate has been better in Scotland is because feminist organisations in Scotland are listened to and receive funding from the Scottish government so their view is valued.
The media is also different in Scotland- the tone in the Scottish papers the Herald and the Scotsman is more positive on the GRA.
The debate in England has become messy, hostile and polarised. There needs to be acknowledgement where things have been messy and feminist organisations should help the tone by supporting the trans organisations.
Understand concerns come from real fears and act together against VAWG
Maintain “radical kindness”- create spaces for genuine discussion with no name calling.
Sarah Brown:
I had to fight a bi-election because a woman resigned because she didn’t want to abide by the Equalities Act.
A year ago media stories were transphobic but puerile “Stella became a fella” type stories.
Now in the USA there are toilet bans, military bans and trans people are having their passports confiscated.
The same people want to attack trans rights in the UK- trans is an easy soft target to start attacked LGBT rights.
There’s been vicious feminist transphobia.
The tone of the media coverage has changed because of the proposed GRA changes, which have been deliberately conflated with the Equalities Act. The spaces governed by EA2010 are NOT under review- this is a lie.
If you’re a violent person you can’t get into refuges full stop.
“They are lying about the law””
“There is something more insidious going on”- the rhetoric has become more sophisticated and is equating transwomen with violence and males. They even have a name for us- “Tims”- trans identified male. “We are not male”.
They are using the same tactic as the pro-Brexit campaign with demonising a marginalised group. They even have tame transwomen on their side and are using “weaponised politeness”. It’s easy to sound polite and reasonable when you are trying to take away people’s rights.
It’s an organised campaign to demonise transwomen. “I’m frightened”.
They want to repeal all transgender people’s protections in the EA2010 and repeal the GRA2004.
Transwomen are portrayed as violent men. When we display emotion about this we are accused of shutting down debate. They want capitulation and submission. Trans rights are human rights.
We need good civic education. This is not a debate. The narrative has been decided. Natasha Kennedy monstered for making a list of transphobic lecturers- she was just trying to protect young people.
Sal Brinton:
Respect tolerance and understanding are at the core of Lib Dems. The change on discourse is alarming. If you removed “trans” from it and replaced with “black” it would be seen as unacceptable.
In the party, the discipline process will be amended. The disciplinary panels will be trained. Adjudicators and investigators will be trained in the core hate crime area. They will need to be trained before they are eligible to be on a panel.
We need to call out intolerance. there is a different tone amongst people under 20 but this cannot wait.
I reiterate that I would not object to a parliament where 50% of seats were held by transwomen because “I don’t differentiate”