Just had a nice man from the Lib Dem’s Knock on the door

[Lumene]

He asked me how I felt about national politics. I explained that I used to vote Lib Dem but was concerned about their stance and balance on women’s rights, particularly around trans issues and sex work.

Not sure how well I explained. Any specific things or useful pointers for a follow up email?

What did he say back?

I’m not sure how much he knew about the underlying issues. He was definitely listening and said things like ‘these can be contentious issues.’

I talked about women not feeling safe to even discuss things or feeling like their rights were taken into account, although all rights and views are important. Also mentioned the recent comments on twitter that suggested violence was acceptable and he said if he was aware of anyone making comments like that, he would not find that acceptable at all and would take action. I didn’t mention specifics/names.

Did he have the faintest idea what you were talking about? I ask because I suspect for most LibDem activists transgenderism and sex work issues are not on their list of concerns - they'll be dimmly aware that the party has taken a position on them but not have engaged beyond 'trans people and sex workers sound like oppressed minorities so let's support them'. I think that's why the TRAs and their supporters in political parties get away with what they do - people are simply unaware of the issues.

So in a follow-up email it might be helpful to focus on what you think are the three main points for you, bearing in mind that he might not be familiar with anything. For each point make the case in the abstract and then given an example if you can - so if you're saying that self-ID could lead to conflicts between trans people's rights and the sex-based rights of women, you could refer to prisons since that's in the news at the moment.

Did you get any pointers from talking with him what he might be interested in? If so, bear it in mind when identifying your points/examples.

I'm not a LibDem member myself, but I think that having conversations with ordinary supporters is really helpful. More and more I think that if we can draw reasonable people into the debate we can change things within our political parties, trade unions etc., and I think in the long run this will be better than GC feminists leaving/being driven out from our civil organisations (though I can see why people leave, it's not a criticism of them).

Thanks morning, that’s really helpful. Yes I agree talking to mainstream/ordinary members of the parties to try and explain the madness is worth doing. Hoping this might raise awareness and help nudge change.

Prisons is a really good eg as there have been some ridiculous statements on that from various lib demmers