Lib Dems actively deterring GC women

[DontBuyANewMumCashmere]

Today I emailed the Lib Dems expressing an interest in joining their party.

I stated no one should receive discrimination or abuse for their transgender status but explained that I am GC and I asked if there was room for GC women in the party.

I received the following response:
Thank you for getting in touch. Whilst we appreciate your interest in joining, you should be aware that the Liberal Democrats are a trans inclusive party, and we have made it clear that we fully behind trans communities. As liberals we champion everyone’s right to live the life they want. By the sounds of your email it appears that your values are not aligned with ours so we are probably not the right the party for you.

I am flabbergasted. I didn't expect that I would have to believe that humans can change biological sex in order to be a member of the Lib Dems.

I am so disappointed. I was going to vote for them in the GE (passionate Remainer) but I cannot if this is their response.

There is no one to vote for. I am lost.

@CaptainKirksSpikeyGhost who do I vote for? I'm so lost. I can't vote for Lib Dem now. I can't vote for the Green Party due to their ambiguity if their pro-trans are actually anti-women(unless anyone has further information on this?) I can't vote tories, I don't think I could live with myself if I contributed to BJ being prime minister.
At this rate I'm going to spoil my ballot because there isn't actually anyone to vote for.

there isn't actually anyone to vote for

Bingo.

"If you do it's 100% certain self ID will be written into law and you and your children's rights will never be the same again."

That's not true. We haven't even seen the Labour party manifesto yet: it hasn't been published. You can't say with any certainty at all what is in it, let alone draw the conclusion you have.

You can't say with any certainty at all what is in it

I'm from the future.

In all seriousness though it'll be left off the manifesto as they know the public won't agree.

Why not vote UKIP OP? They have openly expressed their prejudice against trans people.

I'm so tired of transphobia. Well done to the Lib Dems.

I'm fed up of people shouting transphobia at women trying to defend their rights and idiot organisations seeming to think that what women think is unimportant.

I cancelled my membership a week ago for this exact reason and specifically told them that in my email requesting membership cancellation. Alas, I'm politically homeless again.

I'm so tired of transphobia.

The last time a currency devalued that fast was in 1930's Germany

It's tough, isn't it? Vote Lib Dems, lose women's rights, vote Tory, hard Brexit, vote Labour, potentially lose women's rights, soft Brexit and anti-Semitism.

All 3 areas potentially existential for me (lost a parent thanks to NHS cuts, am a woman, lost family members in the Holocaust).

On balance, I probably feel most immediately personally threatened by Labour anti-Semitism and a hard Brexit.

But what a bloody choice.

How nice it would be to be able to cast a positive vote. I remember when I used to be able to do that.

That's not true. We haven't even seen the Labour party manifesto yet: it hasn't been published. You can't say with any certainty at all what is in it, let alone draw the conclusion you have.

But Dawn Butler is their women and equalities person. And she is 110% TWAW/self ID/AWS. I don't think you need a massively functional crystal ball to call that one do you?

Captain and if anyone says your not they're a bigot

Marfisa please can you enlighten us where the transphobia is? You know, with a specific quote?

www.peaktrans.org/guest-blog-a-list-of-all-things-transphobic/

I've voted in three elections so far;

Lib Dems, because I genuinely believed they were a better option than Labour or Tory. As a student, they felt like the cool, protest vote against the mainstream. The little party that could get stuff done if given the chance. They then jumped into bed with the Tories and hiked tuition fees

Green, sort of same as the above plus a focus on general green issues. Didn't really expect them to get in and they didn't disappoint.

Labour, because they seemed like the least worst option. I held my nose and didn't especially want them to win, just the Tories to lose.

So I'm pretty stuck for this election. Because all of the above have either outright said that GC feminists are not welcome or otherwise indicated that they don't prioritise womens rights (backing self ID, for example)

Which leaves UKIP (an obvious no), Tories (disastrous for working class women particularly), WEP (don't know what a woman is) or an Idependent. I don't know if one will stand in my area - a pretty safe Conservative seat - but that might be the only option left.

It's all a bit depressing, isn't it? I'd just like to vote for a party I genuinely believe in who don't turn out to be a let down...

I had posted earlier today but unable to see my post ?? though not able to see if it had been deleted.....
I had suggested off the top of my head, and as a response to MN'ters, raising the concern of parties not representing women's fundamental rights. I proposed the possibility of a "neutral" vote. It would be a "party centering women's issues" essentially candidates could represent as far as possible the views of their constituents with non-women issues, voting accordingly. However, on women's issues the vote has the benefit of members voting to prevent the expediency of new laws that may erode women's rights without proper discussion and challenge. We are 50% of the electorate.

Why not vote UKIP OP? They have openly expressed their prejudice against trans people.

My OP says I'm a passionate remainer, and that trans people shouldn't face abuse or discrimination...
If you need help with reading comprehension just ask, we're super friendly here.

No read all of this yet - just wanted to say that spoiling a vote has to be done a certain way otherwise it's doesn't get counted in any way

Every ballot paper in the ballot boxes gets "counted". The total for each candidate and the total number of spoiled ballots have to match the number of ballot papers issued by the election officials in each polling station.

Some returning officers break down the spoiled papers to declare the reason they were spoiled, others don't.

There really isn't anything magic about how you spoil your ballot paper. If the tellers and the returning officers can't determine which single candidate you voted for it is spoiled and goes into the spoiled pile. Nobody is interested in them except in a close result they will be scrutinised to make 100% sure they can't be allocated to a candidate.

I voted for the Lib Dems once. It was a mistake back then and clearly it would be a mistake again. I could never vote for a party that wants to weaken or remove women's sex based rights.

I live in an area currently held by the Conservatives but the Lib Dem candidate (who I know) has a good chance of winning. I messaged her tonight about this and she has replied saying that she doesn’t feel she has researched enough to properly understand my concerns. She says she has heard about the issues around changing rooms. She has asked if I am able to share anything that explains the main concerns that women fighting for sex-based rights have. Can anyone recommend a good resource I can send to her please?

Skade I'd always point people to Fair play for Women, and Transgender Trend if you bring up schools and kids.
I will look on twitter and see if there's anything else.

Skade - I was going to recommend some of the statements from WPUK but sort of got lost in their web site (I'm sure the info is there somewhere!).

But this one might be useful as it outlines why Sex is a protected characteristic, and that people are trying to remove the right of women to be protected based on sex by misquoting the EA to say gender is a protected characteristic. womansplaceuk.org/sex-is-a-protected-characteristic/

Leeds councillor thanks Mumsnet FWR in gender critical speech

I'm sorry I can't link directly, but look for this thread here in FWR. I recommend the speech for all politicians, particularly women ones.

Is every party other than the Tories determined to lose the election? I don't want a Tory government, but if the other parties keep telling women to fuck off that's exactly what's going to happen.

I still haven’t heard back the two candidates in my constituency (LibDem and Green) after emailing them on Wednesday. Not that I’m especially hopeful.

Thanks for the suggestions. I linked her to this guide from Fair Play for Women which although about the reform of the GRA, I felt covered a lot of the concerns that we have: fairplayforwomen.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/FPFW-printable-guide-1.pdf