I only caught the end of this show but it was Tom Swarbrick interviewing Layla Moran but following on from the thread about Ed Davey on Marr - I thought it would be good to post here.
I was so cross about it that I’ve made a transcript.
From 2 hours 55 mins 50 seconds
TS: One of the other issues that I know the Lib Dems are strong on and that your party leader has been talking about is the issue of trans rights
LM:Hmm
TS:Sir Ed Davy has said that "Trans rights are Human Rights, Trans Women are Women, Trans Men are Men" What is the definition? What do the Lib Dems define a woman as?
LM: Yes, so, look..I.. there is nothing between Ed and I on this, and I think the thing we have got to keep in mind, you know I am a woman, I am also female. I am not just defined by my bits Tom, (laughs)
TS:No
LM: And I think most women would agree with that and when we are talking about this particular debate what I am really worried about is very much the heat that's in it, also the fact that we are all actually on the same side here, the people who suggest that you can't be a feminist and defend trans rights at the same time I think are wrong. What we are trying to defend against
TS:I come back to the question again of -how is a woman defined?
LM: How is a woman .. well it's (signs)
TS: What's your definition of woman?
LM: I am a woman, it is a gender, there are people who identify as women
TS: It's a sex
LS: Well so this is the thing and there are some people who don't necessarily define themselves in those ways, in that way
TS: Understood
LM: And it's really important that we respect how people define themselves
TS: Totally
LM: This is a key liberal principle. It's up to an individual to define themselves and gender is something that they can choose.
TS: But we won't write that into law?
LM: To flippantly suggest (and I'm not saying you are flippantly suggesting this just to be very clear) but to suggest that people wake up one morning and decide that they are something else, I think completely misunderstands the incredibly vulnerable situations that individuals find themselves in.
TS: Of course - and that is born out in the experiences of those people who have rung the program this afternoon. This is not an overnight decision it is a very very difficult process.
LM: Absolutely
TS:But why would we write into law the personal choices made by individuals that ought to be respected ,why would we write that into law that if you say that your identity is a woman you are legally a woman which is what the change in the Gender Recognition Act that the Lib Dems want to see would do
LM: Because by writing it into law you afford protection and that protection is really needed...
TS: For whom?
LM: For that individual because
TS: What about the women?
LM: This is a minority groupwell they are women this is a minority group that disproportionately finds itself - you know - 1 in 2 transgender teens have said that they've tried to commit suicide
TS:Yeah
LM:The number 9 out of 10 transgender..
TS:And that's awful
LM: And they deserve our protection
TS:The definition then of woman is somebody who says there are a woman and that will be that could be put into law if that person says they are a woman
LM:After a lot of consideration and when I should say Tom I've got constituents of mine whose children have gone through this and we've discussed this at length and I have tried to help them and I think what people need to appreciate is that this is not simple, this is not easy, this is a really really personal thing. If you think about who you are as a person, this goes to the heart, to the depths of it and we have heard from their own experiences that they feel very often persecuted against, discriminated against and by allowing that definition in law, which by the way already exists you know - you can already have a gender recognition change in law currently
TS:Yes but not through self ID
LM:What we would do is we would make it more in line with other countries that have made these changes and by the way have not had any issues with them so we are just making it easier for very vulnerable people to be who they are and allow them to be who they want to be
A few things to note - these suicide stats are not robust.
Women have single sex spaces for our safety! Men are biologically stronger. Stating that men who identify as women doesn’t denigrate or target one individual.
You cannot coach grassroots football without a CRC/DBS - this is because (some) adults abuse kids. It’s safeguarding.
As for the - you don’t wake up one day & decide - you literally can with self-ID. Also what about Pip/Philip Bunce who does decide each day.
Always the emphasis on trans women - that’s because they are men & this is a patriarchy! Women in men’s spaces pose no physical threat to the men! That’s biology!