Am I wrong to bring women’s rights into a council election

[Fancyfencepost]

Just had a visit from the local councillor asking for my vote. I said that I couldn’t vote for any party who didn’t support women. The response, “ this is about the council, not that, about bin collections and road repairs.” Think I might have thrown him a wee bit but surely he could have had a better answer?

I had exactly the same thing.
The guy said it wasn't about that.
I said if not now then when?!
Think I might have stolen that phrase from somewhere but it seemed appropriate!

I REALLY hope local candidates knock on my front door as I plan to raise this very issue! Will be extremely interesting to see their reactions.

If they knock at my door I'll be bringing up single sex spaces. It's as much a local issue as it is National.

I can't vote for any of my local candidates, and none are likely to doorstep me (rural dweller). So I'll be spoiling my ballot and telling each of them why, on the voting paper.

Apart from anything else,don't vote for him on the grounds that he has no idea of the wide-ranging functions of a local council, despite being an elected representative of one

I have this SS on my phone as a reminder in the hope of someone on the doorstep (we never get anyone) so it might be handy for someone else too.

I had exactly the same response from my Conservative candidate today Fancyfencepost! She could barely string a sentence together tbh and was definitely not interested in listening to my concerns, I think it's safe to say she won't be getting my vote.

Your councilor is an idiot. Womems rights come into pretty much everything in local politics. Not just single?sex spaces. There's also what Americans call potty parity (and reinforce by law), namely equal toilet provision in terms of wait times. There's gender mainstreaming throughout local plannjng:. If more men drive compared to women, does public transport get equal funding? My town spent a bunch of money on a skater park without asking whid be using it - spoiler alert, 90 percent boys. What do girls require? One good question would be whether your town uses gender budgeting to ensure public funds don't just go towards male priorities. And so on, there's lots.

I asked my Lib Dem councillor what a woman is when he knocked my door. He said a woman is a biological woman and he agreed with me about single SEX spaces etc. I said it is a shame his party doesn’t care about women. I also pointed to the trans pride flag banner outside the school next door and said it made me wonder if girls beliefs and spaces are respected there. He did nod along.
He is a good councillor, from what I can tell, but he belongs to a party who would throw mine and my daughters rights under the bus.

Thanks @GibbonsGoatsGibbons I have totally nicked that so I'm ready too. I'm not a clear thinker/talker on the spot so this is very helpful.

@GibbonsGoatsGibbons

I have this SS on my phone as a reminder in the hope of someone on the doorstep (we never get anyone) so it might be handy for someone else too.

So what do you do when a candidate just says "Oh, yes 100%" to all of that ?

What do you do if they all say yes ?

I know it's shocking, but there is a rumour doing the rounds that politicians might - and I know this is probably going to get me banned for life - but politicians may not tell the truth to get elected.

There. I've said it. That's me banned for life.

I wasted a whole hour of my precious time searching for the candidates' email addies, and only found Labour's.

So I emailed her my question, taken from SexMatters and tweaked.

Her reply was, solely: "Have you asked the other candidates?"

Someone started a local facebook group to discuss the council elections, asking, what policies or issues are important to you? I joined and replied, if they want my X they have to respect my sex, and saying that I would like to retain the existing laws on single sex spaces. I did not mention the T word at all.

Within 5 minutes of posting I received an unsolicited private message from a strange man. He said he worked very closely with the local police chief, reporting hate crimes. He said that if my thread "morphed into" transphobia, I was being held responsible, and he would be reporting me via this supposed hotline to the top brass, for committing a hate crime.

A bit of googling showed me this was a gay man who holds some position in the local "rainbow" group.

The thread then turned into mud being slung at me, a pile-on of woke locals calling me bigot, terf all the usual things. As far as I could tell, none of these vicious people hurling abuse at me were trans.

The moderators then banned me from the group, saying my OP was divisive, controversial, incendiary, caused ill feeling, etc.

I am now silenced, my character assassinated around my town and neighbourhood, and there is now nobody in the group sticking up for women's interests.

I never once referred to the T.

I would keep it relevant to local issues and ask about funding of women's refuges/rape crisis centres (are female-only ones funded), safety in council funded sports facilities, that sort of thing.

Your prospective councillor is either ill-informed or deliberately dodging the issue.
Things that obviously come under local councils include women's refuges, sports changing rooms, park loos, school loos...
No one has doorstepped me yet but I will be asking about all these things if and when they do.

I'll also remind them that how people vote in local elections sends a message to the national party.

DameHelena
I'll also remind them that how people vote in local elections sends a message to the national party

My Dad's opinion from when I first started voting.🗳
Its always best if one party is in government, to vote for the other in the local elections, as it keeps both parties working hard to close the gap.

am now silenced, my character assassinated around my town and neighbourhood, and there is now nobody in the group sticking up for women's interests.

This is how many of these people operate.

One of my local councillors is a raving gender-woo batshitter and just happens to have the portfolio for education & children's services.

Every single one of the councillors is the 'corporate parent' to children who are in care ('looked after').

So damn right it matters, especially if you're voting in unitary or county council elections. Even parish councils can influence decisions about privacy and dignity for women and girls.

@Maskless

I wasted a whole hour of my precious time searching for the candidates' email addies, and only found Labour's.

So I emailed her my question, taken from SexMatters and tweaked.

Her reply was, solely: "Have you asked the other candidates?"

Someone started a local facebook group to discuss the council elections, asking, what policies or issues are important to you? I joined and replied, if they want my X they have to respect my sex, and saying that I would like to retain the existing laws on single sex spaces. I did not mention the T word at all.

Within 5 minutes of posting I received an unsolicited private message from a strange man. He said he worked very closely with the local police chief, reporting hate crimes. He said that if my thread "morphed into" transphobia, I was being held responsible, and he would be reporting me via this supposed hotline to the top brass, for committing a hate crime.

A bit of googling showed me this was a gay man who holds some position in the local "rainbow" group.

The thread then turned into mud being slung at me, a pile-on of woke locals calling me bigot, terf all the usual things. As far as I could tell, none of these vicious people hurling abuse at me were trans.

The moderators then banned me from the group, saying my OP was divisive, controversial, incendiary, caused ill feeling, etc.

I am now silenced, my character assassinated around my town and neighbourhood, and there is now nobody in the group sticking up for women's interests.

I never once referred to the T.

I'm really sorry to hear this. I wonder if it might be worth contacting local police to let them know about this man threatening you? Or local paper?

Presumably we'd all be happy with a manifesto commitment to knowing what a woman is ?

@Redshoeblueshoe

OP I'm going to steal your comment Am I not more important than a bin ? In fact I think I'll make a little list and leave it by the front door.

I strongly suggest a clipboard, a list of questions, and a seat for you both. Outside in the sunshine if you can.

You'll be there for a while…

@Maskless

I wasted a whole hour of my precious time searching for the candidates' email addies, and only found Labour's.

So I emailed her my question, taken from SexMatters and tweaked.

Her reply was, solely: "Have you asked the other candidates?"

Someone started a local facebook group to discuss the council elections, asking, what policies or issues are important to you? I joined and replied, if they want my X they have to respect my sex, and saying that I would like to retain the existing laws on single sex spaces. I did not mention the T word at all.

Within 5 minutes of posting I received an unsolicited private message from a strange man. He said he worked very closely with the local police chief, reporting hate crimes. He said that if my thread "morphed into" transphobia, I was being held responsible, and he would be reporting me via this supposed hotline to the top brass, for committing a hate crime.

A bit of googling showed me this was a gay man who holds some position in the local "rainbow" group.

The thread then turned into mud being slung at me, a pile-on of woke locals calling me bigot, terf all the usual things. As far as I could tell, none of these vicious people hurling abuse at me were trans.

The moderators then banned me from the group, saying my OP was divisive, controversial, incendiary, caused ill feeling, etc.

I am now silenced, my character assassinated around my town and neighbourhood, and there is now nobody in the group sticking up for women's interests.

I never once referred to the T.

That is absolutely shocking, @Maskless

Is it still going on?

I asked my local Labour councillor this when she and a male party member came to my door. To my question 'What is a woman?', the man started off with some flannel about women being brave and dangerous creatures. I asked him if that meant that men could be women. He said nothing after that while she hemmed and hawed and told me it was 'complicated' . I said, 'no it's not. What is a woman?' She dithered around for ages, trying to tell me about 'more important' things. I told her Keir Starmer was a disappointment and she should report that back to Labour HQ. Eventually she gave up and said she had to go...

Thank-you for the many useful comments here. I doubt we’ll get any canvassers but I’ve told everyone in the house they are to call me to the door if we do as I have questions

Jesus, this thread is a collection of hate, and bad takes.

Do you all really think that trans women are the biggest local issue, even the biggest issue nationally?

No canvasser is going to report any of this back, and will flag you as a house not to return to. Although, I'm sure some parties will be more than happy to have your vote, generally right wing, to far-right wing. If that's the bed you want to sleep in, that's on you.

If I am going door to door, I'm not going to stand, and listen to someone talking about toilet police, or removing safe areas for trans people who have been raped, or listen to various conspiracy theories. I'm walking off, and telling my collegues to avoid your house.

Most of you have probably, at some point, shared a public toilet with a trans woman, without knowing, and without anything negative happening, yet for some reason, you are in panic.

If I am going door to door, I'm not going to stand, and listen to someone talking about toilet police, or removing safe areas for trans people who have been raped, or listen to various conspiracy theories. I'm walking off, and telling my collegues to avoid your house.

You're absolutely right. You won't hear any of that. You'll hear the questions given above about single sex spaces and facilities.

Any conspiracy theories are of your own imagination.

Depending on how you inform your colleagues and the content of that information, I wonder if you're actively discriminating and encouraging discrimination against people who have a protected characteristic, i.e., a gender critical belief that is WORIADS.