LeedsReSisters presenting deputation to Leeds City Council follow live

[LeedsReSisters]

Watch the deputation being delivered live by Leeds ReSisters and the following vote here: leeds.public-i.tv/core/portal/home

Tomorrow, Wednesday 18th January, Leeds ReSisters will be presenting a deputation to Leeds City Council during the monthly, all councillors meeting.

The deputation calls for all women’s refuges to be single sex only.

“Lord Mayor and Members of Council, we are here today to ask you to consider the case for creating single sex refuges in the city of Leeds. We would like to stress 2 things as they underpin our message to you:

“Firstly, we believe that every victim of abuse should be given refuge and protection, irrespective of how they choose to present or identify.

“Secondly, we believe that in all societies, when biological sex matters, it really does matter. The reality of our bodies is a fundamental truth, and this is why women’s spaces and services exist. Victims of sexual assault and domestic abuse are overwhelmingly female and the perpetrators almost exclusively male. So where is this fundamental truth more important than in a women’s refuge?”

This deputation has been brought as a follow up to the protest that Leeds Resisters held in November outside the Council meeting.

www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/politics/sex-offender-stayed-in-leeds-womens-refuge-for-71-days-as-campaigners-protest-leeds-council-over-scandal-3920683

www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/leeds-news/group-protest-leeds-city-centre-25531119.amp

We hope that the deputation is carried forward and assigned to one of the council committees who shall consider the matter in consultation with the relevant Executive Member.

The deputation will be read just after 1pm and the councillor’s vote will follow. You can watch the deputation and the vote live here: leeds.public-i.tv/core/portal/home

Here you go

www.mumsnet.com/talk/petitions_noticeboard/4668426-petition-update-the-equality-act-to-make-clear-the-characteristic-sex-is-biological-sex

Done

@IcakethereforeIam sorry, the above was for you, I thought I’d quoted it. We’ve tweeted it out.

I watched your deputation and I thought you were excellent speakers.

Well done. And, thank you.

@LeedsReSisters Excellent speech, very articulately spoken! It sounded like you got a very good round of applause at the end - deservedly so! I hope a lot of the clapping was coming from the councillors - Mr Cohen? sounded very pleased to 2nd your request it seemed to me.
Anyway, well done all and the best of luck with your campaign.

@vivariumvivariumsvivaria thank you. Our team were brilliant. My heart was beating fast for them and I was in the public gallery! @EpicChaos yes, I think it he was enthusiastic. Some didn’t clap apparently. We also had some councillors speak to us afterwards offering help. It’s on record now and that should make any decisions/discussions a lot more transparent.

It was a great day all round yesterday, people up and down the country finally having to listen to all of our concerns…sunlight streaming in!

Congrats on winning the vote women in Leeds are safer today.

twitter.com/emmajaned0lan/status/1615760123418247169

NB make sure to publicize this properly tell BBC, local press, Daily Mail, Times, Guardian. This is a really important win get that message out there. Also big for internal Labour politics when debating single sex safety is going on. Labour in Leeds will protect women from predators will other councils step up.

Hoping this will be start of a wave. Now one Labour council has passed this we need to push in every council.
Dolatowski is just one of the many dangers out there.

Well done🍾

Just to be clear, getting the Deputation through was just one step, they haven’t agreed to change policy. We can’t have any influence or much of an overview of what is going on, if we didn’t play the game and join in the democratic process. The deputation was an official way to raise our concerns. Our concerns will now be sent to a council committee who will consider our concerns further. We may just get a bland response back about being inclusive. The win really, is that this is now a matter of public record, they know we are not going away, they know we won’t let the Dolatowski incident drop, we have made them listen to us and it will be on the agenda of the next committee meeting. We are making plans…and for now keeping some of our powder dry.

@LeedsReSisters " people up and down the country finally having to listen to all of our concerns…sunlight streaming in! "

Well I most certainly do hope that that they listen to you, especially having now read This thread and in particular, the post by rowantrees about Leeds council. Any of those involved with any of the negative effects caused by their actions back then, should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves and held fully accountable!

Thank you so much for doing this Leeds Resisters✊♥️ Ovaries of Steel! You were amazing ! It is disgraceful that that person could get away with that . Absolutely shocking. Women and children should not be placed at risk for male's egos. Women won't wheesh!✊

How bloody terrifying and disgraceful is it, though, that you had to go to these lengths just to get them to agree to consider the radical notion that it might be a bad idea to allow paedophile sex offenders into women and children's refuges. For Two and a half months..