Feminism: Sex & gender discussions
Starmer rowing back on self ID - what do we think?
JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 23/03/2023 13:18
The Times is reporting in its live politics feed that KS has explicitly said Labour will not push for self ID without public backing. I know not everyone can access their content so here is a copied n pasted version: what do you think?
Sir Keir Starmer has shifted Labour’s position on transgender rights as he said the bitter rows over Scotland’s Gender Recognition Bill showed the party must consider public opinion on the issue.The leader of the Labour Party has previously insisted it was committed to updating the Gender Recognition Act to introduce self-identification for transgender people.However, in a significant shift in Labour’s policy, he said the backlash over the SNP’s gender reform bill had made him think again. The SNP passed legislation this year that would make it significantly easier for people to acquire a gender recognition certificate and reduced the minimum age for doing so to 16. The bill was blocked by the UK government.Starmer said: “I think that if we reflect on what’s happened in Scotland, the lesson I take from that is that if you’re going to make reforms, you have to carry the public with you.
“And I think that’s a very important message and I think that’s why it’s clear that in Scotland, there should be a reset of the situation.”
CatNamedEaster · 23/03/2023 13:23
But what does that mean "carry the public with you." Based on the opinions he will be hearing witjin the party, vs the amount of people not able to risk giving an opposing view, he will probably feel justified in saying that most people support self-ID.
Unless he specifically said it's off the table, TWAM and will be treated as such in law, then I still don't have anyone to vote for.
FOJN · 23/03/2023 13:26
If his position had changed in response to public opinion it wouldn't have taken him so long.
He saw what happened to Nicola Sturgeon and decided it would harm his chances of winning the next election if he was repeatedly being asked to define what a woman was and he's he's giving the TRA's time to get it out of their system before hand.
Why has it been such a pressing issue for the Labour party for so long and now all of a sudden it isn't, have they stopped caring about the most marginalised and oppressed or didn't they really believe that narrative to begin with?
RosaBonheur · 23/03/2023 13:34
FOJN · 23/03/2023 13:26
If his position had changed in response to public opinion it wouldn't have taken him so long.
He saw what happened to Nicola Sturgeon and decided it would harm his chances of winning the next election if he was repeatedly being asked to define what a woman was and he's he's giving the TRA's time to get it out of their system before hand.
Why has it been such a pressing issue for the Labour party for so long and now all of a sudden it isn't, have they stopped caring about the most marginalised and oppressed or didn't they really believe that narrative to begin with?
Why has it ever been a pressing issue for the Labour Party?
We've had a pandemic, Brexit, a cost of living crisis and a decade plus of Tory cuts. Why is this even on their radar?
JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 23/03/2023 13:34
@FOJN My own suspicion is that no, they never really cared about 'the most oppressed' etc beyond a small band of hardliners, and that LP leadership effectively outsourced their thinking to that group. I think many haven't really thought it through properly, hence e.g. Rayner's recent uncharacteristic stumbling when pushed in that Sunday Times interview.
I suspect there is a mixture of less-hardline folk in the LP leadership actually waking up thanks to Bryson/ Sturgeon, and others who continue to believe but realise it might turn into a vote-loser.
Especially given media comments in last year from Sunak, Raab, Badenoch who are (comparatively) unembarrassed about the whole thing.
OneLongSmorgasbord · 23/03/2023 13:36
I don't believe a word he says. The party is still full of TRAs.
He's saying this because he saw the SNP/Nicola Sturgeon debacle and can see that it could cause trouble.
Bear in mind that when he says he'll get public backing, he will talk to specially selected trans groups and no one else that might be affected.
DrMarciaFieldstone · 23/03/2023 13:40
RosaBonheur · 23/03/2023 13:34
Why has it ever been a pressing issue for the Labour Party?
We've had a pandemic, Brexit, a cost of living crisis and a decade plus of Tory cuts. Why is this even on their radar?
FOJN · 23/03/2023 13:26
If his position had changed in response to public opinion it wouldn't have taken him so long.
He saw what happened to Nicola Sturgeon and decided it would harm his chances of winning the next election if he was repeatedly being asked to define what a woman was and he's he's giving the TRA's time to get it out of their system before hand.
Why has it been such a pressing issue for the Labour party for so long and now all of a sudden it isn't, have they stopped caring about the most marginalised and oppressed or didn't they really believe that narrative to begin with?
It’s the number one voting issue for me.
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