Conservative candidate resigns after trans comments

[PorcelinaV]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv2z7663p16o

@Crikeyalmighty

Whether we agree with him is neither here nor there. I agree with his sentiments on the trans part too. But the school believed that the language he used was inappropriate for a school debate and therefore decided to complain. But nobody forced him to resign other than, presumably, the Conservative Party. So any complaints ought to be taken up with them - they chose to wield the hammer, nobody forced them.

I'm interested in this.

What have you changed your mind about?

When I see idiots like this one dismiss such a complex issue to ‘blokes in loos’ - never mind the nasty ‘immigrant invasion’ part - I feel more certain I’m on the right side of the debate.

What an odd perspective.

If I believe something is right I believe it for good reasons in which I am confident.

Some idiot coming along and saying something superficially similar but for totally different and possibly incoherent reasons doesn't make me think "oh I must be wrong".

I don't stand with people who want to enforce old fashioned sexist standards onto men and women. That doesn't mean I have to accept female people have no need of a political, legal and social existence in their own right, one which males cannot identify into no matter how they feel.

What was "mildly GC", what do you believe now, and what changed your mind?

"Whilst we fully support the principle that our students should experience a broad range of views and opinions, we cannot allow our schools to become a platform for views that are fundamentally incompatible with our approach and ethos."

Sooooo a broad range of views and opinions just as long as we agree with them.....

I'm defending his right to free speech. I fundamentally disagree with his comments on migrants. I still think he has the right to say what he thinks. We need to hear what our politicians think. We can then decide whether to vote for them or not. Had he not said what he said, we'd never know and he'd be up for election soon.

One thing this whole identity ideology BS we've experienced in last 10 years has shown me is how important free speech is and how easily it can be eroded.

It sure looks like they wanted him censored to me.

And it doesn't look like just an objection to the tone in which he said it, but rather an objection to the viewpoint itself.

Even if it was merely an objection to the tone, I think that would still be wrong or very questionable, because politicians need reasonable freedom to use the rhetoric of their choice.

Quote:

"We do not feel those comments were appropriate to be aired in a school environment in the manner he chose to do so, as they conflict with the inclusive environment of the school community and are at odds with the content of the school's curriculum.

"Whilst we fully support the principle that our students should experience a broad range of views and opinions, we cannot allow our schools to become a platform for views that are fundamentally incompatible with our approach and ethos."

Quite.

The censoring is of the views. Not expressing them in a way that yes, is not reflective of the kind of professionality you'd expect in a potential MP.

Fundamentally incompatible with WHAT exactly? Incompatible with our girls experiencing privacy, dignity, equality of access and consideration to boys, while we gaslight them that sex isn't fixed at conception and they have some way to not be on the shitty end of the equality stick?

He is correct

I agree with his sentiment on the trans issue (not the migrant comments) but don’t think he should have vocalised it in the way he did, in a school environment.

We have enough yobbish MPs, we don’t need any more.

Exactly. How is it on us?!

We say no. And politicians and institutions say whatever

The school have to be incredibly careful what views are expressed to children. Referring to immigration as an "invasion" is pretty extremist. And "bloke in a dress" may be accurate but it is also (intentionally) demeaning to those who have a genuine mental health condition (gender dysphoria). Neither of those are acceptable in a school setting.

I'm pretty GC myself but I'd complain about the way this man has expressed his views in a school setting.

Make better points if you are pro women and want to discuss increasing migration

But don’t put it on us

Maybe they could approach Jamie, I believe Jamie is looking for a new Constituency.

The context is unclear. Could he have been objecting to sixth formers that actually did want to allow it?

"How on earth, all of you ladies here, can allow a bloke in a dress to come into your loos? It's disgusting."

Interesting use of the word "allow" - like we have a choice. I agree it's disgusting that we don't.

I agree with a Bloke in a dress shouldn't be housed in female prisons or be using the female loo.
The immigrant comment, not as simple as it's an invasion. It's a much more complicated issue for me.

I agree with this.
Even if it wasn't a school environment (I haven't read the source, sorry) but a hustings, I still don't think there's any need to use language like that.
Having said that, I am concerned about the school having concerns about his views per se, rather than the way he expressed them.

I'm very gender critical and think the school was within its rights to complain. Plus this isn't just about the trans comments, it's also his comments on immigration.

It's not acceptable to go into a school (or anywhere imo) and use the rhetoric of an 'invasion' of immigrants'. Suella may have shifted the dial on what's deemed 'acceptable' language around immigration - and brought the language of the far right into mainstream politics - but the school presumably has students who are immigrants, or the children of immigrants, and has a duty to protect them from hate speech. I would be furious if a politician came into my DC's school and said that. As for repressing free speech, the school is actually quoted in the article as saying 'We do not feel those comments were appropriate to be aired in a school environment in the manner he chose to do so...' So yep, say you're 'concerned' about immigration if you must, but don't waltz into a school spouting off about 'invasions' of immigrants.

As for the 'disgusting' comment, I totally agree it is 'disgusting' that women and girls have to put up with men in women's spaces. But there are more nuanced ways of having that conversation without bringing in the word 'disgusting' (and in the context of his other comments, reads as a short hop, skip and a jump to 'they're disgusting'). Plus the victim-blaming of women for 'allowing' this is totally out of order. So I agree that the school was right to complain. I'm more surprised that he and/or the local party agreed he should fall on his own sword over this!

This

Putting the trans comments to one side (we are still waiting for schools to actually receive that guidance and I disagree with most of you on here) for a moment. If any of the students he was speaking to had expressed such comments about immigrants in my class I would be referring up for consideration for reporting to the Prevent scheme. It's actually my legal responsibility to do so.
A candidate for any party should have been aware of this.

You can express any view you like in this country, provided it’s one of the many shades of liberal progressivism. Not even the Tories will tolerate anything else.

Yes, it very much is blokes in loos.
But - it’s women’s fault for letting them in?! Our problem to solve?
Ffs…

The Tory Party aren't clamping down on everyone who expresses those views.

They have just decided he is not the right candidate

I'm pretty sure any such report would have been dismissed. I doubt they have time for people referring to illegal immigration as an "invasion".

Out of interest, would you report someone accusing Israel of "genocide" or denying Israel's right to exist?

When I see idiots like this one dismiss such a complex issue to ‘blokes in loos’ - never mind the nasty ‘immigrant invasion’ part - I feel more certain I’m on the right side of the debate.

lol, what a way to weigh an issue! So when you see the idiots/misogynists/ literal murderers on your current side of the debate spewing out their moronic bile, do you change your mind back again? It must make you quite dizzy.