Starmer: "trans-inclusive" conversion therapy ban, "modernise" the GRA, all hate crime to be aggravated offences as part of making every child "proud and confident"

[ResisterRex]

Exclusive in Diva, following a reception at a LGBT+ Labour event in Parliament on 29 Jan:

https://diva-magazine.com/2024/01/29/exclusive-keir-starmer-lgbtqia-rights/

"“We’ll strengthen the law, so every category of hate crime is treated as an aggravated offence,” Starmer said. “We’ll cut NHS waiting lists for LGBT+ people waiting for urgent physical and mental health care. We’ll modernise the Gender Recognition Act. We’ll implement a full, trans-inclusive, ban on all forms of conversion therapy. We fully support the view that conversion therapy is psychologically damaging abuse.”

“We are committed to a decade of national renewal and will work with all the organisations in this room tonight so every child can feel proud and confident in who they are, to stand up for LGBT+ rights at home and abroad and to get Britain’s future back.”

The mention of children is unclear but must have a background to the full speech? LGBT Labour hasn't tweeted about it but others have. Rayner and Dodds also in attendance.

https://x.com/djrm94/status/1752057964767101041?s=46&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

https://x.com/stevenatkins/status/1752256944843162016?s=46&t=WHoOZZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

x.com/anuox/status/1752094930074325420?s=46&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

In a democracy most people don't get what they want. They get an approximation and a compromise. Or even the complete opposite, if they are in the minority.

I'm not sure if I'm missing something but the only thing here that I haven't seen Labour say before is the bit about cutting waiting lists for LGBT+. Nothing else is new so it's not like they've done another about turn.

What I do take from it is that 1) They think they can get away with riding two horses into the election.
2) There's not a cat in hell's chance that they'll ever acknowledge the problems the GRA has led to - they're proud of it.
And 3) that trans lobby groups appear (at least in public) to be giving Labour a suspiciously easy time over dropping self ID - it's almost as if they've realised it won't make any real difference.

Just vote Tory. Thatcher is dead

I half wish she wasn't't.

Say what you like about her - and I still hate her with every fibre of my being - she'd have kicked this gender sh1te in its collective bollox.

What progress have the Tories made in "restoring womens rights" in the 13 years they have been in power? I'll be honest, I can't think of any. All they've done is given back things they took away. Trans women in womens prison and on womens wards happened on their watch.

..trans lobby groups appear (at least in public) to be giving Labour a suspiciously easy time over dropping self ID

Well if Labour's "modernising the GRA" means giving out GRC's to anyone who asks, plus adding "non-binary" etc to the official identities available, they'll be getting sel ID.

Yup.

Either men are allowed women's rights and spaces or they're not.

There's no compromise. There's no third sex.

I agree. The fix is in.

Erm, really? Diva is not exactly the mainstream press.

Hence why so many of us questioned the carefully curated words that has been pushed on these threads as some kind of proof that labour had changed their stance. I particularly laughed at those who told us that Labour had listened and was listening. Some of those women actually active in the Labour Party women’s groups told us what is really happening, as evidenced by Labour women still not being allowed to have a stand at conference.

I am glad that Starmer has done this interview.

They've said what they mean.
It's pretty much identical to the Tory position:

The Minister [Liz Truss] acknowledged the need to improve the process and experience transgender people have when applying for a GRC, to make it: “kinder and more straightforward.” She said the Government’s proposed changes would address the main concerns transgender people had expressed. The GRC application process is to be moved online and the fee has been reduced from £140 to £5.

As much as people want to make this Tory v Labour the truth is there is a gnats fart between their position and any differences are political posturing.

Labour will win the next GE regardless. Just reading other boards on here gives a very clear indication of voting intentions.

The vast majority of the electorate are ignorant (unaware) of Trans issues or are at least unaffected by it.

For those more aware of how the rest of the world especially the USA, Canada, AUS and NZ are accepting and even encouraging of it will appreciate the harm our future generations face.
I’ll be voting Tory, (although they really have no hope of winning the general election) but votes for them, might help dilute the power Labour would otherwise have.

That quote is 2 years old, Tory thinking on this issue has evolved since then.

Labour's thinking is still stuck on soundbites and a very muddled position, where none of us actually know what they mean, without us having to speculate and fill in the gaps.

Labour will win the next GE regardless. Just reading other boards on here gives a very clear indication of voting intentions.

Just about everyone on here was shocked when the Bishop Auckland and Hartlepool by elections went Tory. As was Owen Jones amd much of the loud, obnoxious twitter lefty mob. Mumsnet isn't the whole population, and neither is twitter.

So, Starmer’s saying to that there will be a ban on conversion therapy for T (presumably including children) and he will cut waiting times for drugs and surgery.

If you know children affected by this, that is chilling - nobody’s allowed to discuss a trans declaration, and medical intervention will be provided quickly (before anyone has time to change their minds?)

That does look like something WPATH would approve of

Diva is not exactly the mainstream press.

That, and the delay in LGBT Labour publicising this love-in where those in the room only makes this whole thing suspicious. Who was in that room? What press was invited? Just Diva? Why? What deals are being done to sterilise gay children and dress it up as "progress"? These are serious safeguarding matters, where backroom deals and horse trading will not do.

Yep, looks very much like Starmer trying to project one message to his TRA lobby and a different one to women

So now insluting somebody can be reported as an aggravted offence? God give me strength.

Our police force is already so stretched that they won't come out for burglaries or first event domestic violence. Both crimes that predominantly affect women.

once again, women get the sh*tty end of the stick whilst queer activists can call the police on each other when they get into twitter spats.

This is all so depressing. It has been whilst the Tories have been in power that the institutional capturing we see today has happened, yet they are the party that now say what many of us Labour voters want to hear in this issue.

Starmer and co could have spent more time actually listening to their female voters. When I find myself agreeing with, say, Badenoch on this issue, but only this issue, that feels weird to me. And agreeing with so much of what Labour is saying, bar this, it messes with my head. How has this become an issue of the left and right …I just think the Tories know that they are creating the space for Labour interviewees in the run up to the next election to be ridiculed. Let’s face it, they haven’t got much else, and they will conveniently forget what has happened on their watch.

My dc and I have been talking about this

Labour are mad to want to win the next GE

And utter bollocks like this from starmer are convincing me they don't

Timed to coincide with Streeting making his (garbled, confusing) statement on single sex wards, it very much looks like an attempt to present two contradictory positions at once.

I think any sense of ‘this has happened on the Tory watch’ has to be balanced against what the alternative was. Canada/Australia/NZ are providing case studies of what is could have been like if Labour had been in government for the last 10 years. We’re called Terf Island for a reason

I normally take a more left wing position, but on this, I think the Tory government has held the line better.

It's the fact Labour aren't listening to women's voices that's killed any chance of me voting for them. Not sure which political party I hate the most at the moment; its a depressing state of affairs to not feel represented by anyone.

It's a decider for me when it comes to voting at this year's GE. No way am I voting for a party that refuses to define me and my sex class.

@HagoftheNorth Yes I see what you mean, but the fact is that the Tories have been in power and presumably could have been stronger, if this was their stance, throughout their time in government, rather than letting things get to this and now taking little responsibility.