Stand up to the Bullies joint letter from women in Labour, Lib Dems, Greens

[fromorbit]

In the Observer

Stand up to the bullies

The issues raised in Jo Phoenix’s judgment should ring alarm bells with leaders of political parties, which, like universities, are bound by the Equality Act to treat members and employees fairly (“Vindictive, cowardly leaders bowed to the gender bullies and failed Jo Phoenix”).
The judgment is clear: belief in the material, social and political salience of sex is not bigoted, and organisations that facilitate the denigration and harassment of those who hold such a belief are engaging in unlawful discrimination. Yet in our parties – Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green party – gender-critical members continue to face a hostile environment, including smears, abuse, intimidation and administrative attempts to justify or engineer our expulsion.
The Labour party now explicitly supports upholding the single-sex exceptions in the Equality Act, but those who express their support for this policy still face vilification. In a recent act of self-harm, the party suspended its local byelection candidate in Hackney just days before the election, after apparently mistaking her support for women’s rights (Labour policy) with transphobia.
Until party leaders find the courage to stand up to the gender totalitarians, incidents like this – which both damage parties’ credibility and leave them legally vulnerable – are bound to continue.
Lynn Alderson, Labour Women’s Declaration; Zoe Hatch and Emma Bateman, Green Women’s Declaration; Zoe Hollowood, Liberal Voice for Women

Good. We need sunlight on this - show what they are actually doing and what the parties actually believe exposing how they use words to try and fool us.

I want to see the words 'biological sex' used, since some in these parties believe a woman can have a penis.

Conservatives for Women not asked to sign this? I've seen them all sign lots of other things. Like this:

x.com/sexmattersorg/status/1754423683177746628?s=46&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

Or couldn't they sign it because their party doesn't harass its members? I don't understand why they're excluded/not part of it?

Women's Declarations groups have worked with the C for W lots of times especially in Parliament. I think it is just a quick letter from three left/center groups. It is obvious though that this particular letter is more relevant to those three parties. I would like to see women members from SNP and Plaid sign it though but if anything women members there are more oppressed than in unionist parties.

I doubt any women from Plaid Cymru would sign, they're completely captured.

It's weird that at least CfW are not party to it. Feels odd, especially as Labour, Tories and LDs have worked cross-party on this. I think there's been some work with the SNP as well though im unsure about Plaid Cymru.

This move arguably turns the problem directly into a left-right one. And it's been across all parties, though with more obvious gains within much of the Tory party. It's way off resembling anything strategic.

I think Labour and the LDs have made a wrong move here, unless they asked other parties to write a joint letter and they said no? Which was it?

In a recent act of self-harm, the party suspended its local byelection candidate in Hackney just days before the election, after apparently mistaking her support for women’s rights (Labour policy) with transphobia.
Lol 😂

Lol more electioneering.

You not seen how many Tory stand downs we've seen and the subsequent by elections.
Most recently Peter Bone, another Tory currently under investigation for rape.

ALL parties have issues, not least the Tories, they have very (proportionately) few female MPs, why is that? why are women drawn to other parties?

But no Tory Women available to sign.... so transparent in this GE year.

Well done to those women for standing together and thank heavens for the Observer. Ok, party leaders, we see you. Over to you now.

jasflowers
ALL parties have issues, not least the Tories, they have very (proportionately) few female MPs, why is that?

Labour party policy of all-women shortlists.

I think it's a deliberate move by Tory women not to sign it.
As far as I know, none of them have been hounded/suspended for wrongthink on this particular issue.

Labours deeds show their words are meaningless.

Some people here are trying to turn this letter into a huge division between Conservatives for Women and other parties. This is nonsense. The reality is political women from ALL parties where they are allowed to have a voice are working TOGETHER against sexism over gender issues. That is why they keep getting wins and steady progress in the UK.

Lets look at the reality Conservatives For Women reposted this thread on twitter by Zoe Hollowood who signed the letter from the Lib Dems on Feb 3rd asking everyone to work together and get into politics.

Zoe Hollowood

At last week’s StandingforXX event the first speaker said: “A famous feminist once said to me…the trans activists have taken over your institutions. Who the flip do you think is going to give them back to you? They’re not.” She is now Chair of N. London Fawcett Society.

Of course, it's not just the Fawcett Society or work places or schools; it is the same within Political Parties. Many women now declare themselves #PoliticallyHomeless due to their Party’s capture on gender identity ideology (the belief Gender Identity trumps Sex).

Many who were members of a Political Party have left; astute, articulate women activists and campaigners lost from the Political sphere. Usurped by oft less qualified idealogues. We cannot rely on the majority of current Party-Political Leaders to wake up.

Our choice is to abandon our political homes or take them back. After all, they not be given back to us. For in these Political Parties resides power. Power to make policy from the local level through to Parliament. That power will be clutched onto immovably, rigidly, constantly

So, I make a plea to those of you who have left your political homes, if you want them back, come and help us take them back, you can't expect them to be given back to you. You will have to come and take it. Most Parties have a GC caucus & if your home doesn’t, then help make one

Conservatives for Women reposted

You can connect with those of us who have already done this. We work cross party all the time on this issue.
LabWomenDec, libvoice4women,GWDeclaration, CforWomenUK. Our very own rainbow of women warriors.

There’s a general election coming up. If not you, who? If not now, when? As I read about EmmaBatemanGPW’s 3rd expulsion the words I wrote a year ago resonate even stronger “We need to take back what is ours, we need to take back our political homes.”

https://www.womensrights.network/post/it-s-time-to-come-home

Zoe is completely right. It is time to take back the parties. All of them. It won't be easy, but it will happen. It won't happen though if we spend all our time looking for division and pointing fingers.

I'm very much in favour of women working together across party lines and I think it's a shame that the letter wasn't worded as a message to all parties that women will not tolerate bullying and that we will put aside other differences in order to fight it.

This!! How are they all working together if the letter is the presence of just two parties?! Bonkers

Unfortunately I think that it's true that the Conservative party has the least totalitarian tendencies of all the parties.

Which is why I'll probably hold my nose and vote for them.

Whilst women's rights and child safeguarding are my priority issues, it's a bigger general issue for me. Any party that is willing to demand we all chant' four legs good, two legs better' (or in this case, TWAW or 99% of women don't have a penis) will be willing to do anything and subvert any reality to hold on to power. Binary sex in mammals is about as fundamental a real truth as you can find - definitely more so than 2+2=4.

It's really Orwellian to try and silence voices who say that men can't become women and the ONLY party I see who actually champions dissenting voices is the Tories. They've destroyed the country in many ways but without the ability to dissent, we lose our democracy and Labour and the Lib Dems want to destroy the ability of women to speak up about our rights with 'hate crime / thought crime' laws and policing. Women's rights will be the tip of the iceberg.

I felt I could speak out against the government's covid policy without risk of arrest or losing my job. I don't feel that about the destruction of women's rights via self ID and the censure isn't coming from the government, it's from left captured organisations such as the civil service / NHS. If Labour or the Lib dems stay as they are and get into power, that's what we risk as a country - an inability to speak up about injustice - we risk losing our democracy.

Yes, there's pushback from brave women within these parties, but this is how bad it is when they're NOT in power. It really will be Orwellian if they get in.

Conservative women don't need to sign because they're not being silenced.

@pronounsbundlebundle
Great post!