Changed to my real name. I don't know this candidate (Labour) and there's nothing online about his views. I'm not expecting much of a reply, if any. But since this is something of a Beginner's Guide, I thought it may be useful in some way to others.
51% of the electorate belongs to the female reproductive category of our species. We are known as women, in the same way as female sheep are called ewes and female deer are does. A female is one whose physiology is organised to produce large gametes (ova) and never to produce small gametes (sperm). In mammals, the female's body is organised to gestate live young. Female mammals tend to be smaller than males, with weaker musculature among other significant differences.
Among humans, the difference in size and strength has led to societies becoming dominated by males (called men in our species). As a result of this single-sex domination, the word 'man' became interchangeable with 'human' or 'person'; women were seen as lesser or faulty men, and our ability to gestate viewed as a vulnerability requiring male control. We have spent more than a hundred years fighting to be legally recognised as people, to be valued as fully human, for economic independence and for the protections necessitated by our physical differences from men.
While this battle is still incomplete, it's great that we now have recourse to the Equality Act 2010 and its protections from discrimination on the grounds of sex or maternity. I am deeply worried by recent tendencies to reimagine sex as 'gender identity' - a characteristic which is impossible to define and cannot be objectively verified. It should be obvious that a woman is a biological female: for, if not, a woman may be a male and the meaning of the word 'sex' is lost. With that, women no longer have discrimination protection. Without a meaning for 'sex', we cannot identify sexism. Woman simply becomes another word for man, and we're back to the bad old days when legitimate persons were assumed to be male.
This may seem a bit hyperbolic if you haven't yet given much thought to the matter. I assure you it is not. We've already seen numerous cases of women and girls being forced to welcome a penis into their intimate spaces on the pretext that a penis may be female, the women and girls' consent being mandated not sought. Women have been raped in prisons and hospitals by men who, upon calling themselves women, have been housed alongside female patients and inmates. Hundreds of sexual assaults have been perpetrated by men who gained access to women and girls by calling themselves women. Men have gained jobs, awards, grants and other opportunities that were reserved for women. Girls and women are being forced to compete with men in sports where, unsurprisingly, they're overwhelmed by the more powerful male physique. Employers are evading maternity discrimination and equal opportunities requirements by preferring men who call themselves women.
This is a matter of existential gravity for women and girls. Before next week's vote, can you assure me that you understand 'gender identity' is not sex, and that you will do what it takes to protect the rights, freedoms, safety and dignity of women?
The final question could have been more punchy!