A question of context: Where does Anneliese Dodds stand on gender?

[IwantToRetire]

Labour’s women and equalities minister supported transgender people being able to declare their own gender.

Anneliese Dodds, who has replaced Kemi Badenoch, backed proposals that would have allowed anybody to acquire a gender recognition certificate if they wanted one.

Gender self-identification was official Labour policy under both Jeremy Corbyn and Sir Keir Starmer.

The now-Prime Minister only scrapped the policy after the backlash to Nicola Sturgeon’s failed attempt to introduce it in Scotland in early 2023 via the Gender Recognition Act.

Upon being appointed shadow minister for women and equalities in September 2021, Ms Dodds made it clear that she supported self-ID, which would revoke the existing requirement for a formal medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

In a speech at the Labour Conference, she said that a Labour government would acknowledge “that trans rights are human rights” and “reform the Gender Recognition Act to enable a process for self-identification while continuing to support the 2010 Equalities Act”.

Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary who is technically Ms Dodds’ superior as women and equalities minister, has also been an outspoken advocate of transgender policy reform.

In May, she accused Mrs Badenoch of loving “nothing more than a culture war” in response to the then women and equalities minister’s claim that some girls were getting urinary tract infections from not wanting to use gender-neutral lavatories in schools.

She also declined to commit to keeping the Conservatives’ new sex education guidance, which says that it should not be taught earlier than the age of nine and urges schools not to teach contested gender ideology.

“I do think it’s important that children have a wide understanding about their place in the world and understand that families come in different shapes and sizes, and understand issues around relationships,” Ms Phillipson told The Telegraph.

Last month, the MP for Houghton and Sunderland South suggested that Labour will also ditch guidelines banning children from being taught that there are more than two genders.

Asked three times if she would keep the ban or ditch it, Ms Phillipson refused to answer directly but said: “There are trans people within society and their existence should be recognised.”

She was also criticised for refusing eight times to answer whether a biological male should be able to use a women’s lavatory during a radio interview with LBC.

While Ms Phillipson will formally hold the women and equalities portfolio because it has to be held by someone of Cabinet rank, Ms Dodds will be the de facto minister and attend Cabinet.

Some extracts from a much longer article https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/07/08/where-does-anneliese-dodds-stand-on-gender/

Can also be read at https://archive.ph/Z0stm

Worth remembering that following the GE, even if every over party voted against a Labour policy, Labour would still have a majority of 112 to get it through unchallenged.

This is the more forthright DM take:

JK Rowling launches a fresh attack as Keir Starmer appoints TWO women and equalities ministers... one who thinks trans women with penises can use female loos and another who said there are 'different legal definitions' for 'a woman'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13611639/JK-Rowling-launches-fresh-attack-Keir-Starmer-appoints-TWO-women-equalities-ministers-one-thinks-trans-women-penises-use-female-loos-said-different-legal-definitions-woman.html

well, that's not at all concerning in anyway. The appointment of Stephen Kinnock is another "nothing to see here" event. I dare say Starmer wants to hit the ground running and I suppose we should be thankful that the real headbangers such as Osbourne and Butler are nowhere near these positions but I suspect its about to get interesting very quickly.

Self ID here we come.
Ideological fools the lot of them.

I wish I knew what they mean by 'culture war'.

To me, it conjures up an image of people arguing over whether Mozart or Bach is the better composer.

How is girls being made ill by males being where they shouldn't be a 'culture war'? Or is this an indication of Dodds's failure to grasp the essentials here?

It's obvious which direction we are heading. Full self ID and shut up "biological women"
Not what we were hoping for, but it does mean that the labour party will be the undisputed owners of the mess they create. Should be interesting when they're trying for a second term.
As an aside, if they're going to call me "biological" can I call them "moronic"? Quid pro quo and all that.

There are too many Labour Party members who are still firmly on the alphabet rainbow bus to back away now, but I think they also genuinely believe it.

during the election campaigning, many people seemed to think Starmer would “see sense” but it’s been obvious he won’t. He’s had ample opportunity to make clear statements about labours position for women and never has.

Self ID is coming, that much seems a done deal. I guess if you just watch the BBC / think that the BBC represents most people, you could be fooled into thinking that most people think Trans Rights are Human Rights, no debate.

Well, we suspected as much from the giant human flip flop that is Starmer.

Unfortunately with labour's majority, this will likely walk through the commons. The lord's might hold it up a bit, hopefully. And public opinion is against it - hopefully Starmer will decide it's not a priority and kick it into the long grass for a bit, at least.

Buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

My MP is a woman's rights supporting conservative. I'll write to her so she knows what her constituents think.
who else could I write to? Given its labour who need to hear that self ID will be a disaster for women and safeguarding

I'm appalled that so many people, who are either biological women or have mothers, sisters and daughters who are, voted for a party that talks this sort of utter crap.

Sole reason I spoiled my paper. No regrets.

Asked three times if she would keep the ban or ditch it, Ms Phillipson refused to answer directly but said: “There are trans people within society and their existence should be recognised.”

Of course there are trans people within society - but if I am reading the UK Census figures correctly, there are about 262,000 of them. I know the figures are contested, and as far as specifically identifying as 'trans', the figures are even smaller:

Around 48,000 people (0.1%) gave their identity as ‘trans man’ and another 48,000 (0.1%) gave their identity as ‘trans woman’.
2021 census: What do we know about the LGBT+ population? (parliament.uk)

So that's 96,000 people who positively identified as trans in the last Census. I'm scratching my head at the amount of noise about such a small group of people, so much so that I'm questioning if I've got the figures right - entirely possible, I've never been great with numbers, and I'm expecting some MNers to come on and patiently explain that I've misread a decimal point or something..

Please tell me if I've got it all wrong - is all this social, political and pedagogical turmoil really about 96,000 people?

The census figures:

• The census question on gender identity was a voluntary question asked of those aged 16 years and over. The question asked “Is the gender you identify with the same as your sex registered at birth?”.
• Overall, 45.7 million (94.0% of the population aged 16 years and over) answered the question.
• In total, 45.4 million (93.5%) answered “Yes” and 262,000 (0.5%) answered “No”.
• The remaining 2.9 million (6.0%) did not answer the question.

Gender identity, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

This is a good and fair article on Labour - although I dislike the headline - women want different things!

https://unherd.com/2024/07/labour-doesnt-know-what-women-want/

I'm afraid you're reading them incorrectly. The ONS had to apologise for asking a misleading question that EAL respondents were more likely to answer "no" to even if they weren't trans.

I myself definitely do not identify as trans but neither would I categorically answer "yes" to that question because I don't identify with any gender, any more than I "identify" with having two legs. I just have them.

Anyway, all this "noise" isn't about the small number of trans people. It's about opening the door wide to people with bad intentions. It's about not being able to challenge any man who walks into a single sex space, because he could claim to be trans. And there are many men out there with bad intentions.

She stands where all genderists do, doesn't she? With her foot on women's necks.

Thanks Mumoftwo1316.

• *I think the confusing Census question didn't help, but it still seems to be a very very small percentage of the population demanding a very very large amount of attention, airtime, legislation, space on the school curriculum etc etc. I was surprised when I saw just how numerically small this group of people is, given the amount of problems they cause in so many areas of society.

You and I are in total agreement about women's spaces

I think the basic flaw with this article is that it assume Labour listens to women.

It doesn't. It listens to the women who they accept.

Labour thinks that because the Tories are out of power there is now not anyone in the HoC who will have the status to make any MP think they have to bother the think about it.

Not forgetting the number of women in the Labour and Green Parties who think there isn't a issue, just a few old dinasours who are all right wing reactionaries. (As apparently does WPUK!)

To put it bluntly there is little or no chance of a GC voice in the HoC let alone in any committee that will be delegated to amend not just the GRA but the EA.

I cant think of any way women's sex based rights are going to get a platform other than throught the strange partnership of Daily Mail articles and JKR tweets.

Its not as though the women in various groups and campaigns are going to agree to work together.

Sorry to be so downbeat, but the reality of the Labour majority cannot be ignored.

"Breaking new ground for LGBT+ rights"

What does that mean I wonder?

What parent in their right mind would vote for this? You can only imagine what they will be teaching them at school now. Canada here we come 🙄

Is this from today (cant see a date on the image)?

If it is today I think it is a clear signal that for Labour their priority is the Rainbow soup.

As posted on other threads there are Labour MPs who consider both WPUK and LGB Alliance "hate groups".

This is what they mean by the culture war is over. As far as Labour is concerned there is only one side they are going to listen to and placate.

Yeah, not too long ago, couple hours.

I live in a solid Libdem constituency, I've written to my MP about women's rights, got a mealy mouthed response, so I voted Tory as a protest. I was sure Labour would let women down, sad to be proved right.

the prime minister’s spokesperson emphasised that Dodds would be the lead minister “for all intents and purposes”, with Phillipson having been named a minister for “constitutional purposes” because she is a secretary of state

A version of this has been quoted in a number of articles and I cant quite understand what it means.

That basically Dodds is the Minister for Women and Equalities who will do the work, but Starmer doesn't think the post is important enough to be a cabinet minister. So they have added Pillipson as the Minister for Women and Equalities because she is a cabinet Minister and she will then quote work done by Dodds so that it can be said Women and Equalities have a voice in Cabinet?

I'm not trying to labour (unintended joke - not) this point, but really cant understand.

KB was in the Tory Cabinet as minister for Trade and whatever and also as Minister for W&E and did both jobs. And as we know probably did more for women in that period than anyone else, whilst also jetting round the world selling arms and other profitable UK products.

Confusion engulfs Labour’s downgraded Women and Equalities role

Labour insiders told i they didn’t understand what was happening with the appointment and were baffled by the secrecy and the delay. Others wondered if stalling was deliberate to avoid any controversy about the appointment overshadowing the rest of the Cabinet announcements, and what this might suggest about how the new Government is going to approach equality issues.

Early on Monday morning, there was still no announcement, the Government’s Equality Hub told i it did not know who had been appointed to the role, only for the 10 Downing Street X (Twitter) account to then announce Ms Dodds as the new Minister for Women and Equalities.

But shortly after, an equality hub spokesperson told i that Bridget Phillipson had been appointed as Minister for Women and Equalities (as well as Education Secretary), while Ms Dodds had become Minister of State for Women and Equalities within the education department – which initially appeared to hold a narrower brief than Ms Phillipson under whom she would be working.

The decision by Starmer to name both Ms Dodds and Ms Phillipson also highlights a change in his approach to the role itself. In opposition, Labour (since 2017) named the role Shadow Secretary of State, underscoring its importance within the Shadow Cabinet.

But now in office, the role has been split between two ministers and is not given a Secretary of State title, in what some would regard as a lowering of its standing within government.

https://inews.co.uk/news/confusion-engulfs-labours-downgraded-women-and-equalities-role-3158669

Can be read at https://archive.ph/ngBjC

Fawcett said to have " applauded the appointments describing Ms Phillipson and Ms Dodds as “brilliant women”, writing on X: “We’re pleased to see not one but two people tasked with the critical work in the women and equalities portfolio. We would love to have seen a dedicated Secretary of State post and we’ll keep pushing for that.”

Anneliese Dodds told ‘sex needs to be biologically defined’ because ‘sexual orientation is based on biological sex’

“We have met her to explain that sex needs to be biologically defined, because sexual orientation is based on biological sex.

“As the Cass Review showed, young lesbians when they are exploring their sexual orientation get treated as if they are suffering from gender dysphoria, and get sent to gender clinics. It’s like a eugenics programme against lesbians.

“We hope that now that they are in government, they will accept that their engagement procedures have been wrong. If we write an email, there should be an answer. No debate is over.

“Let’s hope that now she is in post she will listen to all stakeholders on this issue, not just those signed up to Stonewall, particularly lesbians.

“The distinction between gender identity and sexual orientation needs to be understood.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/07/09/anneliese-dodds-lesbian-labour-womens-minister/

can also be read at https://archive.ph/3HmVI

So this is what "ending the culture war on day one" looks like.
I mean, it took five days, and appears as if Kier thinks he can confuse us into silence "I've given you not one, not two but three THREE proper womany women to tell you how I think you're just as important as men. Now will you let chaps in dresses get changed next to you in Primark"
Makes me wonder why the Tories didn't do the same months ago.