Gorton & Denton by-election thread

[fromorbit]

This dramatic byelection to be held on Thursday 26 February 2026 is looking likely to have a confrontation over sex and gender with the Conservative's just announced candidate Charlotte Cadden being a trustee for Sex Matters. Another factor is with a large Muslim population in the area the group Muslim Vote has endorsed the Green candidate despite one of their aims to be remove teaching about LGBT issues from schools when religious parents object. Obviously in conflict with Green policy.

Candidates

• Angeliki Stogia will be the Labour candidate in this year's election. Ms Stogia moved to the UK from Greece in the 1990s and has served as a councillor in Whalley Range since 2004.
• Reform UK have selected GB News presenter Matt Goodwin as their candidate. He studied at the University of Salford and went on to have a career as a commentator and academic.
• The Liberal Democrats have selected local campaigner Jackie Pearcey as their candidate. She lives in the constituency and previously won 2,600 votes at the 2017 elections.
• The Green Party have put forward Hannah Spencer to stand for them at the by-election. She is a plumber by trade she is from Bolton and has lived in Greater Manchester all her life, and is based in Hale where she is a councilor. She doesn't believe biology is important in deciding gender.
• The Conservative Party have chosen former detective chief inspector Charlotte Cadden as their candidate. She served for 30 years in GMP and London's Met.
• The Re-join EU Party have announced that Joseph O'Meachair will be their candidate. He is a member of the party's executive committee and lives in the North West.

Sebastian Moore (Social Democratic Party)
The Social Democratic Party announced on Friday 30 January that the current SDP North West Chair Sebastian Moore will be running as their candidate in the by-election.

Nicholas Brendan Buckley Advance UK

He is a British charity worker and political figure who previously represented Reform UK.

Dan Clarke is the Libertarian Party candidate

Sir Oink A-Lot
Sir Oink A-Lot is The Official Monster Raving Loony Party candidate

https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/elections/parl.gorton-and-denton.by.2026-02-26/gorton-and-denton/

The just announced Conservative candidate has serious form:
Former detective chief inspector Charlotte Cadden is a lesbian served for 30 years as a Police Officer, both for Greater Manchester Police and the Metropolitan Police - Charlotte is a trustee of the charity Sex Matters, a member of the LGB Alliance Business Forum. She coordinates the Women’s Rights Network in Greater Manchester, In 2023, she set up the national Police SEEN.

Galloway's Worker's Party have now decided not to stand. They may have attracted a bunch of Muslim votes which will now go elsewhere.

Any hustings are going to be rather interesting.

Just try out the idea that this website was founded by a woman, consists mostly of women, supports mostly women. Especially this board.

We dont need men on here.

Women advocating or asking for women centred spaces is fine.

The dynamics of a mixed sex space are different. Thats also fine, and often good.

But women saying no to men is unusual. Women deferring to men, defending men, centering men is common. Probably even makes evolutionary sense in many cases.

It is interesting to look at the dynamics play out. Considering our own responses and feelings is often useful.

How does it look and feel when women say 'no'?

This is all so redundant, as you have no idea of the sex of the poster

What is redundant?

I agree the individual posters involved hardly matter. The bigger issue here is what happens when women ask for a feminist space to centre women.

Yes and demanding people 'out' themselves (I mean, they could just lie, it's not like real life, no one would ever know) plays into the idea that we're extremists on here. I actually had no inkling at all that Bez is a man, illustrating that you cannot always tell, on the Brighton thread the father has been regularly mis-sexed as he's safeguarding his child, something generally (yes) mothers do more of.

But does it really matter? The main point is that he is to be commended for his bravery in acting - against horrific odds and machinations of the school - to protect his daughter and all girls from the reality of male bodies in their spaces without their consent. The horror of what his daughter and all the girls in that school have been subjected to by the adults in that school simply to prop up an insane adult ideology is IMO what we should all focus on.

Sex really doesn't matter on here. Bullying, patronising, mansplaining (by either sex) all can be called out but the fact is whilst we know the site is predominantly female we really can't ever know the sex of the poster nor does it really matter.

It matters in so many other cases - toilets, hospitals, changing rooms, prisons. Here not so much. Personally I think we should welcome anyone who believes women are as deserving of equal human rights as men.

It's redundant to discuss the gender balance of posters here if you have no way of ascertaining what sex posters are. Thank goodness.

But where has 1984 not centred women? I'm not seeing it. I'm certainly not seeing any behaviour that isn't present for multiple posters of both sexes. Everyone gets things slightly wrong sometimes, tone etc.

I bet he wished he'd never mentioned his sex now. Given we're all for honesty about sex in all other contexts piling on when someone is honest isn't enormously helpful in my opinion.

What in particular was posted that didn’t centre women?

Of course sex matters.

Women are expected to and habituated to capitulate and defer to men, to soothe and comfort men. To be nice, kind, fair, polite, respectful.

In a way that is seldom expected of men.

Women's voices are often seen as louder than those of men. I'll find some research if this is useful, but perception skews in favour of listening to men in almost every sphere.

It is vanishingly rare for an online space to overtly centre and - gasp - prioritise women.

The fact that a feminist space is accused of looking 'extremist' for arguing for the prioritising of women is depressing, but not surprising.

Where have women not been prioritised? Receipts or it didn't happen.

What I meant was demanding men on here use 'male' names (whatever that means) and out their sex is pretty extreme. And stupid given there's no way to check.

And women are prioritised on here and there is nowhere I've seen that 1984 has not prioritised women - he's on threads that are all about the prioritisation of women.

I can see he said not to feed the troll / derailer on another thread, then someone decided to mention his sex on here and dissect his posts purely through the lens of his sex. Women have done all the things he's been accused of too. And other posters ignore it. It's not a big deal, it's fairly common.

Women routinely tell everyone else not to feed the troll / derailer. Ok, maybe it should have been phrased to be more suggestion and less 'don't do this' but ultimately he can't force anyone to, and they didn't so I don't see the problem, honestly.

Power does matter. And 1984 doesn't have any ability to force anyone to do anything here as has been amply demonstrated.

So, let me get this straight, we're advocating that men who agree that women are deserving of equal human rights should conceal their sex if they want to participate on this board and in this fight? Just to be clear?

Thoughtful and sensible men can, should, and do consider their presence and input in a women's space.

Doesn't.mean men can't post.

Just as thoughtful men consider their effect on women out walking etc.

Vice versa if you wish, too - thoughtful women could also consider their impact on male only spaces - your local Men's Shed that was set up to help lonely older men socialise, for example.

Well. If we're going that way, mn is full of women (assumed) that aren't thoughtful OR sensible. Are we going to chuck them out?

I cannot see that anyone has said that.

..........what I meant was demanding men on here use 'male' names (whatever that means)

We all know what that means in practice.

What do you mean 'chuck them out'?

I mean this is a 'passing privilege' argument.

Women expressing unapproved emotions has made you uneasy. I understand; I used to be shocked by that on FWR too. Just centre the women though - even the ones expressing anger and pain. Especially the ones expressing anger and pain.
@ArabellaScott gave me a well-deserved bollocking about not doing this when I first started posting here. I flounced, then just read posts without commenting for a while and gradually began to see the forum through woman-centred eyes. It has changed me significantly.

I don't like bullying behaviour in anyone. Just being female doesn't get you a free pass. We all feel anger and pain but that doesn't mean you are free to bully someone.

Absolutely no-one has been bullied, as you would know if you had ever been properly bullied yourself. You are using the word 'bully' to shame women into conforming to the behaviour norms you have set for them

Disagreement is not bullying.

There is no rule about men posting on any part of MN. It's not a female only space. It never has been.

That's really all there is to it.