Dear Daniel @DanielFooksArt I do quite agree with you about what Voltaire said, even though it was apparently mis-attributed - it was Beatrice Evelyn Hall that said it... (see @VoteEsther below)
Also I see you support David Millar and others who have been silenced for their views about the state of Israel and the rights of Palestinian people. And of their right to voice their opinions.
Kiri Tunks @kiritunks is a former joint President of NEU, and one of the founders of @Womans_Place_UK. She was 'uninvited' from speaking about sexism in Education at a @UKLabour Party branch.
Here's Selina at the @LabWomenDec#expelme rally - protesting against those calling for women who defend sex-based rights to be expelled from the Labour Party in March 2020
How about Esther Giles? 'The Forensic Suspended Socialist' @VoteEsther Should she have been able to share a platform with other CLP Chairs and Secretaries suspended for defying the diktat of Starmer and Evans not to speak about Corbyn being excluded from the Parliamentary Party?
Nick Rogers, the suspended Chair of Tottenham CLP, withdrew from the rally and made this statement in support of Esther. m.facebook.com/story.php?stor…
Do you agree with Nick and me, that "Freedom of Speech is indivisible"?
The Labour Party, along with very many public bodies, is a @stonewalluk 'Diversity Champion'
Stonewall and their allies aim to have single-sex exceptions removed from the Equality Act 2010
@legalfeminist issued a Call to Action - shining a light on Stonewall's activities in the public sector, with Freedom of Information requests being made of Diversity Champions about their dealings with Stonewall. Responses awaited...
@fairplaywomen is challenging the Office of National Statistics which plans to advise that the sex question in the Census should state gender identity!
As well as including an additional gender identity question.... Thus making the data useless.... Unbelievable!
I'm a socialist and a long term Labour Party activist.
I left the party in 2018 main reason being I ran out of patience with the failure to defend women's rights. I was rejected when i applied to rejoin in 2019 because I do not believe it's possible to change sex...
...and I think All Women Shortlists should include ONLY women, and because I defend the rights of the Palestinian people.
I submitted a 20 page appeal within the specified 14 DAYS of receiving the rejection. I've now been waiting 14 MONTHS for an appeal hearing. I know many other women who've been suspended or rejected for their defence of the sex-based rights as set out in Equality Act 2010...
...and reaffirmed in the Labour Party Manifesto 2019.
Like everyone else I know in this campaign, I absolutely support rights for trans people - but I obviously don't support attempts to remove women's existing rights.
The Morning Star published this article by @lavelle_trish in 2018.
'The gender debate is dividing the left. We mustn’t forget that our unity is our strength: The labour movement needs space for a democratic and respectful discussion'
It's still totally apposite. As Trish says "Perhaps we also have to consider that women have rights and trans people have rights and that sometimes those rights will be the same, sometimes they will diverge and sometimes they may even conflict."
Kevin Ovenden @kevin_ovenden has also written eloquently about Free Speech and the left in the Morning Star
@UKLabour@MarshadeCordova As well as omitting one of the 9 protected characteristics, Marsha de Cordova MP the shadow minister for WOMEN and Equalities, seems to have totally forgotten that the Labour Party manifesto of 2019 said
“Labour will put women at the heart of our government and programme” /1
@UKLabour@MarshadeCordova and that they would
"Ensure that the single-sex-based exemptions contained in the Equality Act 2010 are understood and fully enforced in service provision."
It's almost beyond belief that she should OMIT the protected characteristic of sex from an article about the EA 2010. /2
@UKLabour@MarshadeCordova Sadly the party didn't gain power, so they don't have the ability to implement the second part of that as regards enforcing the provisions in service provision.
But they do have to power to 'put women at the heart of their programme', and to 'promote understanding... /3
If you're a Labour Party member - have you taken a motion to your CLP about Self-ID or anything related to GRA?
That's how party policy will get changed. There was no such motion at last years LP conference, nor at the Women's Conference in Telford.
Below is a model motion asking that a 'gender' audit is conducted on the impact on women of the 'gender identity' change which was put in the 2017 LP Manifesto.
This is how they say they will change the law "A Labour government will reform the Gender Recognition Act and the Equality Act 2010 to ensure they protect Trans people by changing the protected characteristic of ‘gender assignment’ to ‘gender identity’