The Labour Party Is Not To Be Trusted On Sex and Gender

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Today, Anneliese Dodds MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, wrote an article for the Guardian. In it, she pledged that “Labour will lead on reform of transgender rights”.

At first glance, one might be fooled into thinking this is a positive intervention. Dodds has rowed back from self-ID, contrary to what the SNP recently attempted in Scotland. Labour will maintain the need for a diagnosis of ‘gender dysphoria’ in order to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate. She also says they will not seek to remove same-sex exemptions permitted under the Equality Act 2010.

However, when one digs beneath the surface and considers the context of this statement, it becomes clear that the Labour Party remains keen to push regressive and divisive ideology, should they get into power. In an attempt to ‘back both horses’ (Dodds said “Labour’s commitment to trans people and women is not up for debate”), they risk alienating everyone.

In terms of the specific proposals, Labour would abolish the safeguard of having a panel of independent and anonymous doctors make decisions around granting of Gender Recognition Certificates. Instead, Dodds has pledged to abolish the panel and replace this with a diagnosis of a single doctor chosen by the applicant. This is advocated for on the grounds of “removing invasive bureaucracy”.

This would allow applicants to go to one of the many and growing private gender clinics in the UK (see, for example, the disgraced GenderGP) and pay a few hundred quid to get a diagnosis, possibly after just a single conversation. This undermines safeguarding.

Equally, Dodds has made it clear that Labour do not believe that the Equality Act 2010 should be amended to clarify that ‘sex’ means biological sex – a crucial change required in order to properly uphold protection for women and LGB people in the UK.

Furthermore, Dodds stated Labour’s support for “transition-related healthcare”. This is a clear nod to Labour’s already affirmative stance, in which children and adults alike should be affirmed into transitioning, rather than treated exploratively for what is a mental health condition.

The most ironic statement of all from Dodds was: “This should encourage a degree of care from responsible politicians”.

So, with that in mind, let us examine the ‘care’ and ‘responsibility’ shown by the Labour Party and its parliamentarians over recent times:

·      Just last month, Keir Starmer and Anneliese Dodds met with Nancy Kelley, Iain Anderson (Stonewall’s Chair, best known for his recent car-crash interview with Beth Rigby) and other Stonewall senior management at an event to push for ‘inclusion’. Given that Stonewall have been hell-bent on pushing gender ideology, to the detriment of women, children and LGB people, this is beyond telling.

·      Keir Starmer has said previously stated that he believes that 1 in 1000 women have a penis. He has also previously said that “transwomen are women”.

·      Starmer delivered the keynote speech at the 2022 Pink News Awards, pledging to ban “all trans conversion therapy” (which, under his proposals, would effectively force therapists into affirming children with gender dysphoria towards a pathway of irreversible, medical transition). He also pledged to introduce tougher ‘hate crime’ laws, which could end up criminalising someone for ‘misgendering’ another.

·      Anneliese Dodds, in a Westminster Hall Debate in 2022, said that the UK should “legally recognise non-binary out of respect”. She also failed to answer a question as to whether she would feel comfortable if there was a man in her changing room.

·      In 2021, Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner, committed to “introducing self-declaration for trans people”, telling them “your fight is our fight”.