The Labour Party & Transphobia - a Letter

 I've not written in this blog for quite some time so here is an update. It's a copy of a letter I sent to Sir Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party since April 2020. After the letter, is the response from the Labour Party. Oh dear, doesn't look like they read the letter, as they certainly did not respond to my points.

So here we go.

Letter To Sir Keir Starmer - 2 July 2020

 

 

Sent: 02 July 2020 21:19
To: keir starmer MP <keir.starmer.mp@parliament.uk>
Subject: Equalities

Dear Mr Starmer,

Until a few months ago, I was the LGBT+ Officer for Blackley & Broughton (Manchester North and Salford East) CLP. I attended my first conference in Brighton  Since first joining the Party in 1987, I have represented the party at various levels, CLP, LCF and Euro-CLP before the list system, and County party and have held various officer and executive committee posts at all levels of the party, as well as on external bodies such as Valuation & Poll Tax appeals tribunal, Community Health council, Law Centre and LEA school governors and when younger campaigned all over the county in ordinary elections and by-elections, was President of my Students Union (32,000 members). I was also the lead representative for Press For Change in the north-west.

I am writing to you because of the problems Labour seems to have with equality, specifically with Trans equality, even ignoring Labour’s own rulebook. I have submitted numerous complaints of transphobia which have been totally ignored. And I’m not the only person to report this being the case. I believe that this is due to misinformation often provided by transphobic organisations and individuals, including by some on your own front bench. The leaked Labour report also reports that Rod Liddle was protected by action over transphobia because he was a friend of a particular MP. This man was convicted of assault on his own partner. This and my previous complaints are what led me to leave the Labour Party. It has a worse problem of transphobia, than it’s ever had of antisemitism.

So let me tell you a little about the history.

I think I am correct that the term Transsexualism originally came from the Institute of Sexuality, the worlds leading research centre until Hitler destroyed it and all records in the 1930s.

Transsexualism is about people who are born with sex and gender identity at odds with each other. It’s not to be confused with Transvestism, which is a person dressing as a member of the opposite sex but with no split between sex and gender identity. It’s most commonly, but not exclusively, men who are seen to be transvestites or crossdressers.

Press For Change (PFC) was founded in the mid 1990s with vice Presidents including Labour members, Professor Stephen Whittle (Senior lecturer in law at Manchester Met University) and Christine Burns amongst others. They were a legal, educational and campaigning group for trans rights and equalities. PFC members were involved in court cases in the European Courts. Firstly, there was P Vs S and Cornwall County Council in 1996 in the European Court of Justice, which led to equality in employment, with further cases of R V Chessington World of Adventure and A v West Yorkshire Police strengthening those rights. Later, came the more important case of Goodwin & I v The UK in the European Court of Human Rights which allowed the right to marry & New Birth Certificates and led to the domestic Gender Recognition Act 2004. The Sex Discrimination (Gender Recognition) regulations were later incorporated into the Human Rights Act 2010. I was one of the first to receive a new birth certificate under the Gender Recognition Act when it came into being in April 2005.

Around the early noughties, members of the PFC online forums were discussing not being happy with the term transsexual, because with the new online pornographic industry, too many people were associating sex with transsexualism. It was suggested that we use the term Trans, which referred to transsexual people, although a small number still continued with transsexual. It was not the same as transvestism, which many changed to crossdresser (although some still use Transvestite). An Umbrella Group title for both groups had been transgender which later became Trans* (Trans with an asterisk) and covered many groups including Transsexual, transvestite, drag queen, etc. All groups were completely different, but for ease, internally, an umbrella term was used. Also Non-binary people have been around for a long time, but they are a sub group of transsexualism and used to have the medical term of androgynes). Gender Fluid people also came under the umbrella of non-binary. And gender non-conforming may or may not have come under one or more group.

We campaigned hard for the Gender Recognition Act with the vice-presidents often travelling to London to talk with ministers and civil servants whilst other activists dealt with local concerns in their towns and regions. Apart from a few loud individuals such as Norman Tebbitt, most of the opposition came from the Evangelical Alliance, and later, towards the end of the campaign, from the Christian Institute. But the Gender Recognition Act was passed anyway.

A few years later, I went into retirement from campaigning. I was only a couple of years off fifty, and I just wanted to get on with the rest of my life.

Nine years later, I heard of a case of a young child being shot with a BB Gun in school nearby. I looked into it and was horrified about how bad transphobia had become. I had never seen anything like it. I immediately came out of campaigning retirement, and decided to volunteer at a local LGBT Charity to give something back. There was misinformation, slurs, open attacks, not just on trans adults but also on children, their families and many charities. It became apparent from research quite quickly, that many were supported and funded by evangelical groups from the UK and USA, and many transphobic groups had been founded, often with only one or two members so it looked as if there were many groups against trans people, even though each of the followers of each transphobic group were largely the same.

Transphobia in the media was always there but it became much much worse. With the Sunday Times newspaper running three or four hostile articles every week with people who belonged to the transphobic groups, writing the articles, including Andrew Gilligan who now works for the Prime Minister, and was sacked by the BBC for his attacks on Tony Blair on the Today Programme. Other newspapers and television stations jumped on the bandwagon to make it a nightmare for all trans people, adults and children alike. There were many lies told, but in such a way, that it was difficult to take them to the regulating body which only allows complaints from individuals or named organisations rather than groups of people. Certain prominent people had large platforms to spread their abuse and lies. They often used information from discredited Canadian psychologists Ray Blanchard and Kenneth Zucker with terms such as Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD is a made up term), and Autogynephilia (AGP – another made up term) and use studies that have not been peer reviewed because they were written by their own and discredited because of sampling and methodology problems by leaders in the field. They ignore the World Health Organisation and WPATH because it doesn’t suit their agenda, but their friends in the media will write whatever lies they are told that week.

Transphobes attack children claiming they have been transed (another made up word) as if you could make a child do something they didn’t want. I refer them to the tragic case of David Reimer in Canada (available on Wikipedia) to show why that doesn’t work. They also claim medical procedures are carried out on children. They are not. In the UK, children, if they are lucky enough, may get hormone blockers, which delay puberty. They have been used in children with precocious puberty for many decades. It is extremely rare for anybody below the age of 16 to get sex hormones below the age of 16, and surgery below the mid 20s because of waiting lists. They claim that blockers lead to sex hormones, but if that was the case, everybody with precocious puberty would be in the queue for treatment. Plus see the Reimer case above.

Transphobes also claim that trans people should not have access to the toilets of their gender or to changing rooms. I’ve been using the ladies loos since I was about 6 years old without problems. I go in, do my business, wash my hands, occasionally brush my hair, and leave. And if I need to use changing rooms, I always use a cubicle, even though post-operative. Trans people do not like to show their bodies off to strangers, especially before surgery. But they even claim trans children as sex pests causing distress to them and affecting their mental health. Yet, there has never been a case of a trans person anywhere in the world who has committed a sex offence in changing rooms or toilets. There are plenty of examples of assaults on them though.

Then there is the case of the misnamed Self-IS, which is nothing of the sort. It’s just a de-medicalising of the current system. At the moment, an individual has to submit evidence to an anonymous Gender Recognition panel who then decide if they are trans enough. Often exceeding what is written in law. Just this week I heard of an individual who submitted a large amount of information including proof that they had surgery. They were refused because the anonymous panel said they wanted an original letter providing proof of when they started their treatment, which is not what is written in law, where even surgery isn’t required, but other evidence such as wage slips, name change documentation, should be enough. But requiring evidence like that would exclude people like April Ashley, who had her surgery round about 1960, whose surgeons, psychiatrists and psychologists are long dead yet she was outed in the press in the 1960s is well documented, and her legal case of Corbett  v Corbett in 1970, led to the situation that was not resolved until the GRA. Ireland, Malta, Argentina, and many other countries have not reported problems with so-called self-ID. In fact Irelands is so successful, they want to extend it.

Transphobes, who raise hundreds of thousands in crowdfunders, often with suspiciously large amounts close together, undeclared for tax purposes, and who organise in places like Mumsnet, Kiwi Farms, 4 Chan, etc, and are back by organisations including the Heritage Foundation, Hands Across the Aisle, WoLF and others will often provoke, hoping for a reaction to their bullying, and their friends in the media will later go full DARVO (Deny, Attack, Reverse Offender and Victim) to try and change public opinion.

And because, they don’t know what is happening, some politicians go along with them. Some have other agendas of hatred
At Labour conference, I saw transphobic hate group Leaflets spread about the hall, a person wearing a transphobic T-shirt as she sat next to me. A hate group unofficial fringe meeting at which several leading members of the NEU were present at, whilst other trade unionists protested outside. e. Leaflets spread about the hall, a person wearing a transphobic T-shirt as she sat next to me. A hate group unofficial fringe meeting at which several leading members of the NEU were present at, whilst other trade unionists protested outside
I reported it but no action was taken. A few weeks later, many of us complained because a member of the Scottish parliament, a Labour MSP, planned to organise a transphobic hate meeting on Trans Day of remembrance, the day when we remember trans people who were violently murdered in the previous year. Although we were in the middle of an election, I had to press that because it was so urgent that it not take place on that day. Tottenham CLP submitted a transphobic resolution and I complained about that. It was out of order because of the Labour Party rulebook and the Equalities Act. I even referred the parent of a trans child to the Labour website because they lived in the constituency and were afraid for their child’s well-being by this transphobic motion. Tottenham, Lewisham and a couple of other CLPs have also put forward out of order transphobic motions.

The lack of action, or even a response from HQ, led to me to decide to leave the party I loved. It was clear that trans people were not safe in the party. The Labour Party need to take trans rights and equality seriously, without taking their information from transphobic media, members and MPs. The Labour Party has a long way to go before it acts like the New Zealand Labour Party which had it’s first elected Mayor, and later MP who was trans and very popular. And its why many in the UK are considering seeking asylum there if Liz Truss, with Labours help seek to roll-back rights in the UK.

The last political meeting I attended was the LGBT+ Labour hustings in Manchester earlier this year. You saw the behaviour of transphobes heckling. You were fairly quiet on defending trans people. I hope it was through ignorance and not prejudice.

I hope Labour will defend trans rights, not be swayed by prejudiced transphobes, don’t allow any roll-back of rights. I wouldn’t have had to ask the last leader as he was an ally to all. I hope you will become so too.

I recommend too a book by Labour Member Christine Burns called Trans Britain, our journey from the Shadows, which includes a good section of Trans people in the Labour movement.

Yours sincerely,

Pam Crossland (Ms)

Labour Party Reply

 

Dear Pam, 

Thank you for your email to Keir Starmer MP in relation to transphobia and your detailed thoughts on the issue. At this point in time, Keir’s mailbag is so full that he has asked me to respond on his behalf. I’m very sorry for the delay in getting back to you.
 
Your thoughtful views, experiences and observations have been duly noted and shared with the relevant teams, especially the main thread that runs throughout your email that the Party must do more to stand up for the Trans community.

Labour has a proud record of championing the right for LGBT equality. We abolished Section 28, equalised the age of consent, created civil partnerships, and it was only through Labour votes that equal marriage became law. However, there is still a long way to go on issues such as education, equal access to public services, levels of LGBT hate crime, and mental and physical wellbeing. 

Labour is absolutely committed to the rights of trans people and supports updating the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) and upholding the Equality Act. 
 
Labour is equally proud of our history advancing LGBT+ rights. It was a Labour government that abolished the Conservatives’ hateful Section 28 and created civil partnerships, and Labour votes in Parliament were crucial for winning marriage equality. 
 
This is a nuanced and fraught debate, one which is not appropriate to handle through social media or the leaking of review recommendations. We will make sure these discussions are conducted on the basis of fact and respect. 
 
Labour is determined to continue to listen and engage with women and LGBT+ communities to ensure we put in place the appropriate policies that protect and respect everyone’s rights. 
 
We will be working closely with others in scrutinising the Government’s proposals once they are finally published. 
 
Our policy is made democratically, through discussion and consultation with members, the public, businesses, experts and civil society groups. You can take part in the conversation online at www.policyforum.labour.org.uk. Join discussions with politicians and representatives from across the Labour Party and share your ideas with us, so that when the time comes – we can serve our country again in government. I really hope you find the time to make a submission.

Best wishes and many thanks for your continued membership of the Party. Our members really are our greatest asset, especially during these difficult times.
 
Alistair
Membership Services and Correspondence
The Labour Party

So that's about it. My very long letter (email), versus a pre-prepared statement from the Modern Labour Party by way of reply.