A fitting coda to the Labour Party Conference: Rosie Duffield, who's on record as believing the biologically clear yet apparently controversial fact that only women have a cervix, speaks at a fringe event under heavy security, while the Labour big-wigs queue up to vilify her:
An MP has accused Sir Keir Starmer and members of the shadow cabinet of “chucking me on the railway tracks” as the row over trans rights in Labour overshadowed the eve of the party’s final day of conference.
Rosie Duffield, 50, spoke at an unofficial event last night in Brighton with a heavy security presence after organisers were blocked from hosting a round table at official conference venues. Protesters gathered outside to denounce the meeting.
Duffield, the MP for Canterbury, who is a survivor of domestic abuse, is not attending the official conference because of fears for her safety.
Yesterday, Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, became the latest frontbencher to distance herself from Duffield’s remarks about trans people. This week, Starmer said that it was “not right” that Duffield had said only women have a cervix and David Lammy, the shadow justice secretary, described the backbench MP as a “dinosaur”.
At an unofficial debate organised by Labour Women’s Declaration last night, Duffield said: “It’s ridiculous and nothing about me is a dinosaur. I’m angry at colleagues chucking me on the railway tracks. I’m even more determined. I’m not a transphobe, I never have been and I never will be. I simply want to use the word women.”
Not a popular view in today's Labour Party.
Tonia Antoniazzi, the Labour MP for Gower, attended the debate on the participation of trans people in women’s sport. She said that there were at least 20 female MPs in the party who sympathised with Duffield’s stance. She said: “We have not got a space in the Labour Party that is safe to speak to each other without fear or favour.”
Earlier in the day, Rayner addressed an official LGBT+ Labour event where trans activists said that Duffield’s comments were “deeply cringeworthy” and told her to “get a grip” or leave the party. In an apparent reference to Duffield’s remark that “only women have a cervix”, Rayner said that politicians had a duty to speak carefully about trans issues.
“Women’s rights are not in conflict with trans rights, our fight is your fight,” Rayner said. “All of us in politics, in public life, and in the media have an absolute duty of care to how we talk about these issues."
“Think about if somebody is struggling with their gender identity, and might already be struggling with bullying or feeling isolated. My instinct is to put my arm around that person, to stand by that person, and that has always been the attitude of our movement and our party.”
But not to stand by women.
For more on what that actually means...
...there were no signs of disagreements at today's LGBT+ Labour panel where frontbenchers Angela Rayner and Anneliese Dodds threw their weight behind trans activists. In a warmly-received speech Rayner told attendees 'I have always been your ally, I will always be your ally' declaring 'I stand with Stonewall' and concluding that 'women’s rights are not in conflict with trans rights – our struggle is your struggle.'
Dodds backed up her deputy leader, attacking the government for 'accusations that ministers were creating a hostile environment for LGBT+ people' while senior backbencher Angela Eagle told attendees that 'Stonewall need to be defended – they're under massive attack' adding 'we're not going back in the kitchen, we're not going back in the closet.'
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner confirmed to a conference fringe event that Labour “will update the Gender Recognition Act to create a process of self-ID” for trans individuals.
So there you have it. Labour is lost to the Stonewall/gender identity crew.
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