Author Archives: Sal Brinton

Across the Atlantic, Trump and his cronies are doing their very best to rewrite the definition of transgender out of existence. An agenda of social cleansing that feeds into his administration’s insular and antagonistic narrative. We may like to think that Trump’s views are in isolation, that his fear of difference does not seep to our shores, but it does.

The experience of many trans people is incredibly tough. A report from Thomas Reuters Foundation last week found that 20% of trans people still get pushed towards conversion therapy, even within our NHS; and another report from Stonewall showed that in the last year, 12% of trans people have attempted suicide.

With the Government’s consultation on the Gender Recognition Act having taken place this year, trans issues have been all over the mainstream media, with opponents viciously attacking some of society’s most vulnerable people. These attacks are shocking, and the perpetrators are often sat behind keyboards, unable or unwilling  to see the damage their words can cause.

But in Transgender Awareness Week, I want to focus on the positives, and what we can do to improve the lives of trans people going forward.

Our party, the Liberal Democrats, exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity. Quite literally, that is our mantra, our values and we have always stood beside those facing inequality and attacks.

The Rennard affair has been a very difficult and protracted period for all those involved, but also for the party. It has exposed the party’s over-complex structures and processes, which have spectacularly failed with this difficult case. But we delude ourselves if we think that this is only about the Rennard case – this is about living up to our liberal values.

As a party, we rightly condemn those in the public sector who do not look after those who are more vulnerable than ourselves. We expect managers to have the interests of those in their care, including staff and volunteers, uppermost. We express disgust when bullying and harassment are not challenged from the start. It is very difficult to have to look at our own party in that way too.

The Morrisey Report rightly identified some of the long standing problems within the party, many of which come back to fundamental principles of equity and fairness which we believe are at the heart of what we stand for.

Women and Black, Asian and Ethnic Minorities are poorly represented in the more senior roles in the party. This is appalling. We seem to believe as liberals that pure talent will out but then repeatedly select white men. I spoke to a colleague from our Dutch sister party D66 this week who said that they always have equal selection of female and male candidates, because it is part of their culture.