Author Archives: Sam Al-Hamdani

Sam Al-Hamdani

Sex, gender and everything in between: why we need new language to help people understand trans rights

By Sam Al-Hamdani | Thu 10th February 2022 - 3:22 pm

I am a trans ally. Trans rights are human rights, and we should be doing everything that we can to ensure that they are enforced and everyone is given the respect and dignity they deserve.

Unfortunately, all too often when engaging in this area one of the first hurdles is getting past inaccessible language.

First of all, there is the term “assigned”. People are “assigned a sex at birth”. That’s a really misleading phrase. What we actually mean is that they were assigned a description of their sex – typically male or female, based on characteristics that they have.

But that’s not really very accurate. I have a daughter, and we definitely didn’t go through a process of checking levels of oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone. We didn’t check her chromosomes, there was no extensive check for genital abnormalities. We “assign” a description of their sex, based on a whole raft of assumptions. It can be years later that people figure out that that was inaccurate.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 16 Comments
Sam Al-Hamdani

Liberals: a fresh message

By Sam Al-Hamdani | Mon 24th July 2017 - 9:02 am

 

Politics in the UK is changing faster now than ever before. This change gives us the opportunity to take our place at the heart of the UK by presenting a strong, passionate and persuasive liberal view of the world. It also means we may get lost among the crowd. We must make sure it is the former, and not the latter.

Clear, simple messages are crucial to how the country views us. Every opportunity to speak to people is a chance to present liberalism in its best light – distinct, valuable, and making our communities stronger.

The centre ground is stable, but it is also defined by what it isn’t. Strong messages must change that. The preamble to the Constitution of the party is a wonderful piece of writing; honest, inspirational, and clear, but it is not going to be read by 99 per cent of the population. What we need to do is distil its values: liberty, equality and community, and let that shine through our communications.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 19 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • David S
    The goal of a representative electoral system is not to ensure that this or that party gets elected. The goal should to be to ensure that every voter, or as clo...
  • Paul R
    Jana - There is no mention of any form of “political union” anywhere in the EU Treaties. Indeed, this was explicitly clarified by the other leaders in t...
  • Daniel Walker
    @theakes "first past the post was a winner for us in 2024. Suggest we keep our heads down and live with it." If your opinion on an electoral system—...
  • Paul Holmes
    Rob, you also say that we can't be the party of the NHS or the Environment because Labour and the Greens have those. Surely it is a mistake to abandon whole are...
  • Paul Holmes
    Rob, you offer two possible groups of key target supporters for the Liberal Democrats. However, both are, as you note, just subsets of the affluent middle class...