PinkNews have an article asking who LGBT+ people should vote for now that the Conservatives are actively targeting marginalised groups as part of their culture war and Keir Starmer’s commitment to trans rights dilutes every time he opens his mouth. Worryingly, at Easter, for the second time, the Labour leader visited a Church which supports the idea of the inhumane and cruel conversion therapy. Once might be seen as a mistake, twice is sending a message.
The Lib Dems come out reasonably well. There are a couple of quotes from our own Charley Hasted who is also the Chair of LGBT+ Lib Dems.
In November 2022, the party faced a revolt from LGBTQ+ members when it revised a statement on the definition of transphobia to protect “gender-critical” views.
Charley Hasted, chair of the LGBT+ Lib Dems, says that since then much work has been done at a senior level in the party to win back the LGBTQ+ community’s trust.
“The kickback against that seems to have woken a lot of people up. We’ve had quite a lot of meetings with senior people in the party to try to sort that out and I’m genuinely pleased with how it’s going. At the moment I think we’re the only party with a leader on record saying ‘trans rights are human rights’ and that’s what we need,” they told PinkNews.
While things are getting better within the Liberal Democrats, the problem still stands – that the UK’s two biggest political parties are increasingly aligned against trans rights.
Hasted describes Starmer’s comments in The Sunday Times as “shocking”.
“Genuinely, I cannot believe that the leader of the Labour Party is less socially progressive than Theresa May,” they said, referring to the former Tory prime minister’s support for self-identification.
Hasted would like both the Conservatives and Labour to stop using trans people as a “distraction” from other issues.
“LGBTQ+ people are being used as a ‘dead cat’ … It’s completely abhorrent to use a marginalised community that way.”
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3 Comments
(puts on his best Jonathan Van-Tam impression to pull out sports analogy), there’s a theory in rugby that opposition analysis is so good that having your tactics developed even a couple of months too early can leave you at a significant disadvantage when it comes to the key events.
(takes off Jonathan Van-Tam impression), what a horrible event that Labour have interpreted this to mean that i) they can’t be seen to support anything of value, including serious support for the LGBTQ+ community, in case it offers too much detail to Tory press and party for ‘opposition analysis’ and ii) that they’re so keen to attract soft-Tory voters, that what they’re willing to hint at/come out and say is policies to make lives of more vulnerable people (traditionally so or currently so) worse off.
What a horrible event that Tory party has seen dashing after right-wing culture, after right-wing economics has failed, as the way to go.
Considering that one of these parties will be largest party in Westminster after next election, we’re really left hoping that Labour are trying to make people believe in the horrible headlines while coming up with some worthwhile policy on the sly. But doesn’t that mean (further) dishonorable politics?
I think they’ve missed a trick though with copying rugby mindset. Give me football mindset of “here are the best ideas, the best prepared individuals working as the best team. We might have a slight tweak to surprise you but basically: beat us if you can.”
‘Dashing after right-wing culture after right-wing economics has failed’ is a wonderful phrase that we should all borrow and use!
You should vote on who is best for the residents in your ward as you’ll probably find the role of a councillor is to firstly represent their ward and residents, then the wider local authority.
Local politics being dragged into a scenario where this debate will have minimal effect on lic issues such as planning, housing, rogue landlords etc is not helpful or sensible.