I resigned from the Green Party, of which I had been a member for about 10 years, and stood in 5 local elections.
I was horrified that any debate on trans issues was not even allowed. The Stonewall orthodoxy was sacrosanct - I've never known as issue quite like it. Ordinary members who dare to even raise the issue are labelled transphobes - which is second only to racist in terms in the hierarchy of undesirable slurs. And as frustrating is the amount of air space being given to trans issues which affects less than 1% of the population - unlike women issues who make up 51% of the population! We've got a climate and ecological emergency going on here and you're worried about what sodding pronoun you're called! 3/19/2021 Climate action is do-or-die. But women's rights, material reality, children's health, gay rights are too important to meRead Now Extinction Rebellion posted a transwomen are women post. Hundreds of angry replies ensued, pointing out that anti-science positions like that are akin to climate denialism, etc.. XR removed the post, and then retweeted it sans the comments. I was disillusioned with XR for other reasons, but the fact that some wielding power, within XR, are gleefully throwing women under the bus, put me over the edge. I think some XR leaders, some factions disagree, but the TRA extremists are in ascension. Climate action is do-or-die. But women's rights, material reality, children's health, gay rights are too important to me. I cannot be part of such a regressive organization.
I have been a labour supporter for 30 years... ever since I can vote in fact. However, all that has changed this year. Identity politics has revealed to me the deeply misogynistic undertones throughout the party. No party who are so keen to refer to women 'as a feeling', who fail to recognise the hard won sex based rights of women or are prepared to throw strong, feminist women under a bus has no place for me. No idea where I'll turn but as the greens and liberals are just as bad, they're out too. I suspect my voting days are over. My lesbian partner feels the same. My lesbian friends all feel the same. Women I know, all feel the same.
3/7/2021 the dismissal of scientific TRUTH that has been known for millennia is what scares me most, it can only lead to chaosRead Now I'm working class, 50 years old and have voted Labour all my life. I've thought about voting The Green Party because of their environmental policies. It has been distressing and infuriating to see how ideologically captured 'progressive' (the irony) parties have become; ignoring women's and lesbians rights, voices, dignity and safety concerns as well as the safeguarding of children (that has horrified me) The vicious and misogynistic activism that has targeted any women who dissent or raise concerns (usually with compassion & a request for a reasonable discussion in an attempt to protect women's and trans rights) and how it has not been condemned by Labour or The Green Party is frightening. I am now politically homeless - how could I ever vote for a party that doesn't recognise objective reality? In some ways the dismissal of scientific TRUTH that has been known for millennia is what scares me most, it can only lead to chaos. I am so proud of all the women and men who are dedicating their lives to fighting this madness. Thank you - I know that many of you have suffered professionally and personally. I am in awe of your bravery and dedication.
I cancelled my direct debit for membership of the Labour Party after people on Twitter flagged anti-women statements on their website; after I'd got sick of waiting for someone to defend Rosie Duffield; and when I realised that they'd signed up to the mantra that "transwomen are women"
3/5/2021 How do they expect people to believe their physical, ecological, and economic arguments if their view of sex/gender is not based on evidence?Read Now I'm in my early twenties and feel I have nowhere to go with politics. I want to be involved in politics and I have tried with some groups. I find it distressing that they claim to be helping the most vulnerable, and then advise volunteers to support policies that are actively damaging towards abused women.
I desperately want to be involved in environmental groups on the left to deal with the capitalism crisis and the climate crisis but most of what is around locally is actively anti women, and I do not want to have to pretend that men are women. How do they expect people to believe their physical, ecological, and economic arguments if their view of sex/gender is not based on evidence? As a sexual assault survivor and a young woman on the left I feel so isolated. It feels like most friends who are at all political have swallowed gender ideology up - I want to keep those friends I have, they supported me through that assault. I can't organise with other young women on the basis of sex without being harassed and threatened or the fear of it. When talking about sexism in any way I feel pressured to include transwomen. I try to keep volunteering with things that are not explicitly political or somewhat Momentum-esque but it's really exhausting - I want to improve the lot of women in the UK and everywhere else but the left are often denying that women exist as a sex class. They are happy to talk about women in poor countries as female but in rich countries I am supposed ignore that having XX chromosomes leads XY to treat us badly. 3/2/2021 When I asked why there was no Women's group I was told, by a female councillor, that there was no needRead Now I was an active Labour member for many years. When I asked why there was no Women's group I was told, by a female councillor, that there was no need. I nevertheless tried to form one but received no support at all. I left because the Party kept moving further and further Right but re-joined in order to support Corbyn. I once again left once I realised the Party was taking steps to erase women's rights and protections and All-Women-Shortlists. In the interim I was briefly a member of Left Unity because their strapline included feminism. Not long after I had joined I was told off by a branch grandee for raising a feminist issue (I no longer recall, possibly prostitution as I wanted Left Unity to campaign for the Nordic Model) on the grounds that such issues divided the cause. My branch eventually helped me raise the prostitution issue more widely but the Left Unity membership in general supported the legalisation (of pimps and brothels) model. I left the Party after a young (male)member submitted a motion viciously attacking radical feminists as they wanted harm to come to transgender people. The motion displayed profound ignorance on the issue but was nevertheless accepted without debate. When I emailed the female Labour councillor as local resident to complain I felt no longer comfortable using the local pool since it replaced the women's changing room with a 'gender neutral' one her two-sentence reply told me she saw people as people first. I am done with Left politics.
3/2/2021 I felt the [scottish green] Party was a place so hostile to debate and question I would be forced to leaveRead Now I was an active member of the Scottish Green Party and very committed to the SGP agenda. I wrote to the CoConvenor as I was concerned concerned about an inaccurate posting about JK Rowling she’d made on Twitter. She refused to accept my concerns and invited me to discuss it further on zoom call with her and the Party’s Rainbow co-Convenor. During this meeting, I was vilified as transphobic and it was suggested I leave the Party. A few days later I received notice of an official complaint against me for breaching the code of conduct. I provided evidence to demonstrate I had not done so. I was asked to delete some Tweets I order to remain in the Party. I did remove the Tweets, although they were not transphobic, but I felt the Party was a place so hostile to debate and question I would be forced to leave. Notably, Andy Wightman, A SGP MSP, left the Party a few weeks later for the same reason. I am bitterly disappointed, both in the Party and myself. I wish I had had the courage to stay and fight, but I did not.
3/2/2021 I will not be voting for [Labour] again until they make a clear unequivocal defence of women’s sex-based rightsRead Now I have voted Labour at every General Election since the 1990’s. I will not be voting for them again until they make a clear unequivocal defence of women’s sex-based rights and a prioritising of biological facts over gender ideology.
3/2/2021 I will not vote for Labour, the Greens or the SNP again unless they start listening to womenRead Now I have always been on the left, which by my birth country's standards (France) is more to the left than in any English speaking countries. I was always a gay rights supporter. I have known transsexuals since I was 8 years old. Never had an issue with LGBT advocacy.
I knew that there was misogyny on the left, but the worst misogyny was always coming from the right, as far as I could see. That was until I became aware of transactivism and how the entire left supported it. The #metoo movement had only happened for a year or so when suddenly women were told to stop talking about male violence or male sexual behaviour ... because it was transphobic to recognise sex and the predatory behaviour of males. And the people shutting women down were left wing. I was a left wing SNP (Scottish national party) supporter after being labour for many years. But the way labour, the greens and the SNP are prioritising the rights of males to have full access to women over the rights of women to our own category, spaces and advocacy has lead me to leave the SNP. I will not vote for Labour, the Greens or the SNP again unless they start listening to women. |
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