As a Labour MP you hold a position of great responsibility and wield considerable influence in UK society. We write to you today because of your Humanist affiliation. We put to you our deep concerns around trans ideology from a homosexual perspective.
LabourLGB and Lesbian Labour are coalitions of lesbian, gay and bisexual Labour party members campaigning for LGB rights. We believe in science and we believe in fact. Sex matters to us, biology is real to us.
In fact, sex is especially important to same-sex attracted people. If sex as a distinct and unique characteristic doesn’t exist or is trumped by gender identity, then that puts our very existence into question. Indeed, the argument of the ‘lesbian interveners’ was pivotal in the decision of the Supreme Court in clarifying that, for the purposes of the Equality Act, sex means biological sex. The Court concluded that lesbians and gay men are entitled to their own single sex spaces.
Yet trans ideology has denied lesbians and gay men the right to their own spaces for the past few years. Lesbian spaces to socialise were few and far between anyway, but the places that do still exist have become increasingly frequented by so called ‘transbians’, heterosexual biological males who identify as women. Similarly, in the on-line dating and socialising worlds for both gay men and lesbians, as many as 30% of those engaging are of the opposite sex. As a consequence, attempting to connect with new friends and potential partners has become fraught with danger, especially for women. When lesbians have stated on such dating sites that they would only contemplate a biological female match they have been removed from the sites, branded as transphobic. Grindr, the dating app for gay men has also been impacted upon by trans ideology. There are now many trans men seeking a gay relationship on Grindr but of course all remain biologically female, so are not attractive to gay men. Predatory straight men, masquerading as gay men, are now increasingly joining Grindr with a view to connecting with these trans men who seek boyfriends. Can you not see that this is a crazy topsy-turvy world we are living in? It is also a fundamentally homophobic worldview that expects lesbians and gay men to consider dating opposite sex people.
We also look on with sadness as gender non-conforming young people are being led to believe that they might be in the wrong body. The Cass Report showed that the majority of young people being seen by the Tavistock Clinic’s Gender Identity Service were same-sex attracted. The clinic unquestioningly prescribed puberty blockers to these young fledgling gays and lesbians, putting them on a pathway to transition to the opposite sex. No wonder that clinicians at the Tavistock joked about ‘transing away the gay’. Most of these young people would have resolved their gender
distress and emerged from puberty with the potential to be happy and healthy gay, lesbian or bisexual adults. Instead, they have faced bodily mutilation, a lifetime ahead of medical intervention and the unknown long-term health consequences of the cocktail of drugs they take.
Drag queens and, to a lesser extent, drag kings have long been a part of our community. All gay men and lesbians are, by definition, gender non-conforming. Masculinity and femininity are spectrums for both women and men and our community has always embraced everyone on that spectrum. We are no strangers to a world of differences of gender expression. However, trans ideology has moved away from this position, claiming something to be a fact which is patently not.
Trans ideology insists there is no conflict between ‘trans-rights’ and women’s rights and uses the mantra ‘trans women are women, no debate’ precisely to silence debate. But there clearly IS a conflict between those who believe trans-identified men belong in women’s changing rooms, women’s sports, domestic violence refuges, lesbian clubs and so on, and those of us who believe these spaces should be for women only.
The Humanist movement may think it is kind to affirm whatever gender someone says they are, supporting the autonomy of individuals. However, the belief that one can change from being a man into a woman or from a woman into a man through the way one dresses or styles their hair, through surgery and hormone treatment is a scientific fallacy. The Humanist movement in every other respect believes in science, so why is human biology and trans ideology the exception?
LabourLGB and Lesbian Labour asks you, as a Labour member of the APPHG, to reflect on what we have said above and ask you to see things from our perspective. You don’t believe in God. You don’t believe the earth is flat. But do you believe in the emperor’s new clothes? Just because someone says something is true, doesn’t mean it is true. Why does your movement reject other ideologies but believe in this one?
Yours sincerely
