Joint statement from Lesbian Labour and LabourLGB
Amnesty International UK has a big problem with our Equality Act. Rather than discuss this with those groups protected by the Act to identify what their views are, they have gone on the attack. The latest debacle being the publication of their report “A Growing threat: The Anti-Rights Movement in the UK”.
The Report published on-line on Wednesday, 8th July 2026, only aired for approx 4 days before it was taken down. During those 4 busy days, the many groups defamed in the Report for simply following UK law, managed to send numerous responses refuting the allegations that they were “anti-rights”.
Some of Amnesty’s un-evidenced ‘key findings’ included :
- A growing organised anti-rights movement
- Increased spend by these organisations
- Charities receiving ‘Gift Aid’
- Not all groups are based in London
So what does Amnesty mean by ‘Anti-rights actors’?… Their description is:
“Amnesty International UK defines anti-rights actors as formal and informal groups, individuals, private and state actors whose aim is to restrict human rights by undermining human rights protections in law and practice.”
“Some of these groups describe themselves as ‘anti-gender’ because they visibly oppose the rights and equality of women and LGBT+ people”
The groups they listed as being anti-rights included amongst others, a women’s rape crisis shelter, lesbian and gay groups, women’s groups, those protecting children’s rights etc – in fact anyone who believes that sex is biological.
Amnesty clearly does not believe sex is biological. In fact they intervened in the Supreme Court appeal of For Women Scotland (appellants), in support of the Scottish Government’s (respondents) position which argued that sex was not just biological, but could also change if someone had a Gender Reassignment Certificate. This argument was rejected unanimously by the judges who ruled that in the Equality Act 2010, sex can only mean biological sex.
In the UK the law is based on biological sex when it comes to two of the Protected Characteristics – Sex, and Sexual Orientation. In fact only yesterday, the Government finally published the updated EHRC Code of Practice online for all to see and to follow.
It’s been a long and muddy road for the updated EHRC Guidance to finally find its way into UK legislation. Despite the ruling being handed down in April 2025, with the EHRC Guidance presented to the Minister in September 2025, the Commencement Order for the updated Code of Practice has only just been published.
In the meantime, many organisations, charities, government departments, civil servants and MP’s are behaving as if this law does not exist, or at least they would rather it didn’t. This failure to lead by example, to implement UK law and to hold those to account who wilfully break the law has created a dangerous environment in the UK, especially for women, girls and lesbian, gay and bisexual same-sex attracted people.
Amnesty International UK’s new report is an example of what can happen in a vacuum – people, groups, organisations and governments fill the gap with their own interpretations, aided and abetted by activist lobby groups who wish for their own spin to be adopted.
Amnesty and others feel they can behave in this way because we have a Labour Government which appears to be hesitant to enforce UK law, drawn up by a previous Labour Government. No other law is so wilfully ignored by so many with zero consequences for the law breakers, despite the intimidation, harassment and bullying.
LabourLGB and Lesbian Labour are disappointed that we were not included in the ‘list’ of warriors who have put their names and careers on the line to speak up for the legal rights of women, girls and LGB. Yet we know that we too are vilified by association. This was a deliberate act of aggression by Amnesty who have demonstrated how far they have fallen from their original aims to fight for justice.
We call upon our new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham and the UK Government to step up and take responsibility to lead by example. Fill the vacuum, implement the law, remove uncertainty and instigate clarity through a full re-education programme on the legal sex-based rights of women, girls and LGB people. Our Government must support our citizens standing up for our laws. A long over-due statement by the Government on the rights of those protected by the Equality Act must ensue, to put an end to malicious meddling by bad faith actors like Amnesty.
Events have been gathering speed over the last 7 days commencing with the publication of Amnesty’s disgraceful report; its retraction; the fightback against Amnesty by the groups smeared for standing up for the biological sex based rights of women, girls, lesbian, gay and bisexual people; and the final legislative step for EHRC Guidance as it became a Statutory Instrument 2026 No 788.
The pressure is on and the fightback has now arrived in Parliament. Four brave Labour MPs have taken up the mantle against the unjustified libellous report by Amnesty which brings UK citizens and law into disrepute and have tabled Early Day Motion 603, entitled “Amnesty International UK report on the anti-rights movement in the UK”.
We thank Tonia Antoniazzi, Tracy Gilbert, Kirsteen Sullivan and David Smith for their principled stand and sincerely hope that other MP’s will now take this opportunity to face facts and get behind the law in the UK and sign this motion. Laws cannot be picked and chosen at random, it’s time our politicians realised this; the public do and they are watching closely. Being a politician is not about celebrity or popularity, it’s about doing the right thing and following the law is the only way forward in a democracy.
