Dear Bridget
As you know, we are lesbian, gay and bisexual Labour Party members and it is our role to speak up for LGB rights within the Party and while we are in government.
The Supreme Court decision in For Women Scotland (FWS) brought welcome clarity to the interpretation of the Equality Act after a long period of confusion and obfuscation, especially the incorrect advice given by Stonewall under the 14 years of Conservative government. LGB rights depend on meaningful definitions of man and woman. Our spaces are under threat from heterosexual men who claim to be lesbians and heterosexual women who claim to be gay men. This is why we welcomed the judgement. We have been delighted that the Prime Minister and senior ministers such as yourself have also welcomed the judgement unequivocally and promised to respect it in full.
We recognise there continue to be voices inside the Party, in the Civil Service and in the “LGBTQIA+” establishment that would like to ignore the FWS ruling and encourage public services and employers to continue to break the law. One of their tactics has been to pretend that the EHRC guidance on the judgement is controversial and needs to be debated because it changes the law. As you know, this statutory guidance does no such thing. The interpretation of the law has been established clearly and needs to be enforced. Therefore, we urge you to end this confusion, which is encouraging the opponents of the law, by laying the guidance before parliament as soon as possible.
We are also very concerned that, in the case of Good Law Project vs the EHRC, the government-appointed lawyer, Zoe Leventhal KC, has been arguing against the facts of the law and seeking to claim that trans-identified males could still be treated as women under the Equality Act. This appears to show that the Civil Service and its lawyers are still trying to argue “Stonewall Law” instead of the actual law. We urge you to send clear instruction that this must stop and the law must be supported as promised.
We look forward to hearing from you and would welcome the chance to meet to discuss how LGB people need to be supported.
Yours sincerely
LabourLGB and Lesbian Labour
