Labour Party’s record on trans rights ‘absolutely disgraceful’, Nadia Whittome tells TUC fringe
Left wing Labour MP Nadia Whittome has described the Labour Party’s record on trans rights as ‘absolutely disgraceful’. She made […]
Left wing Labour MP Nadia Whittome has described the Labour Party’s record on trans rights as ‘absolutely disgraceful’. She made the comments at a fringe meeting at this year’s TUC Congress in Brighton.
The meeting, which was organised to discuss the trade union movement’s response to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) code of practice, was hosted by the TUC LGBT+ Committee, and a number of individual unions – UNISON, NHBCSA, FBU, CWU, NASUWT and Unite.
The EHRC code of practice follows the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of sex under the Equality Act, which determined that this refers to the sex someone has been assigned at birth.
Under the EHRC code of practice, service providers are required to ensure that where ‘single-sex’ spaces exist – such as toilets – trans people should use facilities that match the sex they were assigned at birth, rather than their gender identity, or use gender neutral facilities where these are available.
This guidance has been heavily criticised by LGBT+ rights campaigners who argue that it is both unworkable and discriminatory towards trans people.
Whittome told the meeting: “The Labour Party’s record on this over the last few years has been absolutely disgraceful. It should shame every Labour Party member and representative. I completely agree that the Labour Party needs to apologise and then also come to a much better position.”
She then went on to say: “I completely understand why many trans and non-binary people and allies have left the Labour Party and it’s incumbent on the party to win people back, to prove to people that it is willing to change, and that it has changed. We’re a very, very long way from that now.”
Delegates at this year’s TUC Congress voted to condemn the EHRC code of practice and call for the government to change the law to allow trans people to self-identify their gender.
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
Image credit: UK Parliament – Creative Commons
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