Labour's 'hypocrisy' on trans rights encourages gender extremists, says Lee Anderson

I have rarely read a more cynical article. Anneliese Dodds, Labour's lead on Women and Equalities, has taken a tiny clip from an interview I did months ago, and used it to misinterpret and misrepresent me in an article for the Guardian.

All the while she claims that it is I, not she, who wishes to 'stoke division'.

Dodds has the hypocrisy to call for 'a degree of care from responsible politicians' at the same time as choosing to amplify, and therefore mislead, by using a ten second quote from a wide-ranging interview I did months ago, which I encourage you to listen to here.

The topic is sex and gender. If you listen to the interview you will see that I was cut off immediately after raising the ‘trans issue’, which gave Dodds her misleading quote - and I spoke instead at length about legal and illegal immigration, skills, and creating opportunities for British youngsters.

What would I have said on the ‘trans issue’? Well, I would not call it the ‘trans’ issue; this is about women’s sex based rights and child safeguarding.

More importantly, what has Dodds’ said about Labour’s new position on this issue, as set out in her Guardian article?

Firstly, Dodds has made clear that the Labour Party will not follow the Scottish National Party in its disastrous pursuit of 'Gender Self-ID'. This is to be welcomed as a policy position I would have happily endorsed.

We all know that sex matters. We are born male or female and we cannot change sex.

It is irresponsible to suggest to vulnerable people, especially to children, that we can.

Indeed the idea that we have an ‘inner gender identity’ that should be prioritised over our biological sex has caused untold damage.

The worst harm has been done to vulnerable young people who have fallen for the idea and been persuaded to undergo irreversible hormonal and surgical treatments that have lifelong consequences.

You can read about the scandal that has taken place within our NHS gender clinics in Hannah Barnes’ book, Time to Think.
However, Anneliese Dodds says that a Labour Government will make the process of legal gender change easier - requiring a supporting diagnosis of gender dysphoria from just one doctor.

I have serious concerns with this. We can’t change sex. Hand on heart, I do not see this as a good road to go down.

Surely we are all better off living in truth? Shouldn’t people be encouraged to explore the reasons for their dysphoria and distress, rather than having it affirmed?

My preference is for continued strong gatekeeping around gender change, but improved support services for those suffering, particularly young people.

Secondly, in her article, Annaliese Dodds makes clear that a Labour Government would support the maintenance of single-sex exemptions in the Equality Act.

This is something I welcome and I look forward to Dodds spelling out the details. Single sex protections must apply to a wide range of situations including schools, hospital wards, public sports centres, workplace toilets and changing rooms.

Women’s right to single sex sports competitions must be unambiguously reasserted. I’d like to see Labour spelling this out comprehensively - harmful policies need to be reversed - like the current NHS policy of allowing trans-identifying men into women’s hospital wards.

We all know where the attack on Dodds’ position will come from. It will be from hardened trans right activists, none of whom is likely to be associated with the Conservative Party, but rather from the far left, and very often the Labour Party itself.

Indeed we are already seeing that reaction on social media.

Yet her closing reference to the Conservative Party and the gutter shows that Dodds has no wish to reduce the heat in the so-called culture wars.

Her rather explosive and aggressive rhetoric seems designed to detract from a significant shift in Labour policy away from gender extremism and towards the protection of women’s rights.

My shoulders are broad enough to carry the aggressive rhetoric and to welcome the policy shift. But I’ll continue to make the case that the Conservatives should go further.

Sex matters.

The ideology of ‘gender identity’ is harmful. We need to protect the vulnerable from its reach.

The concept of gender identity has no place in our schools and the Conservatives need to move much faster to clarify this. The concept of gender identity should be removed from school lesson guidance via the Government’s current review into relationship and sex education - and the Government must surely clarify that no child should be affirmed as the sex they are not at school.
Anneliese Dodds finished her article by saying there is no debate - I for one will ignore this and continue to argue for women’s rights and for child safeguarding, out loud.