Statement from the Lesbian Rights Alliance (LRA) Bristol Branch to Bristol City Council’s draft ‘Trans Inclusion and Gender Identity Policy’. 09/10/2022
The LRA is a national lesbian feminist organisation. Its aims include to:
- Defend lesbian legal rights to have same sex relationships and meet in female only spaces
- Stop the life long harm that is being perpetrated on lesbian girls and young women through medicalised ‘gay’ conversion therapy
- Stop the sexual and physical violence that is aimed at lesbians including by male transactivists
- Defend lesbian culture, lesbian visibility and positive images of being lesbian.
Trans and Gender Identity are not protected characteristics in The Equality Act 2010. The only relevant protected characteristic is Gender Reassignment and this applies to those having obtained or seeking to obtain a gender recognition certificate. The council is therefore proposing a change in support of a transgender cult, that is against Equality Law. It fails to recognise that it has a Public Sector Equality Duty to get the agreement of people and organisations that represent other protected characteristics. It is legally obliged to undertake an Equality Impact Assessment to find out how this impacts on people from these protected groups.
It indicates that it will not grant any contract to a ‘transphobic ‘company. This itself is illegal as two recent employment tribunal cases, that of Maya Forstater, and that more recently of Allison Bailey, have ruled that employees can express the view that transwomen are actually men under the legal right to freedom of speech and freedom of expression.
The Council indicates that its proposed policy is based on Stonewall’s doctrines, which themselves breach Equality law in a number of aspects, including the failure to recognise same sex sexual orientation rights. It also cites outdated government policy from the Government Equality Office and outdated policies from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, both of which have been amended.
As the Lesbian Rights Alliance, our concerns with this proposed policy are that it ignores the protected characteristics of sex and sexual orientation. The protected characteristic of sex states that men claiming to be women can be legally excluded from single sex facilities for women and girls. This exclusion acknowledges that women and girls in particular have the right to this protection on the basis of their safety and privacy. This protection also applies to children in school and school building regulations require that children above the age of 8 must have separate toilets and changing rooms. [i][1] (Equality Act 2010, Schedule 3 S.27)
The failure to recognise the need for single sex facilities such as toilets has particularly impacted on adult lesbians in lesbian clubs and at lesbian events. The Lesbian Rights Alliance has submitted evidence to the government consultation on public toilets on how heterosexual transvestite men with a sexual fetish have often invaded these women only facilities and sexually harassed women in the toilets, because they get a sexual kick from doing so. They have also ejaculated sperm on toilet paper and created havoc in these toilets by emptying the sanitary bins. (see https://lesbianalliance.org.uk/feminism/submission-to-the-government-consultation-on-toilets/)
Sexual harassment Secondly these same heterosexual male transvestites often pretend they are lesbians and demand that lesbians should have sex with them. This has resulted in coercive sexual harassment and rape of many young lesbians in their late teens and twenties. (See BBC 29th October 2021 ‘The Lesbians who feel pressurised to have sex and relationships with transwomen’. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-57853385)
The Equality Act (2010) defines same sex sexual orientation as a protected characteristic. Lesbians are therefore women who are only attracted to their own sex. Yet Stonewall doctrine demands that they should have sex with these heterosexual male transvestites who retain their male genitalia, and that lesbians should accept their penises as ‘lady sticks.’
The Erasure of young lesbians
Young lesbians and potential lesbians have been a main target of the Transgender Lobby. Transgender organisations like Stonewall have therefore told lesbian girls and young women who do not conform to traditional feminine stereotypes that they are really men born in the wrong body. This extremely old- fashioned version of what a lesbian is, dating back to the early 1900s, is being taught in schools and is promoted by organisations such as Mermaids that supports the medical ‘gay’ conversion therapy of these children. It is therefore not surprising that a very high number of these girls and young women are seeking to harm their bodies through puberty blockers and sex hormones at the Gender Identity Development Clinic (GIDS) at the Tavistock. Girls and young women now form two thirds of the clients seeking to get this treatment (GIDS Statistics 2020). Moreover over 75% of these girls seeking treatment are known to be same sex attracted. This policy which organisations like Stonewall and Mermaids support are literally erasing young lesbians.
However, because of the questionable practices that have been taking place at the Tavistock clinic, It is about to be closed down as outlined in the Cass Interim Review https://cass.independent-review.uk/publications/interim-report/.
Mermaids is also currently under scrutiny.
In conclusion, we hope that Bristol City Council will not proceed with this illegal and ill-founded policy, which is homophobic and should not be implemented. . We would also hope that the council takes more notice of the concerned parents – women, and lesbians in particular – regarding transgender ideology, which should not be taught in schools. Guidance to teaching this ideology is changing and there will soon be new government guidance on this.
Demands to Bristol Council from the Lesbian Rights Alliance (Bristol Branch)
1. Recognising lesbian rights as same sex attraction
In order to meet the legal requirements in the Equality Act on same sex sexual orientation the council must recognise that men cannot be lesbians. Being lesbian is about same sex attraction, not as Stonewall says ‘same gender attraction.’ All the ‘transwomen,’ who claim to be lesbians are males who retain their male genitals and are only concerned with coercing lesbians into having heterosexual sex with them. Lesbians who assert their legal rights and refuse to have sex with these men are invariably labelled as ‘transphobic,’ by organisations such as Stonewall.
2. Stop young lesbians being told they are ‘born in the wrong body’ – Safeguarding young lesbians in schools.
The legal right to be lesbian must be recognised and supported in schools and youth organisations. At the current time girls and young women who identify as lesbian, have short hair, and do not like the colour pink are told they have been ‘born in the wrong body.’ They must self-identify as ‘boys’ under the teaching of gender identity ideology, despite the fact that this teaching is against current government education guidance. They are often bullied by other pupils and teachers and school counsellors will usually refer them to the homophobic charity Mermaids. (Mermaids invariably recommends medical treatment, involving ‘gay’ conversion therapy. It is currently being investigated by the Charity Commission for breaching child safeguarding guidance)
3 Funding a youth organisation for female young lesbians
There are no female youth organisations for same sex attracted girls in Bristol. Bristol council should fund a female lesbian only youth club, to show it does not discriminate against these young women.
4 Providing single sex facilities including separate toilet rooms, for all women and girls, including lesbians
In its trans policy the council has proposed to have unisex toilets, with a cubicle for women and a cubicle for men in the same room. This does not safeguard any females including lesbians. In schools it allows boys to sexually harass girls and shame them for having periods. Girls in schools need separate toilet rooms well away from boys to protect their safety and privacy around having periods.
5 The exclusion of ‘transwomen’ at lesbian only events.
The Equality Act 2010 allows for the exclusion of males claiming to be lesbians at lesbian only events including their exclusion from toilet facilities, regardless of whether they have a gender recognition certificate. We have outlined the damage these males can do in female only toilets in our statement. Stonewall doctrine on any male being able to access women’s only facilities and spaces does not comply with Equality law.
Bristol City have disabled embeds to their youtube videos (not very democratic) so here is the youtube full link to the Deputation speech by Elaine Hutton
