Thoughts on York Spring Conference

…from an anonymous party member

“At the recent Liberal Democrat Spring Conference a group of women raised concerns about the fairness of the wording of one section of the party’s constitution. They made a proposal to amend it.

What happened next was extraordinary. The proposer of the motion was howled down. A motion to stop the debate was passed overwhelmingly. Then, amazingly, there were calls for anyone who supported the proposal to be expelled from the party. Commenters on Lib Dem Voice lined up to support that call and reject pleas for tolerance.

I have been a Liberal/Liberal Democrat all my life. I attended the launch of the party almost exactly 35 years ago and signed the membership book on the day.  I find what happened at the Spring conference, and after, truly shocking. How can it be possible that the genuine concerns of a group of members are dismissed in this way in a liberal party?

Some in the party try to claim that anyone who sees a conflict between women's rights and trans rights are comparable to racists. Their views, they argue, are incompatible with being a liberal at all. Comments on-line express the idea that the supporters of the change to the constitution wanted to "obliterate" trans people. References to the “genocide” of trans people are common.

A moment's research demonstrates these claims to be completely false. The party constitution has another specific quota that explicitly includes trans and non-binary people.  This would not have been affected by the change. Even if the words “non-binary” were to be removed from the quotas altogether (which was not what was being proposed), this would still not have had the effect of “obliterating” those people. This kind of hyperbole obscures reality and makes rational debate impossible. 

It is important to remember that there are people on the fascist right who hate anyone different - those with a different skin colour, gay people, trans people.  But to conflate them with those who seek clarity about the definition of "sex" in the Lib Dem constitution or the Equality Act, is nonsense.  Worse it is a cruel and irresponsible message to promote to an emotionally vulnerable group.  It will do trans people real damage in the long run as incredible claims lead to legitimate concerns being ignored in the future.

The party must address the concerns of women about fairness in sport, security in prisons, safe spaces in refuges, single-sex changing rooms, intimate carers for disabled women, men winning prizes intended for women - and, yes, men taking women's quotas in party elections.  If we don't, we will lose our reputation as a party that cares about women.

Equally importantly, if the party loses its ability to debate issues like this in a liberal way, it will lose its soul.  

It is time for those who care about women's rights and liberal values to stand up and make their voices heard.”