radiofree.asia

Green MP puts pressure on government over “extreme and unworkable” trans guidance

Green MP Carla Denyer has put pressure on Keir Starmer’s government to ensure a debate over highly controversial guidance on trans rights from “Britain’s independent equality and human rights regulator”, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). Denyer called the EHRC’s interim guidance “extreme and unworkable”, adding that “many are worried it will further the exclusion of trans people”.

In a letter to Women and Equalities minister Bridget Phillipson, Denyer said she appreciated a recent pledge in parliament to “ensure there is appropriate time to debate and discuss the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s new code of practice and guidance”. However, she asked:

if you could add some detail to last week’s promise and let me know via what mechanism we will get a debate on the floor of the House.

Her reason for following this up, she said, was that:

This is something that is of huge concern to trans people in my constituency of Bristol Central, and to trans people up and down the country, who fear not being able to go about their daily lives in privacy and dignity.

“Proper scrutiny” is essential

Denyer added that the EHRC’s interim guidance “had clearly been written without any input from trans people”, saying:

Since then, the EHRC has carried out a rushed consultation process to produce a permanent Code of Practice which has now been submitted, in draft form, to the government.

And she asserted:

I, like the many trans people and allies who have written to me about this, am deeply concerned that exclusionary statutory guidance, which could put trans people at risk and force organisations and businesses to discriminate, could be put into place without proper scrutiny from MPs. We haven’t even been allowed to see it yet.

She also insisted:

in this climate of rising transphobia, I will always keep fighting for trans people’s rights and safety to be protected.

New Green leader Zack Polanski backed that commitment up earlier in the week. Speaking to the Canary, he said:

Left-wing politics, progressive politics, at its heart, if nothing else, is about solidarity.

He definitely wants to emphasise the “common cause” that people from different communities in the party share in “focusing on inequality, lowering bills, nationalising our water companies, protecting nature, and tackling the climate crisis”. But at the same time, he stressed that standing with the trans community is a non-negotiable, asserting that:

transphobia will absolutely not be tolerated under my leadership, and it will never be acceptable in the Green Party.

Featured image via Carla Denyer ©House of Commons/Roger Harris

By Ed Sykes

This post was originally published on Canary.