Scottish Labour Against Bigotry

A photograph, taken from X, of Maya Forstater and one other deeply tragic individual pretending to be at the launch of Labour LGB, when they are in fact at the Labour for Trans Rights Conference rally.

I kid you not, over on Twitter Maya Forstater is trying to pass off a photo of herself and just one other transphobe as being from 'the launch of Labour LGB'...

...except it's nothing of the sort. The event they're at is the Labour for Trans Rights rally!

A massive thank you to the organisations supporting our rally this year: @unison.org.uk, @gmb.org.uk, @cwunews.bsky.social, @aslefunion.bsky.social, @ucu.org.uk, @nus-uk.bsky.social and @utaw.tech.

The union movement was built on the principles of solidarity & equality: glad to have you onboard ✊

Trans Solidarity Rally, Tuesday 30th September 12.30-2pm, Room 3A Liverpool ACC (inside secure zone) Speakers: Nadia Whittome MP Dame Emily Thornberry MP Dawn Butler MP Alex Sobel MP Lorraine Beavers MP Yuan Yang MP Steve Race MP Richard Quigley MP Emily Darlington MP Christina McAnea, General Secretary of Unison Mick Whelan, General Secretary of ASLEF Jo Grady, General Secretary of UCU Georgia Meadows, Trans Officer LGBT+ Labour Chloe Brooks, Young Labour LGBT+ Officer Steph Richards, TransLucent Jess Barnard, Labour NEC Saranya Thambirajah, NUS Maria Exall, CWU Phil Jones, Unite Rhea Wolfson, GMB Avery Greatorex plus other speakers TBA Supported by Unison, GMB, CWU, UCU, NUS and UTAW

We're excited to announce the first details of this year's Trans Solidarity Rally at Labour Party Conference - trans allies are here to stay in our labour movement 🏳️‍⚧️

Attending Labour Conference? Put this date in your diary 👇

57% of our members voted to not endorse any candidate, with 43% voting to endorse Lucy Powell. Out of the members who voted in the ballot, 0% voted for Bridget Phillipson.

TUC Congress 2025: Tuesday 9 September - AM YouTube video by Trades Union Congress (TUC)

Yesterday at @tuc.org.uk Congress:

5:18.15: Question to Bridget Phillipson on EHRC guidance which excludes trans people

5:21.00: Answer avoids any reference to the guidance

6:22.47: Debate on Supreme Court ruling motion (congress.tuc.org.uk/motion-07-su...)

6:58.48: Motion carried unanimously

Thanks for your support.

We had a successful launch in February, we got press coverage and developed a network of like-minded people in the party. We are facing much better resourced opponents with practically open access to the press, and a leadership which refuses to engage. You seem to think we should therefore give up?

This is a grassroots members campaign against the Scottish Labour leadership's position on trans rights.

Scottish Labour chiefs lose conference vote for biology-based single-sex spaces - LabourList Scottish Labour’s ruling body has suffered at blow at the party’s annual conference in a row over gender…

The Labour *leadership* has said that. Labour *members* have not, and it's Labour *members* who get to choose the Deputy Leader.

At both of the most recent Scottish Labour conferences, for example, members have voted down leadership-backed anti-trans motions: labourlist.org/2025/02/scot...

Bridget Phillipson says she's running for UK Labour Deputy Leader. She has grossly let down trans people and the wider LGBT community in her role as Equalities Minister. Her appointment of Mary-Ann Stephenson as chair of the EHRC was an act of human rights vandalism. LGBT members cannot support her.

Quite a punchy statement here in response to widespread outrage over LGBT orgs' participation in an event at 10 Downing Street celebrating 50 years of Pride. I have some sympathy with the argument that you have to be in the room to change minds, but that glosses over the reality of this PR exercise.

Graphic with a pink to blue gradient background. It says "New Report: The Erosion of Trans Rights in the UK A Human Rights analysis following the UK Supreme Court ruling in For Women Scotland LTD V The Scottish Ministers". Below is the Equality Network and Scottish Trans logos

We recently published our report 'The Erosion of Trans Rights in the UK'. The report is a human rights analysis of the various rights that are at risk following the UK Supreme Court judgment and proposed EHRC Code of Practice.

You can read the report here: www.equality-network.org/wp-content/u...

Labour's Endorsement of EHRC Chair Raises Serious Concerns We have serious concerns about the endorsement from the government of Dr. Mary-Ann Stephenson to lead the EHRC.

The #EHRC Chair must be a credible, impartial arbiter of human rights - with a clean record on equalities. Mary-Ann Stephenson cannot be that person.

Read our full statement 👇

www.prideinlabour.org.uk/post/labour-...

We know that the law is not always on the right side of history. The Supreme Court ruling last month does not make public spaces safer for anyone.

UK drops six more places on the ILGA-Europe #RainbowMap to now lie at 22nd, an outlier in Western Europe. The only country to fall further is Orbán's Hungary. Ten years ago the UK was first on this list. Only six years ago it was third. "A co-ordinated global backlash aimed at erasing LGBTI rights."

A number of political party LGBT+ organisations have been expressing regret at the exclusion of party political groups from Pride events this year.

SLAB takes a different view.

It is for Pride organisers to decide who is welcome. If Labour wants to march with Pride again it must change its heart.

Who are you addressing this to?

Yes, the thread says it's a lie, and it said so two weeks ago when it was written. We're agreeing.

And as anyone who read the whole thread would know.

A black and white photograph of a set of three doors to public toilets, designated "Ladies", "Men" and "Colored".

The chair of the ECHR, the statutory body with responsibility to encourage equality and diversity, eliminate unlawful discrimination, and protect and promote human rights, went on Radio 4 this morning and advocated this, except the third door is for trans people and doesn't actually exist.

Graphic with a purple background. It reads: "We are really shocked by today's Supreme Court decision- which reverses twenty years of understanding on how the law recognises trans men and women with Gender Recognition Certificates. The judgement seems to have totally missed what matters to trans people- - that we are able to live our lives, and be recognised, in line with who we truly are. We will continue working for a world in which trans people can get on with our lives with privacy, dignity and safety. That is something that we all deserve.". The Scottish Trans and Equality Network logos are in the bottom right.

Along with @lgbtiscotland.bsky.social, we've published our reaction to the judgement in the UK Supreme Court today.

There will be more we want to say to trans people directly once we have a chance to catch our breath.

www.equality-network.org/uk-supreme-c...

Further clarity on the "Scottish Labour has always called for the protection of single sex spaces on the basis of biological sex" claim. It is simply a lie.

> The sheer cowardice embodied in this comment, and in the repositioning of Scottish Labour on trans issues over the past two years, is shameful. And it will do Scottish Labour no good electorally either. It is a betrayal of a long proud history stretching back to the repeal of Section 28 in 2000.

The second point is that this ruling offers no sort of clarity. It offers a headline for anti-trans organisations which will no doubt dominate tomorrow's Times, Telegraph, Express and Sun, but it actually undermines 20 years of equality work and leaves a massive question mark rather than clarity. >

> dignity of all."

The first, and obvious, point in response to this is that Scottish Labour has NOT "always called for the protection of single sex spaces on the basis of biological sex". In fact it only started using this form of words *very* recently, as a sop to anti-trans pressure groups. >

> and as Lord Hodge said this must not be read as a triumph of one or more groups at the expense of another. Now that we have this clarity, the SNP Government must now provide clear guidance for Scottish public services so they can implement the Equality Act properly and uphold the rights and >

Full quote from Scottish Labour's Equalities spokesperson Paul O'Kane on today's Supreme Court ruling:
"Scottish Labour has always called for the protection of single sex spaces on the basis of biological sex, as provided the in the Equality Act. This court ruling should of course be respected, >

Why ‘gender criticals’ are desperate to defeat Stonewall Lawyer Allison Bailey lost her case against Stonewall. But her supporters are trying to claim the exact opposite

It is a deliberate strategy of the anti-trans movement to mislead people about what the law and cases actually say, in order to further their agenda. You can read more about how they have done this in the past here:

www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/ston...

I'll be working as fast and as thoroughly as I can today, but I am not going to beat the GCs who have seen this judgment days in advance. Please wait for actual analysis from friendly sources to come out before believing whatever propaganda gets spread about this case.