The LGBT+ arm of the Liberal Democrats has said it is “sickened” to be lumped in with anti-trans political parties in a Pride march ban announced earlier this week.
Four of the UK’s biggest Pride organisers announced in a joint letter on Monday (12 May) that all political parties would be banned from future Pride marches until a “minimum” level of allyship was displayed.
Signed by Birmingham Pride, Brighton Pride, Pride in London, and Manchester Pride, the letter called for each political party to take steps in improving their rhetoric and treatment of the trans community, including advocating for or helping to pass further protections for trans people.
It comes after the Trans Safety Network, alongside over 140 LGBTQ+ organisations, called for Pride organisations to ban all political parties to help tackle continued “transphobia” in British politics which has skyrocketed following a UK Supreme Court decision which excludes trans women from the 2010 Equality Act’s definition of a woman.
Responding to the announcement, the Lib Dem group, LGBT+ Liberal Democrats, wrote that while it understands the “frustrations” with other parties’ rhetoric on trans rights, it disagreed that it should be “lumped together” with anti-trans parties like Labour and the Conservatives.
“[The Lib Dems] and Liberals before us have been at the forefront of campaigning for LGBT+ rights,” a spokesperson said, arguing that the Lib Dems are the “most progressive GB-wide Party to this day.”
While admitting that organisations should “earn their presence” at Pride protests, the group added that it felt the LGBT+ Lib Dems had “more than done this over the last few years.”
It urged the Pride organisations to engage in a “constructive dialogue” bargaining to “come back bigger and better” while parties that it argues have been overtly anti-trans “can be left in the past where they belong.”
As part of its demands, the four Pride organisers said that political parties should help to pass further protections under the Equality Act, help to improve “timely” access to trans healthcare under the NHS, help reform the Gender Recognition Act to make obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) easier, and provide sustainable funding for trans-led services that support UK-based trans people.
“This is the minimum. Anything less is not allyship, it is abandonment,” the letter continued.
What has the Liberal Democrats and Ed Davey said about the Supreme Court trans ruling?
While the Liberal Democrats’ track record on LGBTQ+ rights is generally positive, its initial reaction to the UK Supreme Court ruling on the 2010 Equality Act’s definitions of sex and women caused dismay among many.
Supreme Court judge Lord Patrick Hodge stated in a unanimous ruling handed down on 16 April that the definitions of “women” and “sex” in the legislation relate to “biological women” and “biological sex,” while clarifying that the ruling should not be viewed as a “triumph” over one or more groups over another.
Later the same day, Lib Dem equalities spokesperson Christine Jardine said on behalf of the party: “We accept the Supreme Court’s ruling, which rightly recognises there’s been too much confusion for too long over what protections the Equality Act provides.”
Jardine went on to say that, while the party accepts the ruling, it had not ended the “confusion” and had, in the Party’s view, caused “a lot of worry and left many unsure what it means for them.”
“As a priority, the Government must provide further guidance and clarity on what this judgement means for people,” she added. “This guidance must ensure – as the ruling makes clear – that everyone’s rights and dignity are upheld, including women and trans people.”
Jardine later said in a 24 April House of Commons session that she respects “the independence of the Supreme Court and the ruling it has made” but argued it should not come “at the cost of the human rights and the security of another vulnerable group in society.”
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey also chimed in on the ruling, saying in April that he accepts the ruling and the “clarity” he believes it has brought, but questioned how it would be enforced and calling for further guidance.
“Lots of people are confused in the trans community and elsewhere,” Davey said, adding that there is still a lot of “confusion” and “anxiety.”
While Davey has reaffirmed his belief that trans women are women and trans men are men since the Supreme Court’s ruling, he has so far stopped short of unequivocally supporting the right of trans people to use facilities that correspond with their gender identity.
The Lib Dem leader has so far remained silent on non-statutory guidance issued by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling which recommends banning trans people from all gendered spaces in some circumstances. The guidance has been condemned by LGBT+ Lib Dems as a “politically motivated, homophobic, and transphobic assault on British social norms and values.”
In their 2024 general election manifesto, the Lib Dems pledged to reform the gender recognition process to “remove the requirement for medical reports”, remove the spousal veto and recognise non-binary identities in law.
The party also stated that they would “respect and defend the rights of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, including trans and non-binary people”.
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