I feel sorry for the Conservative Party . Not the increasing mad bunch in charge at Conservative Central HQ but the honest, decent members up and down the country. And I feel for all LGBT Conservatives I know, who are welcomed and respected in their local parties, who have today had to watch the laughably titled Minister for Equality, Kemi Badenoch , proposing to strip trans people of the rights and freedoms we have enjoyed to live decently in society for a quarter of a century now.
I confess that I broke with the Conservatives during the madness and downright dishonesty of King Boris , and the national embarrassment of Brexit , but I’m an old-fashioned liberal Tory at heart and I feel sorry because the leadership have run out of ideas, competence and time. Under the guise of protecting women and girls, Ms Badenoch is proposing to change (not ‘clarify’) the definition of ‘sex’ in the Equality Act to mean ‘original birth certificate’ sex. This would exclude those who have been through the tough process to live in their affirmed gender and have that recognised by the state.
It will simplify things, she suggests. When was simple ever the solution in politics? Even General Elections are a convoluted process. Badenoch’s proposal is a solution in search of a problem.
Trans organisation Translucent made Freedom of Information requests about complaints in NHS Trusts and in a 12-month period where the amount of complaints numbered over 200,000, there was one – just o.