According to Scottish newspaper ‘The National’ (20th March 2020), senior SNP sources have told them that the proposed Scottish Government reforms to the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) are being kicked “into the long grass”. This is in the context of a substantial revolt, SNP divisions and the deadly demands of the coronavirus pandemic. Similar proposals have already been abandoned by the British government following growing resistance by thousands of women but also intersex people, detransitioners, LGB people and a small but growing minority of trans people.

Huge campaigning energy and substantial resources have been expended in recent years by Stonewall and other powerful, government funded LGBT or trans specific organisations as well as by hundreds of ‘gender identity’ activists on pushing for the GRA proposals in the name of trans people, or at least those who believe in the gender identity paradigm. These organisations have had significant state, NGO and corporate backing and they enjoyed a monopolistic hold on British party politics that, as with policy capture elsewhere, had been achieved over many years of lobbying very much away from the public radar. Alarmingly, most, if not all of these lobby groups have colluded in the systematic attempts to suppress and delegitimise, even to completely toxify any attempts to scrutinise or debate the merits of these proposals, particularly their impact upon women and with the cowardly complacency of mainstream political structures. At times, there has even been a partial complicity by some police forces and elements of the judiciary who receive their training on such matters from Stonewall or organisations aligned with ‘identity politics’.

The ‘no-debate’ ethos by publicly funded bodies who ought to be accountable to the public, well over half of whom would’ve been directly affected by these proposals has been scandalous and injurious to our politics, particularly to the lefts’ tradition of grass roots democracy. When organisations reject democratic debate and engagement with a popular democratic movement, they choose instead to collude in or by default and silence, to excuse the methods of coercion, whether bureaucratic, political and state coercion or physical intimidation, harassment and attempts to collaborate with employers in disciplining or sacking employees, many of them working class women. We have been defamed, smeared, demonised, no-platformed, harassed, had our livelihoods threatened, in some cases losing work or jobs and even been physically attacked.

Women have fought back and have had to contest the grossly dishonest notion that they are not in any way affected by the proposed reforms. Inevitably that has meant amongst other things, exposing the unpleasant reality of male violence and male sexual offending. Also that the limited evidence available suggests that biologically male transwomen offend at the similarly higher rates of non-trans men not the very low rates of women but women are still overwhelmingly the victims. Inevitably then, when told by arrogant activists that women are unaffected by having transwomen in their spaces one quite natural response is to expose the concrete examples that show otherwise. By their very nature some of these examples are of the worst, most harmful behaviour affecting women and girls and though of course they involve only a small minority of trans people it is never-the-less significant additional harm, risk, insecurity and loss of autonomy for women.

The cost of dishonesty or pandered-to delusion is high for trans people too, it’s damaging for a vulnerable minority to be regularly associated with it’s worst members but the fact is women and girls are vulnerable to predatory males, whether they identify as women or not and it’s entirely legitimate for women defending their right to autonomy, dignity and safety to be able to answer the false assertion that they are not affected with truthful examples to the contrary, however sordid. None of it would be necessary at all if male transwomen were not claiming female spaces and rights, disingenuously denying the reality of biological sex, of male socialisation and its impact on women or suppressing discussion and forcing it away from structured, responsible forums inside the Labour movement. It is precisely the dishonest arrogance and sense of entitlement to deny evidence, to control female spaces and female speech which invites this natural, legitimate and inevitable defensive response. The sex-blindness of the identity movement therefore plays entirely into the hands of the genuinely bigoted and the far right, people who want to paint all trans people as deviants, perverts and predators. A popular women’s movement sincerely trying to defend women’s rights, in the face of a lie is not in any way equivalent to the far right who are motivated by hatred and bigotry nor is it a re-run of the Tory and tabloid bigots who pushed for Section 28.

Instead of responsible dialogue, the ‘no debate’ toxicity has resulted in a vacuum being left by cowardly politicians on all sides, with a few honourable Scottish exceptions in particular, but this vacuum, or worse, the backing of the anti-democratic ‘identity’ position by prominent Labour movement politicians has meant that much of the ‘debate’ that has occurred has been forced primarily into the most toxic and irresponsible of places like social media. Misunderstanding, angry, crude and bitter exchanges abound. It has been a bitter lesson for women to see just how much and how hard they have had to fight just to win the basic right to even have a voice in matters that directly affect them but the conflict that has taken place on social media and in newspaper columns has also been an unmitigated disaster for trans people.

All the organisational power, corporate and government money, all the political influence of the ‘identity’ lobby, all the toxic, anti-democratic methods to smear and suppress debate, all the callous and casual sexism, the frequently outrageous misogyny, dozens upon dozens of examples of ‘transwomen’ threatening or glorifying threats of violence against women, what has it achieved? It has certainly stoked enormous anger and bitterness. Inevitably in such soil in a minority of cases it has stoked actual bigotry and anti-trans hatred. Beyond that the self-ID reform push has all come to nought. The reforms have been shelved and all that pain and division has been for nothing. Meanwhile, many on the right have been laughing, rubbing their hands at the spectacle of the left devouring itself. They have profited from Labour being in denial of biological reality, associated with anti-free speech elitism and an ugly, anti-woman authoritarianism.

By any measure this is all a calamitous failure on the part of Stonewall and the rest of the official LGBT movement or more accurately, what it has recently and tragically allowed itself to become (with such damaging consequences for the left) a movement to coerce the claimed superiority of ‘gender identity’ over sex and therefore of the priorities of transwomen over women.

You might think then that with the proposed reforms dead in the water that I’d be celebrating right now, overjoyed with the apparent outcome. I am pleased and immensely relieved that this, the most divisive of proposals has been shelved. I’m also genuinely thrilled for the women in (and supporting) organisations like WPUK, forwomen.scot, Fair Play For Women, FiLiA, Transgender Trend, LGB Alliance and others.

The impact that WPUK in particular has made has been huge and I’m proud to know them. Three women trade unionists got together and from a place of almost complete marginalisation they were crucial to building what I’d argue is a central supporting column of a much broader grass roots movement that faced down and continues to outmanoeuvre not only a massive section of the British and western establishments and other liberal elites but also the bulk of an organisational left hopelessly mired in liberalism or libertarianism and the idealist, individualistic politics of gender identity.

However, overwhelmingly the emotion I feel is sadness. Sadness that it’s come to this, sadness at the cost. The cost to women, to trans people and others in intimidation, fear, bitterness and division has been immense. Above all, instead of tapping into the huge amount of goodwill and potential solidarity for trans people that existed several years ago, that could have taken a different, democratic and unifying path and strengthened ALL our struggles against oppression, for dignity, decent services and rights in reality (as well as on legal paper) and indeed could have strengthened the whole of the left, much of that goodwill has been squandered in a tide of sexism and slanderous McCarthyism that is continuing to poison and divide the Labour and progressive movements.

This is a moment that should give pause for thought to Stonewall and others as well as to their backers and supporters, a chance to reflect and rethink their disastrous strategy. I believe there is an opportunity here if enough people are brave enough to change course. I still passionately believe that despite everything that has happened, there remains the will and the possibility to begin to build a more unifying approach which in respecting the autonomy of different disadvantaged groups can bring good people on various sides and from various groups together around concrete proposals to improve the lives of both women, trans people and other disadvantaged minorities.

Continuing division will only profit the right and the establishment and with large scale economic dislocation during the coronavirus pandemic and a likely deep global recession in its aftermath there is every possibility the far right could gain substantially too. That would be disastrous for all of us. It should also now be clear to everyone that if proponents of ‘gender identity’ couldn’t defeat this emergent women’s movement when they had ALL of mainstream party politics, the bulk of the NGO sector and most of the western establishment eating out of their hands they will certainly not defeat the power and social weight of this growing, new, women’s movement now.

Instead of pitting trans people against women, gender identity against sex and individualistic identity politics against class politics and collectivism it’s time for a different approach, a socialist approach, one of finding what we have in common and advancing together on those fronts rather than focusing on our disagreements and with utter futility, trying to defame and subordinate those who disagree with you whilst the right bask in and benefit from the resulting divisions. We could for instance explore the practicality of parallel service provision, single-sex based (what I’d call female inclusive) and trans inclusive, both according to demand with ring-fenced funding. It’s a proposal which has potential to respect different strong viewpoints.

Whether it’s a real investment in proper mental health support or shorter healthcare waiting lists, overcoming the homelessness that often affects LGBT people disproportionately or improving political representation, whether it’s effecting positive discrimination or combating violence to women and to transwomen or properly funding refuge services that cater to all our needs, there is much that reasonable people can agree about that is universalising and unifying. Trade unions and the Labour Party, including its leaders and prospective leaders need to step up, press for and organise structured, exploratory discussions to advance a more unifying agenda about improving the conditions of life for ALL of us, including women and trans people, whilst respecting difference and autonomy.

For Stonewall and others to double down on a failed strategy now would be to put bureaucratic self-interest and lucrative establishment funding streams above the interests of trans people and the wider progressive movement. We all deserve better than that. The left should insist on it. We cannot in the face of growing global crisis and far right resurgence, be held hostage any longer by a corrosive anti-collectivism that tries to deny an independent voice to half of humanity and half of the working class movement.