Liberal Democrats block calls for trans women to be excluded from women’s quotas
"Returning males into vacancies expressly reserved for females would be unlawful," says Dr Zoe Hollowood as she calls for a debate on trans policy in the party
By Aaron Sugg
Liberal Democrat members have blocked an attempt to exclude trans women from the party’s gender-based diversity quotas during their annual conference in Bournemouth.
Dr Zoe Hollowood, from the group Liberal Democrat Voice for Women, had called for a debate and a binding vote following a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year which defined “woman” in law as biological sex.
She argued that women remained underrepresented in the party and said quotas should not include trans women.
“Would be unlawful” – Dr Zoe Hollowood on her view that trans women should not be treated the same as women assigned female at birth
At the conference, she told members: “Returning males into vacancies expressly reserved for females would be unlawful.”
Her proposal was opposed by Lucas North (they/them), treasurer of LGBTQ+ Liberal Democrats, who said: “The motion in front of us is a sham. It misrepresents the legal position, it runs contrary to our values, it seeks to put us at odds with our longstanding support for LGBT+ people.
“It’s better to ditch the motion entirely, rather than use conference to legitimise bigotry in the name of a small and extremist faction.”
Members agreed with North by a margin of two to one, voting to move on to the next topic of business, which meant Hollowood’s proposal was not debated.
Hollowood continued to argue that shutting down opposing views threatened free speech, citing the arrest of transphobic writer Graham Linehan.
Her comments were not received well from members, and she was told to “settle down” by the chair.
“Both sides of the argument were heard” – Sir Ed Davey on how the Liberal Democrats have addressed the trans rights debate
The Liberal Democrats have long presented themselves as strong supporters of LGBTQ+ rights, having campaigned for same-sex marriage and greater protections for trans people.
Party policy has included allowing the Church of England to conduct same-sex marriages if it chooses, ending LGBTQ+ conversion therapy, and extending the NHS Memorandum of Understanding to cover trans individuals.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg after the vote, party leader Sir Ed Davey dismissed claims the party was avoiding the issue of trans identities.
“Well we’re not,” he said. “We had a really thoughtful debate around trans issues at our spring conference this year, where both sides of the argument were heard.”