The motion related to barring trans women from ‘taking’ women’s roles
A proposed constitutional amendment that would have barred trans women from standing in roles reserved for women was not put to a vote at the Liberal Democrats’ autumn conference this morning.
The amendment (F4), put forward by Liberal Voice for Women, sought to change the Liberal Democrats’ Federal Constitution so that gender quotas would be based on biological sex rather than self-identification.
It comes after the UK Supreme Court ruling in April that the use of ‘man’, ‘woman’, and ‘sex’ under the Equality Act were ‘always intended’ to refer only to ‘biological sex’.
There was vote on whether discussion of the amendment should be skipped, which passed, meaning no debate or change to the quota will take place.
Several MPs briefly left the conference hall after opening speeches by Mid Dorset and North Poole MP Vikki Slade and Lib Dem council leader Millie Earl, before being told they might be needed to vote against the amendment.
They returned shortly afterwards, but then received a text saying they didn’t need to vote.
Speaking to Left Foot Forward afterwards, Lib Dem MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole Vikki Slade confirmed that a vote hadn’t been called in the end.
Slade said: “It’s a good thing as far as I’m concerned, we didn’t need that kind of drama this early in the morning.”
Following the supreme court ruling earlier this year, Davey reaffirmed his belief that trans women are women and trans men are men.
However, he didn’t voice unequivocal support for the right of trans people to use facilities that correspond with their gender identity.
In an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Thursday, Davey described transgender rights as “a difficult issue,” while stressing that the Gender Recognition Act has allowed people to legally change their gender for 20 years and that “the law is very clear.”
A Lib Dem councillor said that fundamentally the Liberal party believes in “freedom of speech and expression”, and therefore it should be able to be debated, “but we don’t seem to be mature enough to have that debate”.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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