It's not about whether that's the case, it's the fact that that is an established dog-whistle for transphobia. And don't pretend you don't know that, your innocence act is deeply unconvincing.

Your account is literally called "Sex Matters"!

I haven't labelled anything as bigotry in this entire dialogue.

Please just consider you might be being fed scare stories by malign groups determined to sow discord. You don't have all these talking points to hand by accident. Your scare story is baseless and I'd really like you to acknowledge that.

You were NOT talking about FGM. Perhaps if you thought deeper you'd recognise that you'd made a baseless statement.

No aggression here, even in response to your deliberately condescending piety. I ask for a third time why you claimed trans adolescents were having gender-affirming surgery when it has never happened, and is not permitted, in the UK. Do you have an answer, other than you were misinformed?

Oh, I see you've deleted the post where you made that false claim to try to weasel out of it. How loving. How decent.

You didn't answer my question. Why are you talking about gender affirming surgery for adolescents when such surgery has never been allowed in the UK? From where are you getting fed your talking points? Instead of this pious act of loving hate, perhaps you should interrogate your sources better.

Then why are you referring to gender-affirming surgery as capitalist, when it's provided on the NHS? And indeed it's always been entirely prohibited for adolescents, so why are you lying about that? Do you find you have to embellish things like this to make your points? Why do you think that is?

What country do you live in?

As a reminder, while there’s no Strasbourg case law on toilets, there are two on hospital wards and similar settings: the case of Goodwin, and the case of “I”.

This is legally unachievable.

LGBT+ Lib Dems would be screaming from the roof tops if this had happened in the Lib Dems

Around July 2023, endorsing Scottish Labour policy at that time of removing medical diagnosis from the requirements for a GRC, in contrast to UK Labour which had just announced they would retain the medical diagnosis requirement in their GRC reforms.

The past is another country, as they say.

LGBT Labour Scotland is an official, affiliated society of Scottish Labour, but it appears not to have made any public statements or held meetings or elections since 2023. Can anyone shed any light on who if anyone is now in charge of this organisation, or if it has in fact been quietly closed down?

Addendum:

Bottom line: no part of the democratic policymaking function of the Scottish Labour Party appears to have been involved in writing the transphobic policy announced today. The party's ruling body, Scottish Conference, explicitly voted against it last year. The leadership did this without a mandate.

Ultimately the manifesto is finalised and approved in a "Clause V meeting", which includes SPF representatives but is dominated by the party leadership. It is not meant to be possible for a policy that has neither been approved by Conference nor developed by the SPF to be included in the manifesto.

The only trans-related question the consultation actually asked was how the wide disparities in health outcomes experienced by marginalised women, explicitly including LGBTI+ women, could be addressed. To our knowledge zero consultation responses asked for the transphobic policies published today.

The most recent instance is the 2024 Scottish Policy Forum, which reported in early 2026 in order to feed into the manifesto writing process. In no part of that consultation was there any mention whatsoever of the transphobic policies announced today. People simply weren't consulted on them at all.

In its present form delegates are elected by members and affiliates and construct a policy framework which is then used to consult with both the wider membership and civic society. Enormous, mostly voluntary, effort is put in to gathering and collating responses, and constructing resulting policy.

Further to the earlier thread detailing how transphobic policy was put into Scottish Labour's manifesto despite Scottish Conference voting it down, it's worth noting that Scottish Labour's key policy development body is the Scottish Policy Forum, convened for two years every parliamentary session.

With enormous regret, SLAB is today advising supporters not to vote for ANY Scottish Labour candidate in this election. There are several pro-trans Labour candidates standing on 7 May, but a vote for them would now sadly be an endorsement of explicit transphobia. #NoVotesLabourInMay #TransRightsNow

The adoption of this policy, alongside other transphobic policies on the NHS and prison service which directly contradict expert advice in these areas and will cause serious harm, means anyone who supports trans people's rights cannot in good conscience vote for Scottish Labour candidates on 7 May.

Not only is this a betrayal of young trans people in Scotland, and the commitment to LGBT equality for which Scottish Labour has stood since it faced down public opinion to repeal Section 28 as one of its first acts in government in 2000, it is also a betrayal of Scottish Labour members' wishes.

At Scottish Labour Conference in Feb 2025, a leadership-backed motion to adopt a transphobic policy on single-sex spaces in schools was defeated. Party members and affiliates voted it down.

Today Scottish Labour's leadership put that transphobic policy into its manifesto for May's election anyway.

Good to see moral clarity and decency from LGBT and women's groups within the Green Party, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP.

Damning that LGBT Labour has once again left @georgiameadows.bsky.social to stand alone against transphobia. Self-serving cowardice which shames the entire Labour movement.

Keeping children safe in education: proposed revisions 2026 We are seeking views on proposed changes to the statutory guidance 'Keeping children safe in education' with a view to making changes for September 2026.

The consultation on these guidelines is now open, although there appears to be a problem for some people when they try to complete it. But do please try.

Some folk are comforting themselves that Labour's draft school guidance is a slight improvement over the Tories' original draft, but as it stands it remains incredibly damaging to trans kids' lives and life chances. This thread sets it out starkly.