Rosie Duffield commends ‘great’ Labour move to roll back trans rights promise
Labour MP Rosie Duffield has welcomed the party’s new policy on reforming the Gender Recognition Act (GRA), which sees it U-turn on commitments for trans people to be able to self-ID.
Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme on Tuesday morning (25 July), alongside trans Liberal Democrat councillor Helen Belcher, the gender-critical MP said she believed Labour is “going in the right direction” and is now just agreeing with what she and others who hold the same views have “been saying for the [past] few years”.
The MP, who has held her Canterbury seat since 2017, said: “It seems to me that Labour have come a long way, perhaps Keir has been on a journey.”
Duffield added that it was “great” that the Labour Party was going in that direction.
Rosie Duffield praises Starmer for going 'on a journey' on trans rights pic.twitter.com/XJ7dUXfAxN
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Belcher, however, described it as a “backwards step”, noting the Conservatives have made a similar move.
Labour’s policy on reforming the GRA was announced in The Guardian, in a column penned by shadow women and equalities secretary Anneliese Dodds.
The column, which was quickly criticised by LGBTQ+ activists and groups for breaking key promises to the trans community, laid out Labour’s plans to “modernise, simplify and reform” the GRA by removing the “invasive bureaucracy and simplify the process”.
Dodds said Labour’s vision of reform would keep the “medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria” as an “important” part of obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate – officially confirming the party no longer supports self-ID.
She added that Labour would also remove the panel of “anonymous doctors” who decide on the process, based on “reams of intrusive medical paperwork and evidence of any surgery”. Instead, diagnosis of gender dysphoria by one doctor with a registrar would “be enough”.
This marks a significant change to Labour policy, where, in 2020, the opposition said it was “committed to equality” and fully supported “updating the GRA to introduce self-declaration for trans people”.
Anneliese Dodds made it clear that Labour no longer supports self-ID for trans people. (Credit: Getty)
Commenting on the changes to Labour policy, Rosie Duffield said she was “really glad” the move away from self-ID has been announced, adding that it was the “core thing” so-called gender-critical feminists on “[her] side of the argument wanted to stop”.