Labour Women’s Declaration publishes videos of its public meeting during Labour conference  
“Sex Matters in a Sexist Society: speaking out for women’s sex-based rights in sport, legislation, policy – and the Labour Party”
Labour Women’s Declaration has called for Keir Starmer to meet for talks urgently, as the row over Labour’s muddled policies on women’s rights and gender self-ID intensified.

LWD held a packed public meeting during the conference in Brighton about fairness in sport. The day after conference saw the publication of a report on transgender inclusion in sports by the Sports Councils’ Equality Group (SCEG). Videos released today on the LWD YouTube channel give the public a chance to see inside last week’s event in Brighton, which had to be organised under a cloak of secrecy due to security concerns.
The SCEG report rejected the automatic inclusion of people born male in women’s competitions, finding that “for many sports, the inclusion of transgender people, fairness and safety cannot co-exist in a single competitive model.”
Labour Women’s Declaration points out that the conclusions drawn by SCEG were in line with speakers at their unofficial fringe meeting at Labour conference, and at odds with the Labour front bench, who have been tying themselves in knots on this subject.
Shadow Justice Secretary David Lammy has faced ridicule after claiming that men can have a cervix created by surgery and hormones, and describing women expressing their concerns over Labour’s policy of self-ID as ‘dinosaurs’ who are ‘hoarding their rights’. Keir Starmer, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves and shadow sports minister Alison McGovern also struggled to answer media questions on Labour’s policy. 
Speaking at the LWD event, Tonia Antoniazzi, Labour MP and former Welsh women’s rugby international, revealed that her views on this topic have the silent backing of at least 20 Labour MPs, adding:
“There is no way that it is fair for a male-bodied person to be on a sports pitch with a woman in a contact sport.
“I don’t want to call it a trans debate because for me it’s a matter of fairness and equality and we have to be able to talk about our concerns.
“I’ve got colleagues that have been pilloried… bullied because of liking things on twitter. 
“The real world is not twitter. Politics is not twitter. In real life, if people have concerns they should be able to speak about them.  
“There is not space in the party currently to be able to have that conversation.”
Today’s statement from LWD also echoes the frustration at the lack of engagement on this topic expressed by MP Rosie Duffield, a surprise guest at the meeting, who said:
“I genuinely did want to give Keir a chance. I met with him finally, after asking for months and months just to discuss this. He still hasn’t met with or even read any of the material from Labour Women’s Declaration as far as I know.
“It’s about time we started to listen to women. And if we want the votes of women, we have to listen to women from this second, not just two seconds before the election when we realise that, actually, this means something.”
In its statement, LWD said: “When will the Labour leadership respond to our repeated offers of a meeting? The Labour front bench are way behind the curve on the conflict of rights between self-ID and single-sex spaces. They are the dinosaurs here.
“We say to Keir Starmer – we can help you. Even if you disagree with us, at least have a robust conversation. Currently, every time a journalist interviews your shadow cabinet they are revealing their ignorance and making fools of themselves. 
“The Sports Councils, over 18 months, did their homework. Labour needs to give women’s rights the same serious time and attention. Because women have met with abuse within the party for raising this issue, the conversation within the party has hardly begun. We join Keir in calling for more light. Once the effective ban on women speaking up is lifted, the light can be shone. SCEG managed it, now it’s Labour’s turn.  
“We urgently need a Labour government. But women won’t vote for a party which doesn’t know what a woman is.”
Videos of the speeches at the meeting, including from MPs Tonia Antoniazzi, Rosie Duffield and a message of support from Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEcNRtqbw9qpQmfmSootzgzv6y5CFr0ot
SCEG report:
https://www.sportengland.org/news/new-guidance-transgender-inclusion-domestic-sport-published
Elite athlete Mara Yamauchi speaks on Radio 5 Live on the need for sex based rights in the wake of the sentencing of the murderer of Sarah Everard:
From 1:08:00 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001002y