Election candidates who hold ‘militant views’ on trans rights ‘named and shamed’ by women’s group

A women’s group has named election candidates who have expressed “militant” views on trans rights.

The grassroots campaign, What Is A Woman, said the House of Commons elected next week will contain more MPs with extreme views who cannot be relied upon to stand up for women.

One candidate has suggested that asking for care on an NHS ward by someone of the same sex can be “malign”, while another opposed barring a trans woman to a single-sex ward for females.

Another dismissed fears about puberty blockers, saying they had a “minimal impact on health”, and a candidate said they would address people who failed to use the pronouns a trans person identifies with as “pig d***”.

Others said asking the question “what is a woman?” was a “transphobic whistle”, while others criticised the recent Cass review into gender medicine.

The comments have been uploaded to the What Is A Woman website, launched last year to allow constituents to find candidates’ views on trans rights and women’s rights.

The site, which has the backing of former swimmer Sharon Davies, enables voters to find out whether their next MP thinks women must be born female and that biological sex cannot be changed, or whether they believe male-born transgender women are women too.

A spokesperson for What Is A Woman said: “We are inundated daily by voters wanting to know if their future MP will stand up for women.

“The next Parliament will be made up of lawmakers who hold more militant views on these issues than ever before.”

The site includes examples of candidates in winnable seats, such as John Munro, the Liberal Democrat candidate standing against Defence Secretary Grant Shapps in Welwyn Hatfield.

He wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “By the by, on the trans/pronouns thing... why can’t folk just be kind enough to address someone in the way they’ve asked to be addressed?

“If you refuse, and I happen to meet/know you, I’m going to call you ‘pig d***’ in place of your name...”

At a hustings event, the Lib Dems’ Surrey Heath candidate Alasdair Pinkerton asked what was his message for women who wanted single-sex services, sports and care.

He replied: “When this question is asked sometimes the question is good and sometimes the question is malign,” before going on to say trans people had always existed.

Oliver Walters, the Lib Dem candidate in Poole, said: “Transgender men are men and transgender women are women… I would not seek to separate trans women from women in hospital wards unless there was a legitimate safekeeping reason”.

Alistair Cameron, the Lib Dem candidate for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire said he believed puberty blockers had a “minimal impact on health”.

In response to a question from a voter, he said: “With regards to puberty blockers, I would always be guided by the research on their impact on health.

“Having done a little reading, I understand that they have a minimal impact on health (eg lower bone density which can be minimised by taking calcium and vitamin D).

“With this in mind, I would vote against continuing the ban on them for under-18s. However, I would always wish to look at the latest medical evidence on this.”

Ani Stafford-Townsend, the Green Party candidate in Bristol East, said that merely asking what a woman was is “transphobic”.

“What is a woman?” is never asked in good faith, it’s always a transphobic whistle,” she tweeted. She added that it was a “terrifying question”.

Emily Darlington, Labour candidate for Milton Keynes Central, said in 2018 that she believed self-identification should be brought in.

“Out of touch to suggest that Labour women will resign over trans women standing for all-women shortlists. To be clear I will not resign because I recognise self-identification.”

Similarly, the Labour candidate for Gedling, Michael Payne, said: “Trans rights are human rights; trans women are women; trans men are men; non-binary identities are valid; trans people have a right to self-identification.”

The Greens’ candidate in Brighton Pavillion, Sian Berry, said rewriting the Equality Act to protect women’s safe spaces would “gravely undermine trans people’s rights”.

“On the Equality Act, my view is that changing the law so that ‘sex’ is defined as ‘biological sex’ for the purposes of the Equality Act would gravely undermine trans people’s rights, including to go about their lives in privacy and dignity.

“Trans people are often subject to serious employment or other discrimination, and to ridicule, harassment and hate crime. It is vital that there are proper mechanisms to protect a trans person’s privacy should they want or need it.”

Last year Matthew Turmaine, now Labour candidate for Watford, supported the adoption of a definition of transphobia as part of a process to “repair the damage done between the Labour Party and the trans community”.

Neil Duncan-Jordan, Labour’s candidate in Poole, said he “did not support the wholesale introduction of the Cass report”, even though that is his party’s policy, and said, “trans people should not be banned from public spaces”.

It comes after JK Rowling accused Labour of “abandoning” women, saying she would struggle to vote for a party which was “dismissive” and often “offensive” towards them.

Sir Keir Starmer, who had previously criticised a fellow Labour MP for saying only women have a cervix, insisted he was “very proud” of his party’s record on women.