how the code of conduct is weaponised to purge the party and shut down debate

Following attempts at three successive conferences to define ‘transphobia’, a seven pages long LGBTIQA+ Greens “Guidance to Identify Queerphobia” inspired by Trans actual  is now embedded in the Code of Conduct of the Green Party of England and Wales.  

As stated in the Synopsis of Motion D07 submitted at the 2022 Spring Conference – recorded as “not debated” by the Standing Orders Committee (SOC) – the purpose of the Guidance was to “enable party bodies to refer to that definition”.

Although not approved by Conference, the LGBTIQA+ Greens ‘ Guidance’ has quietly been added to the Framework for Ethics and Conduct by the Green Party Regional Council (GPRC) with support from former co-chairs Martha James and Adrian Spurrell in July 2023.

The document has since been widely used by identinarian zealots who control the Disciplinary Committee (DC), GPRC and members of the Appeals Panel when considering formal complaints with allegations of transphobia.

Unknown to the vast majority of members of the party and as a reminder, the concept of Self-Identification for Transgender people was approved at the 2021 GPEW Spring Conference by 281 out of 493 members; that is passed with a majority of 69 members.

With Stonewall’s definition of Queerphobia now being part of the Code of Conduct added to the concept of self-ID now both embedded within the instruments of governance and disciplinary process, the “ capture “ of the Green Party by the most extreme transactivist identinarians would appear to be almost complete.

In practical terms, what this means is that any member of the party who takes the view that sex is biological and immutable, that “there may be a conflict between the human rights of the LGBTIQA+ community and those of any other group” (meaning biological women), or who may omits a pronoun that affirms someone’s chosen gender identity will be deemed to be in breach of the Code of Conduct.

Favoured sanctions for such breaches as evidenced from social media or in person applied by members of the DC or GPRC, as shown in recent cases, are short or very long term suspension during which members – including elected councillors – are barred from holding posts of responsibility for a number of years or expelled.

Sadly, the weaponisation of the Green Party’s Code of Conduct by LGBTIQA+ Greens transactivists and gender ideology zealots over the past 5 to 7 years has lost some of the party’s most committed and experienced members.

How long this intolerable situation will last will depend mainly on external factors such as government legislation to amend the Equality Act to confirm that “sex” as a Protected Characteristic is meant to be biological sex, but also on the outcome of Court cases against the Party and how many local parties are considering reclaiming their autonomous status.

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