Are the Greens more interested in trans rights than saving the planet?

July 2023 could soon be declared as the hottest month on record. Few doubt that climate change is real and that it is in our interest to do something about it. So, of all the parties competing for votes next year, you might imagine that the Green party of England and Wales would be single-minded in the goal of championing planet-saving research and promoting ways in which we can all do our bit. This is a golden chance for the party to welcome anyone who shares those objectives.

Alas not. The Greens have swallowed transgender ideology, and purged dissenters with enthusiasm. Deputy leader Zack Polanski has suggested that anyone who takes a contrary view to the party’s policies on trans rights – specifically those members who claim that trans women are men and trans men are women – should not have a place in the Greens. He is unequivocal:

‘I’m really clear that if you want to misgender someone then that is transphobic, and transphobia is not welcome in the Green party.’

Zack Polanski

No one, it seems, is safe in the Green party if they don’t toe the line on gender. Emma Bateman, the ex co-chair of the party’s women’s committee, is one of those who have fallen foul of the Green party’s trans police. According to Bateman, her decision to question whether trans women are female has landed her in hot water – and led to her ultimately being given the boot.

Bateman told The Spectator that, after being suspended several times, the party expelled her in January 2023. She has appealed a second time, but she is realistic in her expectations. She told me:

‘I expect that if my appeal succeeds, and I am un-expelled … there will be other complaints in the queue that will be swiftly be acted upon.’

Emma Bateman

Few would criticise Bateman for walking away, but she is a campaigner with principles. Today* she has put her name to the newly-launched, Green Declaration for Women’s Sex Based Rights. She is not alone in sticking her head above the parapet, risking the wrath of Polanski and his acolytes.

Alison Teal, former Green Sheffield councillor, who is currently on a ‘No Fault Suspension’ from the Greens said: ‘The systemic harassment, discrimination and silencing of advocates for women’s rights within the Party, including via the complaints system, and on social media, is deeply concerning.’

Imogen Makepeace, a Lewes District Green party councillor echoed that view: ‘Committed GPEW members, like Alison Teal and Emma Bateman, passionate and dedicated to action on climate change, are being all too frequently disenfranchised from their party. This is a bizarre, Kafkaesque situation in what’s supposed to be an open and democratic party.’

So, what is in this declaration? The authors explained that it came in the wake of the Labour Women’s Declaration. Both documents are plain common-sense statements that everyone once took to be self-evident. Maybe they still do, but too few have been willing to risk opprobrium and make it clear that women and girls are subject to discrimination and oppression on the basis of their sex. That is the reason why sex is a protected characteristic in law. The Green Declaration rightly declares that women and girls have the right to organise themselves, as a sex, across a range of cultural, leisure, sporting, educational and political activities. The declaration adds,

‘Women and girls have the right to discuss policies which affect them, without being abused, harassed or intimidated. We reject all attempts to undermine or limit the rights of women to self-organise and we call on, and expect, the [Green party of England and Wales] and the wider green movement to actively support these essential freedoms.’

Green Women’s Declaration

Well said! The Greens were already on notice that the women are not going away. Bateman is taking the Green party of England and Wales to court over her treatment she has suffered. Legal action has also been launched by Shahrar Ali, a former deputy leader of the Green party, and Dawn Furness, co-chair of the party’s women’s committee.

The Greens need to wake up to reality – and quickly. Let’s hope that sense prevails, and the Greens stop going after women and get back to protecting the environment.

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Debbie Hayton is a teacher and journalist.

* This article was first published by The Spectator on 4 August 2023: Are the Greens more interested in trans rights than saving the planet?