Mick Hartley

The LGB Alliance managed to get a stall at the Conservative Party Conference, but that brief victory was unfortunately overshadowed by Carrie Johnson's contribution, when she revealed herself to be fully on board with the Stonewall ideology. Which could be a problem given the influence that she seems to have with Boris.

Kate Harris, LGB Alliance director, is interviewed at spiked:

Harris: People like me built up a huge reputation for Stonewall. It became like a kite mark. If Stonewall approved of something, it was good, progressive and fact-based. So I can understand why some people continue to think that if Stonewall says something’s okay, it’s okay. But Stonewall really should have changed its name when it changed direction in 2015. It’s now focused on gender-identity theory, which is quite different from our focus at the LGB Alliance. Our goals are about lesbian, gay and bisexual rights, as well as freedom of speech and ensuring that we make links with people who disagree with us.

When people say there is no ‘LGB’ without the ‘T’, they should look at the history of gay rights. Stonewall was a gay-rights movement until 2015. After that, I and other ex-trustees of Stonewall became worried that it was going off-piste. It was awful, because we had all come from Stonewall. We had all given our blood, sweat and tears to it. We felt we couldn’t criticise it because we had made it. We didn’t know what to do. 

Stonewall, however – having realised its goal of gay liberation – decided to rebrand itself as a trans organisation committed to gender ideology. With, it has to be said, remarkable success. People believed it was still the same old Stonewall, fighting the same old progressive fight – but it wasn't. It had performed a quick 180 degree flip. Which is why people like Kate Harris here decided to break away and form the LGB Alliance.

spiked: Keir Starmer claimed during the Labour conference that it is ‘wrong’ to say only women have a cervix. How do you respond to that?

Harris: With a mix of incredulity and anger. How can a grown man say that? And not only a grown man but also a knight of the realm who was director of public prosecutions.

Various people are being forced to squirm when answering the cervix question. Does it show that they are cowards? Possibly. Does it show that they are so uninterested in what they think are ‘women’s issues’ that they haven’t bothered to look into it? I suspect so.

There is a public-health scandal going on. It’s all very well for Sajid Javid to say that Keir Starmer shouldn’t run the NHS while denying that only women have a cervix, but the government should look at what the NHS is doing on its watch. The NHS is putting out the most dreadful information to children, for instance.

spiked: What do you make of the rise of ‘trans-inclusive’ language? What does it tell us that some institutions are now referring to women as ‘bodies with vaginas’?

Harris: It shows how successful gender-identity ideology has been. At its very heart is misogyny. It’s so regressive, so misogynistic and so homophobic. It reinforces all the old stereotypes that we thought had gone. The insult ‘TERF’ gives men the perfect opportunity to let out their hatred of women. This is the real danger – that it gives them a free pass. ‘You’re a transphobe’ covers more or less any woman in the UK who decides to speak up.

We want every single child to grow up being what he or she wants to be, not tied down by pink or blue gender roles. I have fought for 50 years for people’s right to do what they want. Wear a dress! Call yourself Ariadne! But don’t say you are a woman. And don’t say that I am transphobic if I don’t want to have sex with you because you’re a man with a penis wearing a dress.

Yes, we've now reached a position where gender stereotypes – blue or pink, playing with cars or playing with dolls – are presumed to represent a real and profound glimpse into someone's innermost identity, while biological sex doesn't really exist. Strange times…