Labour suspends male activist after identifying as a woman ‘on Wednesdays’
David Lewis attempted to expose flaws in the party's policy of allowing self-identifying trans women to stand on all-women shortlists
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Your support makes all the difference.A male Labour activist has been suspended following an attempt to expose flaws in the party’s policy of allowing self-identifying trans women to stand on all-women shortlists.
David Lewis, who said he planned to stand for a women’s officer position in Basingstoke, claimed he identified as woman “on Wednesdays, between 6.50am when my alarm goes off and around midnight when I go to bed”.
It follows a decision by the party’s National Executive Committee to renew Labour’s commitment to transgender rights in its rule book and continue to allow self-identifying trans women to be eligible to stand on all-women shortlists.
The 45-year-old told the Spectator his application had been accepted by his local party in Basingstoke under the party’s guidelines on self-identification.
“My womanness is expressed by my saying ‘I self identify as a woman’ now and again on Wednesdays,” he added. “I make no changes in my behaviour or my appearance. I keep my name, David and my male pronouns.
“I wear the same sort of clothes I wear the rest of the week. I keep my beard. I enjoy the full womanness of my beard.”
Mr Lewis added he was standing as a candidate to inform his Constituency Labour Party (CLP) about “what the policy means” and “about what happens when you say that someone’s gender depends only on what they say and nothing else”.
He continued: “Anyone else’s criticism or questions about my gender identity are just not relevant to the Labour party at the moment, given the current policy. If I say I’m a woman, I’m a woman.”
But Mr Lewis was swiftly suspended by the Labour party – pending an investigation – and has been told he will not be permitted to stand as a candidate for women’s officer at his CLP.
“The Labour party is committed to upholding the principle of affirmative action for women,” a Labour party spokesperson told The Independent.
“Anyone attempting to breach the Labour party rules and subvert the intention of all women shortlists, women’s officers or minimum quotas for women will be dealt with via our established safeguards, selection procedures and disciplinary measures.”
Heather Peto, a trans woman who was selected by her local party in Rushcliffe and Melton to be on the all-women shortlist last year, said: “Labour’s complaint procedure keeps getting brought into disrepute. Today it is a person who is trying to undermine the party’s trans-inclusive policy by pretending to be a woman for the day.”
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