April 6, 2021 - 2:12pm
LGBT+ Labour might be a fringe group in the minds of traditional Labour voters but they have the power to extract a grovelling apology from Keir Starmer.
On Good Friday, the Labour leader visited Jesus House for All the Nations church in North London. The senior pastor, Agu Irukwu, is a controversial figure for having spoken out against equality legislation and equal marriage, and his church has connections to conversion therapy. Nevertheless, the good works of the church in other departments have attracted visits from both Boris Johnson and the Prince of Wales in recent weeks.
Unfortunately for Starmer, however, he fell afoul of the LGBT+ lobby, which deemed his visit ‘unacceptable’. Following his visit, the lobby demanded that Starmer delete the video, apologise publicly (both of which he did), and attend an LGBT+ meeting this week.
I don’t agree with Pastor Irukwu on gay rights either, but he has a right to hold his views. If LGBT+ Labour really cared about LGBT rights, they may wish to consider engaging with the leadership and congregations of churches with traditional views. Because while LGBT rights are largely secured in the UK at least, attitudes are still mixed. Changing people’s minds through persuasion — rather than shunning them wholesale — is a more effective approach to achieving this goal.
However, this lobby has moved on from securing our own rights to trampling over the rights of others. Immediately after Starmer apologised, calls went out once again to remove the party whip from Rosie Duffield, Labour MP for Canterbury who was accused of transphobia last summer when she declared that “only women have a cervix.”
Hiding under the glitter and sparkles of the LGBT+ rainbow lies a misogynistic campaign to dismantle the rights of women. It took only six minutes for Panny Antoniou (pronouns he/him) — co chair of Open Labour — to launch his salvo: “This is a good start. Now can we tackle transphobia in the party? You can start by removing the whip from Rosie Duffield”.
Grovelling apologies are not the answer. Starmer’s tweet pandered to the extremists who replied with condescension: ‘We are pleased that you have recognised and apologised for this mistake’.
If Starmer does not take on the LGBT lobby, it will end up tearing the Labour party apart. Rosie Duffield is not an outlier: the public knows the difference between men and women.
Now is the time for decisive leadership. A generation ago, Neil Kinnock had the guts to take on the Militant tendency that was eating the 1980s Labour Party from the inside. Keir Starmer would be wise to follow Kinnock’s example. The alternative, like then, is political oblivion for his party.
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SubscribeFollowing his visit, the lobby demanded that Starmer delete the video, apologise publicly (both of which he did), and attend an LGBT+ meeting this week.
So he had to kiss the ring, and what did he win by appeasement? Apparently, the face of totalitarianism has a rainbow tint. At some point, this group will have to confront the contradictions within: gay and trans rights are in fundamental conflict. So are feminism and trans rights.
When you tell a gay man he’s “phobic” for not wanting a relationship with a biological woman, you are demanding that he deny who he is. And you are doing it for the most selfish of reasons. When you scream at a woman who says “only women have periods,” same thing.
So political oblivion it is then.
Indeed. Welcome to Hartlepool, Sir Keir.
I volunteered at the food bank that is based at Jesus’ House for months and was totally unaware of this ‘issue’ until it came out. The people there are socially aware and generous, allowing their premises to be used for a wide range of community activities. I was not once asked about my sexuality and only ever treated politely as a (white) visitor.
It’s a tragedy that the only (credible) political opposition party we have is in the process of being taken over by this twisted and bigoted minority, leaving the rest of us to have little alternative to vote for Boris who would be far from my ideal choice.
Its time for Starmer to apologise for the apology, he could even do it on both knees
Wait till you get canceled and lose your job for saying marriage to your sex doll should be outlawed. Give it a few years and it will be, cannot discriminate against any for their sex preferences.
They call it kink shaming, there’s no perversion so perverse that the post modernists wont champion it.
Coming soon to a marxist / feminist rally near you, reduction of the age of consent and adolesent “sex workers”
https://gript.ie/allow-children-as-young-as-10-to-consent-to-sex-lgbt-ngo/
Also do some people get sent a daily email telling them what is the new attitude today or word of the day since they seem to understand what they are saying even if noone else does?
But he won’t
If it helps, Screwfix sell quite a good set of kneepads.
I think with Militant Tendency, there was an effective counter-narrative: “We’re left wing, but They are the bad guys – they are revolutionary Communists who take their cue from the Kremlin.” I think the Anglosphere nations lack an effective counter-narrative to ‘cultural Marxism’ in its various manifestations. In France they can make efforts against ‘American’ ideology; in the ex-Communist nations they can identify it with the tyranny they escaped from. We don’t even have a language barrier to shield us, and the USA still has a huge amount of prestige here, so our UK academics & journalists continue to look West for what to think – for validation.
Militant Tendencies Morphed into Momentum! Look it up, it is the same group, same Trots, slightly different name. How could you not mention this? Through the magic of ‘Entryism’, that Trot miracle, the Commies hoild the Unions, Labour, education, even the National Trust, BBC, Museums, and so many vital parts that the Nation is to be reduced to the rich masters (whom the trots actually serve) and the poor.
I’m not a god bothered in any way, I take science over religion any time. But most books of nonsense from whatever religious cult have a fairly negative view of homosexuality (and indeed all sorts of things that are normal – should I stop wearing polycotton because of the Bible’s abhorrence of those that wear mixed fibres?). So surely the LBGT+ activists should be calling out all places of worship that are not positive about homosexuality rather than just this church. Islam doesn’t appear positive, but this intolerance is tolerated (for a greater good?), Mormon’s aren’t positive, but again aren’t called out.
I would agree that they should all be called out. The harm done by religious belief and religious organisations continues to be immense, though I am glad to see that religious belief is steadily declining in this country. But it is essential to maintain the pressure. ALWAYS push back against religiously-inspired nonsense.
xx = xy science or religion?
No matter what you think of religious organizations, they are no longer able to dictate public policy in these matters. We must not allow unelected, so-called “LGBT+” organizations to do so instead.
Debbie, you wrote ‘ his church has connections to conversion therapy’: what do you mean by that term and what is your evidence? The Pastor explained in an interview yesterday that they do not engage in conversion therapy.
I like your honest articles but is this particular assertion simply repeating the unevidenced assertions of others?
That’s all very well, but it’s the LGTB&Q mob you have to worry about. They once came round to my house when I was away and made some rather effete home improvements.
I was phoned yesterday by islington council (labour) to ask about my experience of a recent repair of a blocked sink. He asked for Mr..F…. and I replied yes thats me. Questions about the quality of the repair, the timings, was the tradesman polite etc. He then finished by asking me my gender ?
The gender-deluded are in charge, and you too must take the knee to the Emperor’s New Gender.
Those who take the knee are themselves deluded if they think this will satisfy the emperor. They must prostate themselves and make it clear that they share his/her delusion. This is exactly what Max Headroom, most of his shadow cabinet and a substantial portion of the political and media classes have done.
Panny Antoniou (pronouns he/him)
Why are they always so obvious? I would like to add a bit of mystery by having:
George Bruce (pronouns he/her)
Or me/my. That would make canceling someone so much harder as you couldn’t tell them anything while respecting their pronouns.
This is yet another group that demands special treatment, and is willing to trample others to get it. “LGBT Rights” are that YOU change YOUR way of thinking. All people already have equal protection under the law, but their definition of “Equality” is that you capitulate your opinion. This is a group that DEMANDS that they are right and anyone else is wrong (and needs to apologize for a differing opinion). ‘We are pleased that you have recognised and apologised for this mistake’. Like the term “racist”, “transphobia” is thrown around as a blacklisting if you do not repent. While most people accept that ALL people have worth, to this community of people, you have NO worth unless you ACCEPT THEIR MORALITY (is this not a forced religion?) So much for “diversity” of thought.
Why should I tolerate such dismissive treatment?
Give an inch, they want a mile. You cannot apologize. He had nothing to apologize.
“Penny Antoniou (pronouns he/him)”: does the author mean that this person is a woman pretending tp be a bloke?
A man with a v a gina maybe?
Sir Kneel’s voters diminishing by the cart load with every day that passes.
That reminds me of a taunt aimed at Neil Kinnock once (or more times I expect), it went something like ‘… the unions will say Neil, and he will and he will …’
The issue is not only tearing apart the Labour party, it is tearing the Church of England apart. I sent a piece on this to Unherd, but they chose not to publish it, not sure why.
It’s a pity as I’d really like to get feedback from Unherd’s constituency of readers. Any suggestions?
Please everyone, do some open-minded research on conversion therapy. It’s so easy to be an Animal Farm sheep and chorus “Four legs good, two legs bad!” Mistakes have been made, but that’s not the whole story and I urge you to visit the Core Issues Trust to hear a different view. For myself, I find the prospect of counsellors being forbidden to discuss a topic of concern to their patients terrifyingly dystopian.
Think about it. Do you want to live in a world where your therapist will be committing a crime if they allow you to speak to them at all about your deepest longings, hopes and dreams? I certainly don’t.
Starmer has my sympathy; women are terrified to walk home because they are afraid of men, but his party wants to make it illegal for them to refuse men access to their “safe” places once they get there.
Can’t be easy!