Liverpool mayor passes ‘trans women are women’ motion, despite anti-trans resistance

After an anti-trans billboard and “women don’t have penises” stickers were put up in Liverpool, the city’s council has approved a motion in support of trans people—with mayor Joe Anderson defiantly showing solidarity with the trans community.

The cross-party motion was unanimously passed on Wednesday night (September 19), which states that the council believes “TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN” and that “there is no place in our city for hatred and bigotry.”

It proposes five points of action, including that the city’s street cleaners continue to any remove anti-trans stickers seen around the Liverpool and that, on a scheduled weekend, for the town hall—and, where possible, other public buildings—to be lit up in the trans colours of blue, white and pink.

The “Standing With Our Trans Community” motion also requests that the council’s planning officers “actively encourage” developers and businesses to include individual gender-neutral toilets in public buildings.

It comes after a billboard, paid for by supporters of anti-trans group Standing For Women, was put up in Gredington Street in the Dingle area of the city on September 14.

Standing For Women regularly posts transphobic content on social media and opposes the government’s proposed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act 2004, which is currently out for consultation.

The government has said it wants to de-medicalise the process to legally change genders, moving towards self-identification, which is used in other countries like the Republic of Ireland.

The installation of the billboard—displaying the Oxford English Dictionary definition of a “woman” as an “adult human female”—comes after a number of phallic-shaped stickers stating “women don’t have penises” were plastered across the Crosby Beach area by another anti-trans group called Liverpool ReSisters.

On Wednesday (September 19), Anderson posted a photo of a transgender pride flag flying above Liverpool Town Hall, writing: “The #Transgender #pride Flag flying over the Town Hall today to show our support for the trans community in #Liverpool and around the world.”

Anderson flew a trans pride flag above Liverpool Town Hall. (mayor_anderson/Twitter)

And, at Wednesday night’s council meeting, Anderson made an impassioned speech condemning the anti-trans action taken by Liverpool ReSisters, which also spoke at the event.

The motion was proposed by councillors Harry Doyle, Richard Kemp, Paul Kenyon, Anna Key, Lindsay Melia, Steve Radford and Hetty Wood.

• Nov 29

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