Green Party suspends health spokesperson over trans remarks
A Green party member has been suspended over trans remarks (TOLGA AKMEN / AFP) (Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)
The Green Party of England and Wales has suspended its health spokesperson, following comments she made about trans issues.
Pallavi Devulapalli, an NHS doctor who ran to be the MP for South West Norfolk – Liz Truss’ former seat – in the general election, made the comments at a hustings event in June where she and other candidates were asked about their party’s policies regarding single-sex spaces and the “enormous increase” in hate crimes.
“I’ve yet to meet anyone who actually… says that somebody shouldn’t have the right to be addressed as they please, to dress as they please… I think there’s something mischievous in the air to make out this to be an issue when really I’ve yet to meet anyone,” Devulapalli said.
Rights based on “how you choose to dress or call yourself shouldn’t even be a thing” and “confusion arises when people conflate sex with gender”, she added.
“Sex-based rights are important, we need to maintain that distinction and I speak here as a GP: biology is a real thing. It is not a belief to say that female sex is different to the male sex and there’s nothing wrong in accepting that of course, there are some people who fall between the two but they are very, very few and far between.
“There has been something strange in the air with the mushrooming of people wanting to change gender, and the Cass Review has shone such beautiful light on it.
“I felt proud to be British when that report came out because what Dr Cass did was undergo a thorough study for four years to actually lay bare how toxic the atmosphere had become, to the extent that healthcare professionals had become terrorised into not being able to speak freely and give young people the holistic care they deserved.”
The Cass Report was an independent, 400-page review into the provision of healthcare for trans youth in England, which was published in April. It made upwards of 32 recommendations to restructure the way in which transgender youngsters receive care, including suspending the prescription of puberty blockers.
The report has been criticised by a number of health experts, including those who specialise in trans care, as “deeply flawed”, lacking “developmental rigour”, and for its alleged “selective and inconsistent use of evidence”.
The Green Party’s policy “recognise[s] there are many gender identities that are within, and outside, the traditional gender binary of man and woman” and that “trans men are men, trans women are women, and non-binary identities exist and are valid”.
Devulapalli was suspended two days before the Green’s annual conference in Manchester. A spokesperson said the party “does not comment on individual disciplinary cases”.
Writing on X/Twitter, the GP said a “temporary no-fault suspension” had been lodged which meant she could not attend the conference or represent the party on social media until had been resolved.
The suspension “came out of the blue, and I was left struggling to understand the rationale for it”, she added.
“I am feeling hurt, disappointed and upset at this turn of events. It feels like a punishment without a trial, and goes against any law of natural justice.”
Devulapalli issued a statement on Greens in Exile, a group for members who “have been forced out of the party through suspension, expulsion or resignation”, reaffirming her support for the Cass Report
“We don’t need a medical education to know that biological sex is a fact. For that to be a controversial statement, shows how detached some of us have become from reality and science. This trend must be resisted, because, by being silent, we allow a falsehood to persist which is detrimental to all of us,” she wrote.
“I stand by the Cass review that young people deserve holistic care that encompasses their physical, mental and emotional health when grappling with gender identity or any health issues. I unequivocally condemn any hate directed at marginalised groups.
“My experience within the Green Party, as in society, shows that most people are kind and want to support inclusivity. We must be able to foster a culture of openness and tolerance, kindness and respect when discussing complex issues such as sex and gender.”
Speaking to the BBC, Cade Hatton, co-chairperson of the LGBTQIA+ Greens group, said Devulapalli’s comments were “just the most recent thing in a long list of things that have made people uncomfortable”.
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