Your Party puts support for trans people to a members’ vote

Your Party capped off its chaotic conference by putting its support for trans liberation up to a members’ vote.

The left-leaning party founded by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana held its first conference over the weekend.

As part of the political party’s formal founding, members were asked to vote on a set of amendments to its Political Statement, Constitution, Organisational Strategy, and Standing Orders.

Its Organisational Strategy vote included an amendment on its commitment to fighting for the “struggles of all oppressed people” which would add the term “trans liberation.”

If approved, Your Party would affirm its commitment to fighting for “the struggles for the liberation of Palestine, anti-racism, trans liberation, and the struggles of all oppressed people.”

If denied, it would remove the only mention of trans people from Your Party’s founding documents.

Members debated on the amendment during day two of its conference on Sunday, with equal time given between members for and against the trans rights motion

Trans rights causes rift during Your Party conference

One speaker, a trans woman named Fring, said she refused to debate the issue on “moral” grounds, saying that if Your Party wished to be taken seriously in leftist spaces, it needs to fight for the rights of trans people, as well as Palestinians and other marginalised communities.

Another speaker, Michael, argued Your Party should not include trans liberation in its founding documents, saying, to a mixture of boos and applause, that he believed the amendment had the “potential for division.”

“The motion says anti-racism, Palestine, trans liberation, and all of those people, but what about feminists or disabled or countless other people who might want to be mentioned,” the member said to a chorus of applause and heckles from the audience.

After the panel told audience members to be “polite and considerate,” he went on to say that the people of Gaza “have a particular status which this does not emphasise.”

Audience members then, once again, booed Michael, prompting a panel member to say: “Conference, I’ve asked you politely, we are all here, we all have a right to speak. Please do not heckle, be polite, be kind. Please let people speak.”

“I think the response to my few words emphasises the point that this is clearly quite contentious, and so we don’t want to have the opportunity for contention,” Michael added.

Trade unionist Liz, who spoke in favour of the motion, said that, without the motion, Your Party “would be standing with the oppressed, against the oppressor.”

“If we all fight together, we will all win more rights”

“As a cis woman I do not lose a single one of my rights for when my trans comrades win rights. If we all fight together, we will all win more rights. Trans men are men, trans women are women, non-binary and genderfluid people exist and deserve to be respected.

“Whatever the name of this party, if we are going to be for the many, we must stand for the liberation of the oppressed.”

The final speaker on the debate argued that the motion does not do “justice” for the specific issues trans people, Palestinian people, and people of colour face.

“They need to be separated and given their own sentence. Their own time rather than a trivial pick and mix,” he said. “Trans rights are hugely important and we should respect that and give it it’s own place, and Palestinian rights are hugely important; they should be respected.”

Voting on the matter closed on Monday (1 December) and results are not available at the time of writing.

Your Party’s silence on trans issues is surprising, given co-founders Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn’s public support for the community.

At the time of reporting, Your Party’s X/Twitter account has made no mention of trans or non-binary people.

In September, Your Party MP Adnan Hussein publicly agreed with a comment saying that the party should not “parrot the same neoliberal idea of gender ideology.”

In a post on X/Twitter in August, the MP sided with ‘gender-critical’ groups, baselessly claiming that trans women were encroaching upon “women’s rights and safe spaces.” He has since quit the party.

PinkNews has contacted Your Party for comment.