Starmer backs gender self-ID at 16 for Scotland

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Sir Keir Starmer still seems unsure whether he supports men being able to self-identify as women. Having apparently changed his stance (£) from supporting self-ID to opposing it, he suggested last week that it should be allowed in Scotland.

Labour had recently announced it wants to “modernise” the Gender Recognition Act, whilst keeping a minimum age of 18 and not introducing self-ID, a change of position from 2020.

But now, speaking with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, Sir Keir said it was ‘wrong’ for Westminster to block Scotland’s self-ID gender Bill earlier this year.

Had the UK Government not blocked the legislation, Scottish 16-year-olds could have changed legal sex without needing a medical diagnosis. Self-ID not only lies about human biology but is a threat to the safety of women and girls.

The Labour leader’s opinion on this issue (£) seems fluid. In 2020, Sir Keir said it “shouldn’t be said” that only women have a cervix. In March, he said (£) just “99.9 per cent of women … haven’t got a penis”. But last month he declared “a woman is an adult female”.

The Conservatives have also previously supported self-ID, which was first proposed (£) by former Tory PM Theresa May. And although Sunak is now expressing a clearer policy, just a year ago he refused to answer the question, ‘What is a woman?’

At the very least, this uncertainty shows nervousness about stating convictions on this issue. Some politicians seem to change their stance depending on what seems most popular with the people they are with at the time.

If Sir Keir was really against self-ID, he would be against it whenever he is asked, no matter where it’s happening. We need politicians to unwaveringly state that sex is a fixed and unchangeable biological fact.

At C4M, people from across the political spectrum believe in man-woman marriage, rooted in the biological reality of male and female, and oppose the lie that reality can be changed.