A Labour peer and former MP who campaigns for women’s rights has quit the party after he was suspended for sharing an “unacceptable” tweet branded “transphobic” by activists.
Announcing his resignation from Labour on Twitter, Lord Moonie of Bennochy said he had “saved them the trouble” of sacking him after he learned he would be made to attend a party disciplinary hearing.
The former MP for Kirkcaldy, Scotland, was blasted by activists over his outspoken support for preserving the single-sex nature of facilities such as public bathrooms, changing rooms, and prisons, which feminists warn are in peril.
Such spaces, currently protected by law, are threatened by proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act, according to campaigners, who warn it would allow any male who “identifies” as the opposite sex access to women-only areas.
“I’ve resigned from the Labour Party today,” tweeted Dr Moonie earlier this week, reporting he was “accused of transphobia by the usual suspects” before he learned his membership had been suspended and that he would also be required to attend a disciplinary hearing.
The peer, who describes himself as a campaigner for women’s rights, was reprimanded by the party earlier this year over his retweeting an image of a car bumper sticker asserting that any male who followed the driver’s daughter into a women’s restroom would be needing to use the disabled facilities the next time.
Labour officials have not yet commented on Dr Moonie’s resignation according to The Courier, but in January they wrote to the peer, who worked as a psychiatrist before entering parliament, with criticism over what the party described as the “totally unacceptable” bumper sticker post.
Dr Moonie’s resignation earlier this week came just before another political row over so-called transphobia broke out in British politics, in this case concerning the left-wing Scottish National Party (SNP).
Gregor Murray quit the SNP after being suspended for breaching the councillors’ code of conduct over using “insulting and abusive” language towards members of the public, including use of the word “c***”.
Described by the BBC as “Scotland’s only openly transgender councillor”, the Dundee official allegedly referred to one individual using the slur “TERF” (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist), before proclaiming such people to be “scum”, as well as “hateful and vile”.
Councillor Murray, who identifies as non-binary and objects to being referred to as “he” — requesting instead that the pronoun “they” be used — said the Standards Commission’s decision was a “miscarriage of justice”, before declaring that he felt neither “safe” nor “welcome” in the globalist, europhile SNP, apparently due to its failure to “no platform” members with views contrary to transgender activist orthodoxy.
“The SNP has a major institutional problem with transphobia, and is doing nothing to rectify this,” the councillor said, claiming there were a number of “openly transphobic” elected officials who “the party hierarchy has done nothing to stop”.
Murray told The Courier: “There are two main issues that Holyrood are considering right now that affect the trans community – the census, and the Gender Recognition Act (GRA).
“Both of these policies are going through committees with transphobic conveners. Extreme right-wing fundamentalists with a history of abuse are being given the red carpet treatment at Holyrood in the party’s name,” the councillor alleged.