Transgenderism: TUV says it will not be 'compelled' to say things 'that conflict with biological reality'

It was reacting to the fact that its MLA Timothy Gaston was warned about his language in Stormont this week by Paula Bradshaw.

He had been speaking in Stormont's Executive Committee, chaired by Ms Bradshaw, and at one point had referred to "the conflict between the rights of a woman, and a biological man claiming or thinking that he is a woman".

"Can you, can you watch your language, please?" Ms Bradshaw had replied – one of a number of times she interjected as he was speaking.

Trans activists consider it offensive to use such phrasing, because they believe anyone who refers to themselves as a woman is actually a woman and it is wrong to question this.

The Alliance Party (in common with the SDLP and Greens) has closely aligned itself with trans activism in recent years.

Now the TUV has responded, saying in a statement: "Mr Gaston will not be compelled to use language to describe men which conflicts with biological reality, because of an Alliance chairperson who wants to enforce her bizarre view of the world on the rest of society.

“Protecting single-sex spaces may not be of interest to Ms Bradshaw, but it is of interest to TUV who believe that men should not be in female bathrooms.

"Nor will he accept that questions derived directly from the evidence submitted by witnesses to the committee can be ruled out of order simply because they make the chairperson uncomfortable."

This last line is a reference to Ms Bradshaw curtailing the questions which Mr Gaston posed to members of the Equality Commission (such as when he had asked questions about the effects of Brexit on people's rights, and about a recent controversy involving the PSNI's LGBT staff network).

The TUV statement added “it is the job of MLAs to interrogate witnesses in committee on the basis of the evidence they provide” and that Mr Gaston had been "perfectly in order" to ask the questions that he did.

The TUV’s comments were put to Alliance; a response is awaited.

Until fairly recently, “transgender” was often used to refer to somebody who had the medical condition “gender dysphoria”.

This is defined by the NHS as “a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity”.

This can lead to people taking hormones and undergoing what used to be called “sex change” surgery.

However in recent years activists have insisted that no hormones or surgery are required, and that simply saying you are male or female is enough, regardless of biology.

They also argue that there are many genders, not just male and female.

In Parliament in 2022, the then deputy leader of Alliance, Stephen Farry, said that “transgender identity” is “perfectly normal” and should be “celebrated and embraced”.

"We should treat everyone with equality and dignity for exactly who they are without question,” he told the gathering in Westminster Hall.