Labour Allows Bearded Man to Stand For Woman-Only Role Because He ‘Identifies’ as Female Once a Week

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MAY 05: Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks during a Momentum
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Liam Deacon

A middle-aged man with a beard has been accepted to stand for a woman-only position in a local Labour Party branch because he “identifies” as female for a few hours a day once a week.

The Basingstoke Labour Party accepted David Lewis, 45, as an official candidate for their “women’s officer” role, where he will be responsible for representing women’s issues and recruiting more females.

“I self-identify as a woman on Wednesdays, between 6.50 am when my alarm goes off and around midnight when I go to bed,” Mr. Lewis told the Spectator, explaining that he does not change his pronouns, clothes, appearance, or behaviour.

The Labour Party frequently discriminates and uses all-women positions and shortlists, and recently all-ethnic minority lists, to encourage “diversity” in their ranks.

However, earlier this year, they fully embraced transgender ideology allowing anyone to “self-identify” as a woman and apply for these positions.

Some feminists are opposed, claiming biological women will be disadvantaged and men may take advantage of the rules. They have tried to bring a legal challenge against the party, insisting men legally change gender before standing for female roles.

Mr. Lewis said he stood as a candidate to “inform the [Constituency Labour Party], and maybe some other people, about what this policy means, about what happens when you say that someone’s gender depends only on what they say and nothing else”.

Mocking the policy, he continued: “I’d say those people don’t have any right to criticise my gender-identity. If I say I am a woman on Wednesdays, then all they can do is accept that. After all, there are other people who only identify as women on some days of the week and not others, and they are accepted, not criticised.”

Adding: “Anyone else’s criticism or questions about my gender identity are just not relevant to the Labour Party at the moment, given the current policy. If I say I’m a woman, I’m a woman.”

He does not, however, expect to win, explaining: “I am hoping that my local party will be sensible.”

Mr. Lewis’s stunt comes as the government considers the recommendations of Parliament’s Women and Equalities committee which demanded legal “self-identification” to be the norm in all areas of British life.

The committee, led by Tory MP Maria Miller, said anyone should be able to be “quickly” declared a woman, with no checks or assessment, and access all-female services including changing rooms and rape crisis clinics.

“We need to be able to debate this, we need to be able to talk about this without being told we are transphobic and to shut up,” Mr. Lewis says, explaining his motivation.

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