We welcome the party's recently released revision of its definition of transphobia. Although parts of the revised definition continue to be deeply flawed, there are significant improvements from the highly illiberal original, some of which was in direct conflict with equality law.

We're pleased that the revised definition reaffirms that it is utterly unacceptable for a member of the party to harass trans people or to create a hostile environment for them, but now recognises that holding and expressing gender critical beliefs is protected in law, and is permissible provided that this does not “harass or discriminate against trans people, nor create an environment which is hostile or discriminatory to trans people.”

However, significant difficulties with the definition remain, particularly in its unwillingness to engage with the possibility that the party’s understanding of “the nature or effect of a policy or practice” may be flawed and should be open to challenge, especially where that challenge is evidence-based.

We’ll wait to see whether the definition as applied continues to foster an environment that is hostile and discriminatory towards people holding gender critical beliefs.

In the meanwhile, if you're one of the many LGB people who've left in despair, please consider coming back to help us to bring party policy back in line with biological reality and to defend the rights of same-sex attracted people.