Greens member withdraws from election after trans furore
The ousted convener of the Victorian Greens, who was accused of holding anti-trans views, says she has withdrawn from an internal election to spare her party further pain.
Unionist Linda Gale was elected to the organisational leadership position in June. After a social media-driven backlash to a 2019 paper in which she argued the rights of trans women may infringe on those of people born female, Victorian Greens parliamentary leader Samantha Ratnam used her power to overturn the result.
Linda Gale had her election as Greens convenor overturned by the party leadershipCredit:The Age
Gale, a veteran Greens activist, intended to recontest a fresh election for the same position. But on Sunday afternoon she emailed party members advising she was withdrawing, criticising Ratnam and other Greens elected representatives for interfering in a democratic ballot of Greens members.
“It is clear that if I persist with this nomination, there are some who will do everything they can to cause further pain for the party,” she said in the email obtained by The Age.
“At the very least the inevitable attacks would serve to distract public and media attention from our important policy agenda going into the [November] state election.
“At the worst, I have been warned that there are some people who stand ready to ‘burn the party to the ground’ should I be re-elected.”
Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam.Credit:Joe Armao
Underpinning the furore is an ongoing debate over whether, as Gale argued in the 2019 paper, “the consequences of having male-bodied people in women’s prisons … in women’s wards in hospitals … and as staff or clients in women’s shelters and refuges [poses] questions we need to talk about”.
Some trans-rights activists in the Greens reject the need to consider this potential friction between the rights of two groups. They claim Gale’s views are anti-scientific and harmful to trans people, who have poorer mental health on average than the general population.
“I do not accept that any of our policies [are] ‘not up for discussion’,” Gale said in her email on Sunday.
“Nor do I accept that questioning any aspect of our gender identity policy means that I, or any other party member, is questioning the right of trans people to exist, or trying to undermine their humanity, their validity or their human rights.”
Gale also said attempting to host reasoned discussions on sensitive policies on social media platforms, which she argued were powered by algorithms that reward outrage, was near impossible.
Ratnam’s explanation for overturning Gale’s election was that all candidates were not provided with a list of members’ contact details.
A Greens administrative panel found this error may have had a material effect on the election because nominees did not have the chance to contact voters and sway their votes.
The Age has sought comment from Ratnam.
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