Summary
TransLucent’s Statement: Labour Women's Conference 2026 - Standing with Trade Unions - Labour’s Position on Trans Rights.
TransLucent’s Statement: Labour Women’s Conference 2026 – Standing with Trade Unions.
On September 26th, Labour’s National Women’s Conference is scheduled to take place in Liverpool, where trans women are barred from being delegates, meaning they can’t sit on the conference floor, speak in debates, or vote – the three core functions defining full participation.
Trans men (now, because of the highly controversial Supreme Court judgment, who, for Equality Act purposes, are deemed to be ‘women’) face a similar practical exclusion.
To have been selected as a delegate, a trans man would have been required to disclose his trans status to his Constituency Labour Party (CLP) – engaging his Article 8 right to a private life and seeking nomination from members who reasonably expect a delegate with lived experience in womanhood. Because Labour Party membership data has historically been collected by gender rather than biological sex, CLPs lack clear mechanisms to identify trans men for nomination, effectively closing this path in practice.
Obviously, it is extremely unlikely a trans man would ever put himself forward and face such an ordeal. The result is that an entire protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, that of Gender Reassignment, is functionally excluded from the National Women’s Conference.
While no political organisation would hold an event that excluded wheelchair users or people based on their race or religion, for the Labour Party, trans members are the exception.
In support of the trans community, major trade unions, including Unison, USDAW, Aslef, Community and MU, have taken an unprecedented, historic step by declaring a full boycott of the Women’s Conference. We understand most other unions, if not all, will do likewise.
The union movement’s decisive action marks a severe and damaging rupture between Labour’s current leadership and the broader equality movement – a crisis brought about entirely by the Party’s calculated policy to bar trans women from democratic participation and women’s officer positions in the Party.
We understand various groups will likely protest at the Women’s Conference and possibly elsewhere. While we support the democratic right to protest, we stress that TransLucent only supports lawful protests that must be respectful and peaceful at all times.
The Labour leadership has sought to shield its discriminatory position behind the Supreme Court’s decision in For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers. However, weaponising that judgment to enforce a sweeping, party-wide ban on trans women fundamentally misapplies statutory principles under the Equality Act 2010.
Rather than adopting a lawful, human-rights compliant approach that evaluates specific single-sex exceptions on a strictly proportionate, case-by-case basis, Labour has opted for blanket disenfranchisement using a “positive action” for women as a shield with no thought for the trans community at all.
We are not “second class” citizens.
Every other protected characteristic under UK law remains welcome at Women’s Conference – only one group has been explicitly barred from the democratic process of being delegates: Trans people.
The union boycott is not merely a symbolic gesture; it represents a deep, principled refusal to condone Labour’s ongoing retreat on trans equality.
Labour’s Position on Trans Rights.
For several years, the Labour Party has followed a trans-hostile path towards the trans community, which includes:
1) Before the last General Election, Labour abandoned a policy of legal gender recognition by Self-ID – in violation of best international practice and proven to be safe and effective in countries such as Ireland, which has operated this policy since 2015.
2) Accepted a flawed Sex and Gender Data report very closely linked to members and supporters of the gender-critical group Sex Matters, resulting in privacy breaches that “out” trans patients in health settings.
3) Adopted (without questioning) the now heavily criticised Cass Report, which fails trans children. More recently, in Holland (a country renowned as world-leading regarding trans healthcare), a report was published in response to the Cass Review’s findings. Holland decided to continue with a controlled, multidisciplinary, gender-affirming team approach.
4) The government implemented a complete restriction on puberty blockers for gender-questioning youth based on the Cass Review, despite health professionals globally viewing them as essential care. By contrast, the recent report in Holland confirmed that Dutch clinics will continue prescribing puberty blockers under a controlled, evidence-based framework.
5) Recently, the former Secretary of State for Education approved new Schools Guidance. TransLucent are now receiving high volumes of emails from parents of trans children who are being impacted.
Trade unions’ support for Labour now stands at a critical juncture regarding trans human rights and the Women’s Conference specifically, and we welcome the statements from Labour MPs, Councillors, and members who have also messaged us in support, both publicly and privately.
The Labour Party can continue to alienate its own voter and member base, undermining the Equality Act, or it can demonstrate genuine leadership by reinstating trans women in all their roles within the party structures, honour past commitments to the Equality Act 2010, the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and the European Convention of Human Rights, ensuring that democratic and social participation is accessible to all.
Rights are not conditional, and equality cannot be compromised.
Restoring trans women’s full participation is not an optional gesture of goodwill — it is a requirement of equality law, of Labour’s own stated values of equality, and of basic democratic integrity.
A political party cannot claim to champion women’s rights while excluding some women from the very spaces where those rights are debated and defended.
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