
This is Caitlin Collins’ resignation letter:
Dear Green Party colleagues
It is with great sadness that I am resigning from the Green Party. There have been several recent events each of which I thought at the time was my last straw. Now I really have had enough.
Green Parties all over the world – America, Australia, New Zealand, the European countries, Scotland, and now the Green Party of England and Wales – have been captured by trans demands zealots. All it takes is a couple of agents provocateurs (planted by fossil fuel companies?) and a bunch of foolish followers, and a small political party can be derailed.
Here are just a few examples of my recent last straws. All are attacks on people who have dared to stand up for basic realities such as the simple fact that men are not women, and basic principles such as women’s rights, children’s safety, and freedom of speech. All of these incidents have occurred in the past few weeks.
Alison Teal, Sheffield councillor and GP parliamentary candidate, was suspended.
Zoe Hatch, chair of Green Party Women, was suspended; she is the third chair of GPW to be suspended.*
The entire group of GPW was excommunicated and the committee was denied access to Action Network, the GP database.
Liz Reason, former Chair of the GP Executive Committee, was suspended for four years and banned from standing for office for five years.
‘Melissa Poulton’ was selected as the GP parliamentary candidate for Bromsgrove. This person is actually Matthew Viner, a man who claims to be a woman (despite previously standing for election for the Conservatives as a man). As was widely and gleefully reported in the media, he was described by a rival candidate as ‘a man in a wig’. It was later reported that he enjoys ‘sissy porn’ and jokes about raping children. GP co-leader Carla Denyer has defended him.
Our membership fees have recently been increased by 50%. Members subscriptions, given in all good faith to support the party’s political work, will no doubt be used to pay for defending the party’s illegal activities as we are currently awaiting the judge’s decision in the discrimination case brought last year by Shahrar Ali and there are more legal actions pending.**
We have arrived here after several years of step-by-step encroachment by trans demands zealots, to the point where they now control the party. Almost every committee has been captured by this cult and almost all the people in leadership roles are in thrall to it, either by their own convictions or because they depend on cult members for their votes. Internal democracy is so dysfunctional that a few hundred TDZs (trans demands zealots – I won’t dignify them with the term trans rights activists) have been able to push through policies that the majority of members would reject. For instance, the blog Green Light reported that the policy of Self-Identification for Transgender People was approved at the 2021 Spring Conference by 281 out of 493 members attending. 281 people imposed this policy on the 50,000-strong membership!
The blog Green Light (January 4th) also reported that a seven-paged LGBTIQA+ Greens ‘Guidance to Identify Queerphobia’ has been included in the Code of Conduct. Green Light comments: ‘With Stonewall’s definition of Queerphobia now being part of the Code of Conduct and added to the concept of self-ID both now embedded within our instruments of governance and disciplinary process, the “capture” of the Green Party would appear to be almost complete.’
The hijackers are flying the plane. Negotiation is not possible because the hijackers are happy to be heading towards their desired destination. They want to wreck the plane. Having already damaged the party’s reputation with the Challenor debacle of 2017 – 2019, and again, to a lesser but still significant extent, with the recent Bromsgrove candidate disgrace, they now appear to be willing to bankrupt the party with legal costs.
The planet is in crisis, and we desperately need a functioning Ecology Party. I would support a proper Ecology Party, with democratic safeguards in place from the start to prevent any future hijacking by any other splinter group. It needs to be clearly separate from the Green Party brand, which has now been captured all over the world and rendered toxic.
I’m sad to be leaving. A long-term Green Party supporter, I’ve been an active member for eight years during which I’ve served as local party co-ordinator, stood for local government elections and been a GP parish councillor. Along with many colleagues I’ve been battling the rise of destructive gender ideology in the party and trying to get the party back on track. I greatly admire those who are staying on to fight but I’ve had enough; I want to put my energy into other projects.
With all good wishes
Cait
Editors notes:
*5 co-chairs of Green Party Women have now been suspended and/or expelled.
**Shahrar Ali has since won his case against the Green Party He is currently awaiting to be awarded costs.
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