I joined the Greens in 2009, but only became aware of the stranglehold gender ideology had on the party in 2018. I was elected onto the Green Party Women committee in October 2019, and shortly became a co-chair. Once the trans activists discovered I held Gender Critical beliefs, they accused me of transphobia and bigotry and the complaints came rolling in.
2021 no fault suspension
I was re-elected as Green Party Women co-chair in January 2021, and in March that year I brought a motion to Spring Conference entitled ‘Ensuring Sex and Gender are not Conflated when Gathering Data‘. The aim of the motion was to make sure that, where relevant, the basis on which statistics are gathered for policy making is transparent in relation to sex and gender. This motion was called ‘anti trans’ by leading greens, including the then co-leader (now MP), Sian Berry, who urged people to vote against it. The motion was whisked off the agenda a few minutes before it was due to be heard in a highly unusual and undemocratic move. Eight months later I received an apology for the way this had been done, but by then it was too late to rectify the situation.
Two days after the 2021 Spring Conference, I was put on a no fault suspension for questioning whether I was obliged to agree with the claim that a trans identified male who sat on the Green Party Women committee was biologically female. After five months the no fault suspension was lifted, but the complaint has still not been heard.
2022 more no fault suspensions
In January 2022 I was elected as co-chair of Green Party Women for the third year running. The committee held its first meeting on 3rd February 2022, and on 4th February I was given three no fault suspensions for various alleged transphobic misdemeanours. I was later given a six month disciplinary suspension following an accusation of transphobia made by a former deputy leader of the Green Party.
2023 expulsion
I was barred from standing for the Green Party Women committee in 2023, and in January 2023 following a complaint by Sian Berry and a leading Green Party councillor, I was expelled. I appealed against that expulsion, and the appeals committee agreed that the disciplinary hearing was unfair, and ordered the complaint to be reheard. This second disciplinary hearing was held in March 2023, and I was expelled again. I appealed, and after prevaricating for several months, the appeals committee finally overturned the expulsion and reinstated my membership in November 2023. This upset the party trans activists, and so in January 2024 the Green Party Regional Council quashed the previous appeal outcome and expelled me for a third time.
“I believe that I have been targeted by leading Green Party members simply because I hold Gender Critical views. This has resulted in me taking legal action against the party, which I am very confident that I will win. Find out more details about my case and my crowdfunder.”
Editor’s note:
Emma Bateman was the second Co chair of Green Party Women to be subjected to the Green Party disciplinary process. There are five in total so far.
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