The man running for women’s officer who is female only on Wednesdays
A MALE Labour activist has been allowed to stand for a women-only post after saying he identifies as female ‘on Wednesdays’.
David Lewis’s constituency party has been obliged to let him be a candidate for the role of women’s officer.
The holder of the post in Basingstoke, Hampshire, is supposed to encourage women to join the party and highlight their concerns.
Under party rules, a candidate only has to define themselves as a woman to be accepted as one without undergoing any scrutiny or need to prove it.
Mr Lewis, 45, expected to have his tongueincheek application refused but his candidacy was accepted.
‘I self-identify as a woman on Wednesdays, between 6.50am when my alarm goes off and around midnight when I go to bed,’ he told The Spectator magazine.
‘My womanness is expressed by my saying “I self-identify as a woman” now and again on Wednesdays. I make no changes in my behaviour or my appearance.
‘I keep my name and my male pronouns. I wear the same sort of clothes I wear the rest of the week. I keep my beard. I enjoy the full womanness of my beard.’
Mr Lewis said he wanted to highlight ‘what happens when you say someone’s gender depends only on what they say and nothing else’. He added: ‘I expected them to say “Don’t be silly” and politely decline my application. But they didn’t. They accepted my candidacy as valid.
‘We need to be able to debate this, we need to be able to talk about this without being told we are transphobic and to shut up.’
Mr Lewis does not expect to win, saying: ‘I am hoping that my local party will be sensible.’ His move prompted a furore on social media in which singer- songwriter Barb Jungr said: ‘I am cancelling my membership, you have lost the plot.’
Labour’s policy has led to a backlash among members with campaigners claiming 300 have quit over allowing transgender women on all-female short-lists.
A legal challenge has been launched arguing that trans women must hold a gender recognition certificate to stand.