Former PC dies a day after applause tribute
THE decision to fly controversial flags criticised as “transphobic” outside town halls was made without a meeting of Sefton Council.
The council was forced to remove flags being flown outside Bootle and Southport town halls on Monday, March 2 after they were met with an angry backlash from LGBTQ+ campaigners.
The council said it was asked to fly the flags outside the town halls to mark International Women’s Day, which took place on Sunday, March 8.
A message on the flags read: “Woman, noun, adult human female.”
But campaigners from LGBTQ+ groups said the flags were “a hostile transphobic dog whistle.”
It was later revealed that they were requested by supporters of the campaign group Standing for Women - a pressure group that maintains that only people born as women can be called women.
The group came forward in a statement on its website that supporters from Sefton had asked the local authority to fly the flags as “as a sign of support of women across their regions and the world”.
The group has come under fire in the past from campaigners for transgender rights, who have labelled the group transphobic and discriminatory.
But at the time some people supported the flag flying and were disappointed when they were removed.
A Freedom of Information (FoI) request to the local authority has now revealed how the controversial flags were given permission to be flown by the council.
An email to Sefton Council’s chief executive, Dwayne Johnson, asked the authority to fly the flags to show solidarity towards “all women” and it would “not cost any council/public money to produce”.
Part of the email, the sender of which had their name redacted in the FoI response shared with Local Democracy Reporters (LDRs), read: “This celebratory and commemoratory action will show Sefton and Merseyside is strong in our message of equality and championing the rights of all women to live in a fair and equal society.” The FoI went on to reveal that the Mayor’s office decided to go ahead with flying the flags after consulting “senior officers”, but no meeting was held in this regard.
Once the flags were flown outside Bootle and Southport town halls and met with angry backlash, the FoI revealed that the Mayor’s office decided to take them down after discussions with the council’s communications team and Mr Johnson.
The FoI response said: “The Mayor’s office decided to remove the flags following discussions with the council’s communications team and the chief executive after a number of negative comments were made on social media.”
When contacted by the LDRs about the FoI, a spokesman for Sefton Council said: “We have a proud history of supporting LGBTQ+ rights across, which includes being awarded the Navajo LGBTQ Quality Mark for our work to support all members of our communities.
“As we have made clear, as soon as we became aware of the issues regarding the flags in question, they were taken down and replaced with correctly branded flags from the International Women’s Day Organisation.”
A RETIRED Lancashire police constable died at home one day after officers gathered outside to offer a round of applause.
Officers from West Lancashire gathered outside the home of former PC William
Peter Unsworth last Wednesday after learning that he was severely unwell.
Known to family and friends as Bert, he joined Lancashire police in the mid sixties and moved to Greater Manchester in 1974 with the realignment of forces, spending much of his service stationed in Standish and ending his career in “comms”.
In total Bert served as a police officer in the palatine of Lancashire for 30 years.
Because of the social distancing restrictions currently in place,
Bert’s friends were unable to visit him at his Appley Bridge home so officers on patrol in the area joined his neighbours to pay tribute.
Together they showed their appreciation for the years of dedicated service he had given as a police officer by offering a round of applause.
The following day Bert died peacefully at home.
A spokesman said: “Lancashire police would like to thank PC William ‘Bert’ Unsworth for his loyal service to the people of
Lancashire and offer our deepest condolences to his family and friends.”