'Live and let live' Burnham clarifies stance on single-sex spaces after backlash
The Greater Manchester Mayor said he thinks Britain needs to work on having conversations with compassion and without judgement
Andy Burnham has clarified his position on single-sex spaces after he was met with backlash from women with gender-critical views in the Labour Party.
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Mr Burnham previously criticised the interim guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission following the landmark Supreme Court case, saying that the ruling would make the issue "more confusing in the real world".
The interim guidance maintained that transgender people cannot use single-sex facilities corresponding to their identified gender, although employers and service providers must ensure trans people are not left without any facilities at all.
In his latest comments, he has said he was raised to “live and let live” and called for Britain to adopt the same approach to the issue.
He explained: “My mum and dad brought me up to live and let live. I think Britain needs to get back to a more ‘live and let live’ approach to life, not where we’re constantly arguing with each other, being judgmental about each other.
“Let’s implement the guidance, but to do it in the fairest and most compassionate way possible.”
He explained: “I think the time has come to take the Supreme Court ruling and the guidance and implement it, but to do it in a way that protects those spaces but does not marginalise already marginalised communities, that’s my view.
He said he thought Britain needed to “stop arguing with each other” and urged Brits to find “common ground and start pulling together.
He added: “The Supreme Court was really clear that while spaces should be protected, so people are not in that position, the ruling shouldn’t be seen as a victory one side over another. They were very clear about that, and it’s about not further marginalising communities that already feel very marginalised.
“I just think that’s really, really important, and it’s incumbent on all of us now not to constantly come back to what divides us. We’ve got to move forward.”
In 2022, the Mayor of Greater Manchester was asked about the issue whilst speaking in a meeting with Manchester’s ‘youth combined authority’.
He said: “Clearly, there is a group of people who do feel that toilets should be a safe space only for women, and there should not be anyone biologically a male allowed in that space.
“I don't think that's a majority view. I think it's a minority view and quite a small minority view, actually. But it is a view, so you can't completely ignore it. Possibly, they might be women who have experienced male violence at some point in their life. I don't know, that's one way of looking at it.
“The idea that people are falsely portraying their gender in a different way just because they want to abuse a woman's space or encroach on women's safety… maybe it happens, but you are talking a tiny, tiny, tiny number of people.
At last year’s Manchester Pride Parade, Mr Burnham made his position on LGBTQ rights clear. He said: “I am going to make it really plain: I support trans rights and I want that to be known.”
Claire Coutinho, Shadow Minister for Equalities, criticised Mr Burnham as “shockingly out of touch”.
She told the Daily Mail: “Protecting the safety, dignity and privacy of women is not a minority view – it's the law.”