Protestors gathered outside The Castle Centre on Saturday (10 January) to oppose a demonstration organised after a complaint about a transgender woman using the female changing rooms.
It is alleged that the complaint resulted in a woman’s membership being suspended and that a demonstration was set to take place.
Three trade unions – UNISION, Unite and GMB, along with the Southwark branch of Your Party – organised the march as a counter-protest in support of ‘trans rights and leisure centre workers’.
In a leaflet they wrote that it was in response to a planned protest scheduled for the same day by a “transphobic group to protest Southwark Council’s trans-inclusive policies in leisure centres.”
Around 80 protestors who gathered at Gabriel Walk outside the centre at midday could be heard chanting: “When trans rights are under attack, what do we do – stand up fight back.”
On December 23 it was reported in the Telegraph that a woman had her £36.99-a-month membership of the council-run centre suspended for a year after she allegedly confronted a trans woman in the female changing rooms who she claimed was “clearly a biological male”, according to the newspaper.
After investigating the dispute, the council decided to suspend her from using all eight of its leisure centres for a year, the newspaper claimed.
Southwark Council said that while they do not comment directly on individual cases, “members of its centres are expected to follow the terms and conditions of their memberships at all times and may face suspension or a ban if they fail to do so.”
They also didn’t comment when we asked if she had been suspended would she have been refunded for the year.
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The lady is correct in thinking that she should not share a changing room with Members ( good choice of word there!) If the other person has full set of Genitalia and in female changing room, that’s wrong.
Personally the only sight of Bat ( penis) and Balls ( scrotum?) I would welcome in changing room would carried in a Sports Bag!
Any person on Southwark Council believing that it doesn’t matter has a screw loose. How would they feel if their daughter or wife walked into a changing room with a man purporting to be transgender?
What do you mean an ‘anti-trans protest? It was a pro-women protest to support a woman who was banned for refusing to undress in front of a man.
This is very biased reporting- it’s a shame you didn’t bother to contact to find out more about why the women were protesting? Most people in Southwark don’t think a woman should have to share a changing room with a male bodied person. And the law is clear that the Council facilities must provide single sex spaces.