Richard Drax (South Dorset) - Response to Questions - 4th July 2024 Election

Women of Dorset have contacted all those standing in the eight constituencies that cover Dorset, including Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.

Below is the response from Richard Drax (Conservative) - South Dorset.

Answers for Women of Dorset from Richard Drax, candidate for South Dorset

Women of Dorset was established to protect women’s sex based rights & safeguarding in Dorset, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. We're an eclectic mix of women who believe that a woman is an adult human female and that:-

• the law allows for single sex services and most people want to them but they are under attack;

• organisations and staff are afraid even though everyone knows the difference between male and female;

• language has become a battleground and everyone is walking on egg shells;

• no one wants to be the one to tell someone that their sense of gender identity cannot override rules that protect the safety, fairness and dignity of everyone.

Confusion makes services less inclusive and less safe.  It creates conflict and it isn't kind, least of all to women.  It is up to the Government to put this right.  Therefore, we have some questions which we'd like you to answer and respond to.  The questions are as follows:

1. What is your definition of a woman?

An adult, human female

2. When it comes to policymaking on sex and gender issues, the key areas for the next government will be education and health. In these departments, and right across government, the solutions will be sex-based language, clear rules and data collected on the objective reality of sex, not subjective “gender identity”.   Do you agree with this?    

Yes         

3. We call on all MP’s to commit to implementing the Cass Report. This means an end to children being prescribed puberty blockers or socially transitioned in schools. This should be supported with clear guidance about sex-based rules for schools from the Department for Education. Every education professional should understand that no child can be treated in school as a member of the opposite sex. Sex-based rules are there to protect and support all pupils, and children cannot be kept safe unless there is clarity about the sex of everyone around them.  Do you agree with this?

Yes

4. Plans to ban so-called “conversion therapy” (in reality, evidence-based talking therapy) should be dropped. Any such law is bound to criminalise loving parents and ethical therapists, and to cause a chilling effect that will make it harder for gender-distressed people to get the support they need. Do you agree with this?

Yes

5. Any MP or party that is serious about being in government must commit to making the definition of sex in the Equality Act clear. The current lack of clarity means service providers, from pubs and gyms to rape-crisis centres, are failing to understand the law, opening women-only spaces to men who identify as women and buckling under fear of litigation. The result is that women’s privacy, safety and dignity have been undermined.  Do you agree with this?

Yes

6. Parties must commit to giving women the right to female-only spaces in both everyday and specialist situations. This includes all public and private-sector facilities that have toilets and changing rooms, as well as hospital accommodation. It also includes specialist women’s sector facilities such as domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centres and prisons, as well as female-only sports.  Do you agree with this?

Yes

7. There should be no move towards gender-self ID, whether openly or by stealth. The current lack of clarity on the meaning of “sex” in the Equality Act means any measure that makes it easier to gain a gender-recognition certificate would be disastrous for the rights of women and girls. Do you agree with this?

Yes

8. The removal of sex-based terms in healthcare and the justice system must end. Sex is always relevant in healthcare, and patients need to know that their records are accurate and that when they are asked about their sex or request a carer of the same sex, everyone is talking about biology, not identity. Sex also matters whenever a crime is committed. Misrecording male offenders as female makes it impossible to study patterns of criminality. When prison and police officers search suspects and prisoners, it’s the sex of both parties that matters, not their gender identity. Imprisoning trans-identifying men in women’s prisons is a breach of female inmates’ human rights.  Do you agree with this?

Yes

9. It is crucial to fix the muddle that has been made of official data. The next government will   inherit systems of recording sex that are a tangled, dangerous mess. It should use the opportunity offered by modern digital data systems to develop a simple, clear protocol for accurately recording everyone’s sex. Everyone’s rights can then be protected by sharing that information when it is needed, and keeping it private when it is not. Do you agree with this?

Yes

10. Fairness, safety and opportunity in sport should be protected for women and girls at all levels by restricting eligibility for the female category to those born female, excluding all males however they identify. Do you agree with this?

Yes

11. Finally, the next government must press regulators and regulatory agencies to do their jobs and protect everyone’s rights. The Charity Commission must be instructed to    ensure that single-sex charities do not undermine their own mission by adopting self-ID. The Office for National Statistics cannot be allowed to make another error on the same scale as in the 2021 census, which featured a widely misunderstood question about gender identity written to please transactivists. The Equality and Human Rights Commission must do more to stand up for single-sex services and against the bullying and harassment of workers who care about sex-based rights.  Do you agree with this?

Yes

Richard Drax, June 7, 2024