LGBTQ+ members of the Green Party have criticised the decision to platform a gender-critical campaigner at a women's health event during the party's autumn conference, arguing it undermines the Greens' long-standing commitment to trans inclusion.
The row erupted at the party's conference in Brighton after Green Party Women hosted a fringe meeting on women's pelvic health featuring physiotherapist Elaine Miller, a prominent critic of gender recognition reform who has previously campaigned against trans rights measures in Scotland.
Ahead of the event, the Green Party's LGBTQ+ wing published a statement expressing concern that Miller had been invited to speak. In posts shared on social media, LGBTIQA+ Greens said they had written to the party alongside the Trans Greens and Trans Young Greens, arguing that platforming a figure they described as "a notorious campaigner against trans rights" would create a safeguarding concern for trans, non-binary, intersex and gender non-conforming members attending conference.
The group said they believed Miller's presence would be incompatible with the Green Party's policies on trans inclusion and warned that it could discourage trans members from participating in party democracy.
The dispute comes just days after the Green Party blocked another gender-critical organisation, the Green Women's Declaration, from having a stall at conference. Party officials reportedly said the group's presence could make trans members feel unsafe, a decision which has since become the subject of legal action.
Tensions escalated during Sunday's pelvic health event when a group of around 15 Green Party activists from organisations including the LGBTQ+ Greens and Greens Organise entered the meeting carrying a banner in support of trans rights. According to Left Foot Forward, the protest was intended to oppose the decision to platform Miller rather than the discussion of pelvic health itself.
Other Green Party members also questioned the decision. Dylan Lewis-Creser, a member of the party's executive, said women's pelvic health was an important issue but argued that the party should not be platforming figures associated with anti-trans campaigning.
In a statement shared on social media, the LGBTIQA+ Greens said they welcomed the later decision for Miller to appear remotely rather than in person, but maintained that they could not support the platforming of someone they view as hostile to trans rights.
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