Green Party orders members to stop saying ‘mothers and fathers’

The Green Party is under fire for insisting its members stop using the terms “mothers and fathers” in favour of gender-neutral terms.

In the party’s ‘Inclusive Terminology Guidance’, published ahead of its conference, it claimed that using such language “can create environments that feel unwelcoming or exclusionary”.

If a person continues to say “mothers and fathers”, instead of the recommended “parents and carers”, the Greens warned that their behaviour “may be considered harassment, which is unlawful”.

‘Distain for free speech’

The Spectator’s political correspondent Noa Hoffman called the glossary “Orwellian”.

Max Thompson, Campaigns Officer for the Free Speech Union, said it expressed an “open disdain for free speech”.

“Since when has referring to the people who brought you into the world as ‘mother’ and ‘father’ ever been offensive?”

‘Intimidation’

During the party’s annual conference, the LGBTIQA+ Greens interrupted a talk about the environmental impact of women’s products to accuse the speaker of being ‘anti-trans’.

Activists, including Green Party executive Dylan Lewis-Creser, paraded a large LGBT flag while preventing attendees from viewing physiotherapist Elaine Miller on screen.

Jude English of Green Party Women, which organised the event, told The Daily Mail: “It is very undermining to have a member of the executive trying to no-platform a female speaker.”

Green Women’s Declaration, which was banned from attending the conference because it was told that its presence would make “trans members feel unsafe”, commented: “We are so angry about this dreadful attempt at intimidation but we are not going anywhere.”