The new Police and Crime Commissioner for Wiltshire has fiercely attacked transgender women, claiming they are ‘potentially dangerous in women’s spaces’, including toilets.
Army veteran Philip Wilkinson OBE released the statement on his Facebook page, three days after ‘testing the water’ with a post about being “asked to make a statement about trans issues”.
He went on to say “this really should be exciting”, adding that it’s a “good job I’m used to being shot at”. Constituents probed his post concerned that it inferred he did not support trans people.
Yesterday (8 September), Mr Wilkinson announced his support for Lisa Townsend, the newly elected Conservative police commissioner for Surrey, after she accused LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall of being a lobby group for a “dangerous ideology that threatens the safety of our women and girls”.
Wiltshire Police, like most police forces in England, are a member of Stonewall’s diversity champions scheme, paying an annual fee of £2,500. Unlike others, including bordering Avon and Somerset Police, the force has not invested in further training programmes for its employees.
Conservative Mr Wilkinson posted his lengthy statement on his Facebook page at 6.38am indicating that his words were his own personal beliefs.
In an excerpt from his early morning statement, he wrote: “I believe that we should treat every other human being with respect and courtesy irrespective of their sex, gender or sexual orientation.
“I believe passionately in inclusiveness and diversity and Martin Luther King’s ethos that we should treat every individual by what is within and not the colour of their skin.
“As a proud citizen of the UK, let alone as the Police and Crime Commissioner for Wiltshire, I will therefore not support any organisation that promotes a narrow ideology that is exclusive, divisive and potentially dangerous.
“I therefore agree entirely with the sentiments expressed by Lisa Townsend, the new Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey. Like her, I do not believe that the vast majority of women in this country wish to allow biological men into their private enclosed spaces such as women’s prisons and female toilets.
“That is a matter of public security and not inclusiveness.
“I will not therefore support any organisation that promotes such a narrow and exclusive agenda and if necessary, that includes Stonewall.”
The post appeared to garner mostly supportive comments. Martin McKenna labelled him a “voice of common sense and courage”, whilst others said he was “brave” for speaking out on the subject.
Trans councillor Helen Belcher, 57, who represents Corsham on Wiltshire Council, said Mr Wilkinson’s statement creates “real exclusion and division”.
“With his statement, the Commissioner has demonstrated that he doesn’t know the law as it currently stands”, she told Wiltshire 999s.
Continuing, Ms Belcher said: “Trans women have been legally included in women-only spaces for decades. This has been upheld by recent court decisions.
“The real exclusion and division is being created by individuals, such as the Commissioner, who, by their public statements, seem to want women’s rights reversed to the position in the 1950s, where how you look is more important than how you behave.”
