Kezia Dugdale

speaker

126 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Apr 2026 last heard 20 Apr

Kezia Dugdale’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Apr 2026 with 1.

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Today in Focus · Stonewall’s new chair on trans rights, JK Rowling and the future of the LGBTQ+ movement · 20 Apr 2026 podcast

We want to be in the messy grey bit in the area because that's where progress and consensus is found.

I certainly understand that, and I think that's a fair position, and I think the organisation understands that too now, which is why when you look at our renewed strategy, it is about navigating this turbulence, it's about listening, it's about engaging.

I don't think anyone was forgotten in that process.

I think the whole country's spent an awful lot of time on these issues in quite a divisive and damaging way.

personally very sorry that a lot of the women that I've campaigned alongside for decades in the labour movement and I sit on a different side of the conversation about gender, that's hard.

And some of the fractures in those relationships I've contributed to with the language that I might have used in the past.

So what I'm talking about is, I think there's a process of healing for all of us who've gone through this really difficult debate in recent times, where we have to recognise now that

that the nature of the conversation that we've had might actually be damaging to LGBT rights in the round and that we might not always agree with each other but we do need to live side by side with each other in this movement and actually linking arms and stepping forward together and focusing on things like the ban on conversion therapy, financial equality, getting justice for military veterans, all these live issues which deserve some airspace now is a really good way for us to come back together as a movement and focus on the future.

So I have a huge respect for JK Rowling.

I've had the pleasure of meeting her before.

I think her story and how she came to be this prolific, incredible children's writer in the city as a single mum writing in a cafe is phenomenal.

phenomenal and an inspiration to so many women across the country.

I think she's been a really powerful political advocate about improving the lot of single mums, making a case for tackling poverty and inequality in all its forms and there is absolutely a place for her in public life to share her experiences and tell her story and make a difference.

I understand that.

And I have also heard JK Rowling and other people who hold a different position on these issues to me describe with a similar rawness how they've experienced being opposed for their views.

And I just think...

You know, the days of these culture wars, about sitting in polar extremes from each other, should be behind us now.

You know, a bit of kindness, a bit of generosity of spirit, a willingness to get into the grey area, to talk about these things calmly, try and find common ground, is the only path through this, and it's one that I'm committed to.

So it's the law and it should be respected.

And I think a big thing that we need to understand is that for it to be respected, it needs to be understood.

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