Hampstead Ladies’ Pond trans row ends in shouting match

In 2019 a new gender identity policy meant anyone can use Hampstead Heath’s Ladies’ Pond is they identify as female – ROSIE HALLAM

Transgender women will be allowed to continue using the Hampstead Ladies’ Pond, after a meeting on the issue descended into angry protests.

Gender critical campaigners are said to have shouted “traitors” and “shame on you” immediately after the vote at the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond Association (KLPA) AGM on Sunday.

Female swimmers lost a vote to bar trans women from swimming at the open-air venue on Hampstead Heath in north London, the Daily Mail reported.

Earlier, the two-hour-long meeting heard pleas from women who said they no longer felt safe using the pond because of the policy.

Venice Allan, one campaigner at the meeting, told attendees it was “inevitable” that women and girls will be sexually assaulted.

She accused organisers of creating a “fantasy porn set” for “perverted men”.

Venice Allan accused organisers of creating a ‘fantasy porn set’ for ‘perverted men’ at the KLPA agm

A video shared by Ms Allan online shows her standing on a chair and shouting to a packed hall after the vote: “That when the inevitable happens, as a result of your trans inclusive policy, that the majority of women, and, so I’m told, two men, have voted for today, and one of these men, that you’re so inclusive of, attack or rape a woman or girl, I want you to remember that you voted for that.

“I hope you wake up in the middle of the night and remember that you made that act of male violence in a sacred woman’s space possible.

“Until then, enjoy maintaining the fantasy porn set that you’ve created for these perverted men and maintaining their erections.

“You’ll be glad to hear that you won’t be seeing me there ever again until this single-sex policy is implemented”.

The Kenwood Ladies’ Pond opened in 1926 and is advertised as a “unique women-only space” that “provides a place of refuge and security for women and girls of all ages”.

Since 2019, it has been open to trans women when the City of London Corporation (CoLC), which runs the facility, adopted a new gender identity policy to be “fully compliant with the Equality Act 2010”.

A spokesman for (KLPA) said: “At the meeting members discussed business matters, including a proposed resolution from a member to amend the KLPA constitution to interpret the word woman ‘literally and biologically so that only those born female in sex can use the pond’, and elected the association’s management committee and officers for the next twelve months.

“The proposed resolution was rejected by a large majority of the members present at the AGM.

“The Ladies’ Pond is a space for women and girls. For some years the KLPA – a user group representing the interests of swimmers at the Ladies’ Pond – has been committed to helping to create and maintain there an inclusive environment for all women, including transgender women.

“In line with this policy all women, including transgender women, are welcome to join the KLPA, although the KLPA does not have any executive or administrative power in relation to the Ladies’ Pond which, as an integral part of Hampstead Heath, is owned and managed by the City of London Corporation.”

In a statement to the Daily Mail it said all women were welcome to join.

%n

Discover Telegraph Wine Cellar’s new wine club. Enjoy expertly chosen bottles at exclusive member prices. Plus, free delivery on every order.