As feminists of all genders, we stand with trans people

Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

We are a group of feminists, many of whom identify as lesbian or whose politics were influenced by lesbian culture. We are cisgender, we are non-binary and we are trans. We have all benefited from the deep analysis, radical lifestyle and astonishing bravery of the lesbian feminists who came before us – actions that we understood to be about dismantling the patriarchy, liberating all women from gendered oppression and reimagining the future.

Therefore, we were dismayed to see Pride in London being hijacked by a fringe group determined to divide the LGBTQIA+ community along the issue of trans rights, particularly rights for trans women.

This cannot stand.

We restate our support for trans people everywhere. Transitioning in a transphobic society is a brave – sometimes medical – decision. It is not a fad. We have a long way to go in defeating sexism, homophobia and transphobia. We have a long way to go to defeat the systems of class, border control and racism that reinforce them. But we know bigotry when we see it. We recognise the difference between critique and hatred.

Trans women are an essential part of an intersectional and successful feminist struggle. The astonishing campaign in Ireland to legalise abortion patently understood that abortion rights and trans rights go hand in hand. There are many other campaigns and acts of solidarity we can be engaged in, including:

• Speaking up for trans rights and helping reform the Gender Recognition Act
• Letter-writing to LGBTQI prisoners through Bent Bars project
• Donating to Action for Trans Health

Either you work for the liberation of all or you work for the liberation of no-one.

Jay Bernard, Nazmia Jamal, Natasha Nkonde, Chardine Taylor Stone and 123 others

There is no winning with a hard Brexit

It is clear that the arch-Brexiteers have lost the argument for a hard Brexit. If there is no agreement with Brussels, parliament will finally wake up to the impossibility of a no-deal Brexit, and will realise that the issue will have to be put back to the people. The Remainers will then have the opportunity to explain to the electorate much more explicitly, and with plenty of new information that was not available before the referendum, quite how disastrous crashing out of the EU would be for the UK.

At least the Brexiteers have some logic in wanting a clean break, even if the rest of us can see the total impracticality of it. Meanwhile, many commentators are still assuming that a soft Brexit is the only alternative.

But, as The Independent and many others keep pointing out, any form of soft Brexit will leave the UK materially worse off than staying as we are, and will present new practical difficulties in our day-to-day trading relations and political intercourse with Europe. Not least we will have to accept rules and regulations over which we have no control, nor any future role in amending or developing them.

How therefore can a soft Brexit possibly be better than staying fully within the EU, with all its trading advantages for us (and, yes, some constraints and bureaucratic idiocies), where we would nevertheless have a continuing role in shaping its future and helping to improve it?

Gavin Turner
Hanworth

Boris Johnson’s resignation is great news for Nazanin

The resignation of our foreign secretary leaves rather a hole in our government: who will now take on the role of representing Boris Johnson on the world stage? I imagine we’ll just have to settle for Jeremy Hunt acting in the interests of our nation and its citizens – good news, at least, for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has now been stuck in an Iranian prison for five years after Boris Johnson, with typical brashness, significantly worsened her position by absent-mindedly claiming that she had been over there training journalists when she was in fact merely visiting her family.

Julian Self
Milton Keynes

Trump policing costs could have toppled Scotland’s force

As the Catalan president Quim Torra visits Scotland and meets with our first minister, I assume that the extent of the Police Scotland operation to assure his personal safety amounts to little more than a couple of constables provided more out of courtesy than as the result of any risk assessment.

What a contrast to the £5m expense of policing Trump’s forthcoming golfing holiday which would have bankrupted the force had not the UK government bailed it out!

John Hein
Address supplied

How can politicians take a break with Brexit going on?

With all the turmoil the government is in, this year parliament should seriously consider not breaking up for the summer recess on 20 July.

MPs don’t return until 5 September – what could occur in that seven-week period?

What adverse effect will this almost two months delay have on addressing the whole Brexit issue?

I shudder to think.

Judi Martin
Aberdeenshire

A better foreign secretary

The death of Lord Carrington has thrown into stark relief the depths to which our current politicians have sunk. He served in a number of governments as a servant of the public and his party throughout his political career.

Of particular significance was his role as foreign secretary in Margaret Thatcher’s government, a post he resigned from following the invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentina, for which he took complete responsibility.

Compare his career and the decisions he made with that of our most recent foreign secretary, Boris Johnson. Two foreign secretaries, one honourable and dedicated to his country, the other not.

Kate Hall
Leeds

The real reason behind Tory politician resignations

One cannot help but think that the timing of David Davis and Boris Johnson’s resignations have more to do with avoiding the “perp walk” from Chequers to the main road, than any high-minded principles.

Liam Power
Dundalk