A women’s health campaigner and former local Labour women’s officer has been banned from the party’s women’s conference because she is trans.
Steph Richards is ‘gutted’ to have been effectively labelled a man by the party which she said once selected her as a candidate from an all-women shortlist.
The activist, who served as CEO of an endometriosis charity, also says the conference will miss out on her vital expertise on women’s health challenges.
Labour voted last year to exclude trans women from taking part in formal proceedings at the women’s conference in Liverpool this September following the Supreme Court ruling on sex last year.
Metro revealed yesterday that four powerful Labour unions – Unison, Aslef, Usdaw, and the Musicians’ Union – are boycotting the event over the ban.
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Prior to the Supreme Court ruling, Labour allowed people who self-identified as women, including trans women, to attend.
One of these was Steph, 74, who first joined her local Portsmouth Labour branch in 2018, and attended the party’s women’s conference in 2022.
She told Metro: ‘I remember getting an email from the General Secretary at that time, which ended with the words “equality for all”.
‘I’m sure at that time Labour Party was the party of equality. I don’t think that’s the case anymore.’
Not long after joining, Steph, who worked on research around pregnancy and baby loss, says she was asked to become the local party’s women’s officer.
In the role, she organised marches around violence against women and girls and campaigned for a Women’s Health Hub for Portsmouth.
For her work she was honoured with an Inspirational Woman of Portsmouth Award in 2023.
Steph says Labour also picked her from an all-women shortlist to stand as their candidate in Fratton ward in Portsmouth, at the 2024 local elections.
Steph, who is the founder of trans activist organisation TransLucent, said: ‘I’ve constantly worked for women. I’m a huge, massive feminist.
‘Then the For Women Scotland judgement came out.’
The Supreme Court ruling that the term ‘women’ in the Equality Act referred to biological sex at birth and that a GRC does not make a person legally a woman in respect of single-sex spaces.
A gender recognition certificate (GRC) allows someone to have their acquired gender legally recognized in the UK.
The Supreme Court ruling prompted public bodies, including political parties, to scramble to draw up new guidance on transgender inclusion.
Labour cancelled their women’s conference that year after it received legal advice.
In December last year, the party’s National Executive Committee voted to ban trans women from taking part in formal proceedings at the women’s conference, including main hall speeches and policy debates.
Steph said: ‘I’m appaled if I’m really honest. I deserve to be a delegate there.
‘I’ve done everything to make me happy as a woman and I get treated like this. I’ve got a gender recognition certificate and I’m post-operative
‘One year the Labour Party are telling me, ‘Steph, you’re a woman’, and literally two years later, they’re saying, “you’re a man, and you’re banned”.
‘I’m banned by the Labour Party from even putting my bum on a seat at a conference.’
Steph is particularly upset that she won’t be able to go to Liverpool to share her expertise on Women’s health issues.
From 2023, she worked as chief executive and later parliamentary adviser for Endometriosis South Coast in Portsmouth, Hampshire.
Steph said: ‘I’m also sorry for all the delegates that’s going to women’s conference this year, because they’re being robbed of my expertise in areas around pregnancy, baby loss, violence against women and girls.’
She was forced to quit as parliamentary adviser at the charity in April 2026 following backlash from former Home Secretary Suella Braverman and others.
The MP posted that at the time that it was ‘remarkable that a charity established to advocate for women’s health would appoint a man, without female anatomy or experience of this disease, to speak for those whose suffering is defined by their sex’.
Trans women will still be able to attend fringe events, which will be open to everyone regardless of their sex or gender.
But Steph said this was ‘pathetic’ as the fringe events consist of ‘about half a dozen stalls about not even necessarily around women’s issues’.
She added: ‘In other words, you’re an outsider.’
Steph said that despite the ban she tried to put her name forward to attend Women’s Conference in September, but that Labour’s legal department wrote to the Portsmouth branch to say her name could not go forward.
She said she attempted to raise funds for a legal challenge against Labour but decided not to pursue it to focus on campaigning on the wider issues facing trans people.
Responding to criticisms of the trans ban, Labour Party spokesperson told Metro yesterday: ‘Labour is committed to advancing women in politics and to providing opportunities for all members to network, debate and contribute.
‘Labour’s Women’s Conference reflects our commitment to addressing the underrepresentation of women in the Party, inclusion for all, and compliance with the law.’
Metro contacted Labour for comment about Steph Richards’ story.
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