The NZ Greens have shown themselves to be the most intolerant party in NZ, and I do not say that lightly. They claim to be tolerant and to support diversity, but within their ranks they ruthlessly purge their party of anyone who dares to express a non-party-sanctioned opinion.
I am not talking about a Green party politician refusing to vote as directed by his or her party, which understandably is something to be sanctioned for. What I am referring to is a Green party politician simply expressing an alternative viewpoint in a reasonable and logical way.
We first glimpsed how ruthless the Green party is and how intolerant they are of diversity of thought when they booted two long term MPs from their ranks. The two principled MPs had joined the public calls for Green co-leader and self admitted benefit fraudster Metiria Turei to resign.
Turei clung to power for as long as she could, but eventually she was forced to resign due to the public outcry. The Green MPs, however, who had called for her resignation because of the damage it was doing publicly to the party, were rewarded for their common sense by being booted from the party. They, not Turei, were labelled as the trouble makers.
When Metiria Turei announced her benefit fraud in 2017 she immediately lost Middle New Zealand. Despite her claim that she was working with WINZ, there has never been any confirmation that she has paid back what she fraudulently took. After Turei’s resignation, one of the booted Green MPs asked to be allowed back into the party, but James Shaw refused, showing that the Green party not only are intolerant, they also hold a grudge.
The latest example of the Green party’s intolerance of diversity of thought within their ranks is their response to what they incorrectly described as an “transphobic article”.
Green member’s ‘transphobic’ article sparks outrage among party
A veteran Green Party feminist and lesbian activist has sparked a storm among party members by warning that MPs’ attitudes to transgender issues risks undermining women’s rights.
This is not an unusual point of view. Worldwide feminists in the West have been standing up for women’s rights against increasingly militant Trans lobby groups. Left-wing militant feminists who previously butted heads with traditional conservative feminists are now butting heads with militant left-wing Trans activists. They are discovering to their horror that being a gay feminist is lower on the victimhood totem pole than being a white male transwoman. Instead of getting support from their left-wing comrades they are being called transphobic no matter how carefully they couch their concerns.
Jill Abigail wrote an article for the party’s online newsletter Te Awa in response to comments by MP Jan Logie that the party was trying to resist a backlash against trans people.
Party co-leader Marama Davidson says the article put the right of trans people to exist up for debate, and should never have been published.
Marama Davidson is doing more damage to the Green party’s middle New Zealand vote than Metiria Turei, and that is saying something. Her claim about the article is complete horsefeathers. The fact that the Green party removed the article, thereby silencing one of their party’s long term members, feminist Jill Abigail, shows just how intolerant of diversity the party is.
It’s since been removed and the party says the newsletter editor has apologised for publishing it. But Jill Abigail rejects claims it was transphobic or hateful.
rnz.co.nz/news/political/398076/green-party-members-resign-over-trans-rights-critical-newsletter-article
In the newsletter Abigail, pointed out how trans rights now encroach on women’s rights and safe spaces.
Jill Abigail wrote the article after Green MP Jan Logie published comments in the previous Te Awa issue, that the party was “resisting backlash against gender diverse people”.[…]
“My article listed the facts of what has been happening in countries where new legislation to ensure trans gender rights have confused gender with biological sex and is resulting in the loss of women’s rights, and free speech on the issue being completely shut down,”[…] My article has been labelled as transphobic and hate speech and yet I said in it trans people are a vulnerable group that until recently has been excluded from general consideration and now justly claim their right to be treated with equal respect”, she said.
She said she knew of members who had resigned due to the “anti-women” nature of Green Party policies.
the Te Awa magazine board [said] “We regret that the article was published without a response or right of reply from the affected community, and that our party policy wasn’t made clear.”
It said the party upheld the value of diversity and inclusion and it was working with the Rainbow Greens on next steps.
Rachael Bailey, who has been a member for 11 years and identifies as agendered, was horrified by the content of the article and that it was allowed to be published.
[…] Former co-leader of the party and current member Jeanette Fitzsimons was surprised to hear the piece had been taken down.
“The Green Party always stood for frank and honest opinions, even if people don’t agree with them.
[…] Ms Fitzsimons said she did not necessarily agree with what Ms Abigail wrote but she that had a right to express herself.