A friend, comrade and colleague once said to me, apropos the sex and gender debate, that it was hard to navigate but the company kept was telling. Truth be told, my frequent agreement with right wing leaning people (and papers) causes me frequent pauses for reflection. 1/4

That's one reason why I'm enduringly grateful to the left wing feminists who set out the arguments so clearly without appeal to - or promotion of - conservative reactionaries who also happen to believe that sex is real and that it matters. 2/4

We have a lot of left leaning comrades to persuade, and we're having some successes, at least amongst the older, wiser, more experienced campaigners.

As ever, I don't set purity tests. I'll always work with those on common ground - centrists, Tories, SNP - but within reason. 3/4

Pandering to outright racists, aligning with fundamentalists won't help: and if you don't detect the underlying regressive currents in those allies, you're naive.

Maybe it's the strong whiff of homophobia I detect but these people aren't my allies.

We just happen to agree. 4/4