For the best part Libertarians have looked on with interest and amusement at the current war between TERFS( Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists) and their Trans opponents. Hurling the usual magic spell words at each other (bigot, fascist, Nazi, fill in the blank with the sobriquet de jour) and each claiming the moral high ground.

There is a fairly simple libertarian solution to the issues surrounding the debate which I will come to later, but in the meantime it strikes me that there’s an aspect of this whole debacle that isn’t really being addressed and many people may have not considered or are not even consciously aware of.

It’s best to begin with asking the question “Who are the most discriminated against group?” You may well ask in which society but this group seems to get a raw deal regardless of which society or geographic location in which they reside. The prejudice against them disseminates across all races, creeds and classes and is common to both genders. (yes I said both).

I’m enormously in debt to comedian, writer and economist Dominic Frisby for his insightful highlighting of this particular form of discrimination and most of what I’m about to say has been covered far more eruditely in his YouTube video on the subject, a link to which I will provide at the end of this article.

The group to which I refer is what you would impolitely term Ugly people. Those considered to be less or un attractive have less chance of being employed, finding a partner, getting a loan/ mortgage or even getting into a night club. They have more chance of being abused, accused, vilified, ridiculed, getting arrested, being convicted, and even of suffering depression and committing suicide.

Yet no advocacy or pressure group that I’m aware of exists in the UK to lobby on their behalf. There has been no sustained campaign in the media giving them support and focusing on their plight. No one, as Frisby observes, is screaming “Ugly Lives Matter!” Perhaps because not many want to admit to being or label themselves as “ugly”. The only group extant to my knowledge is an Italian one. Club dei Brutti. The Association of Ugly People.

So what, you may ask, does this have to do with the Trans issue? Some of you may be ahead of me here. The fact of the matter is that some trans people are considered to be, politely put, less than attractive. It’s one thing to look stunning in an off the shoulder number a la The Ladyboys of Bangkok, and quite something else to look like a bandy builder in a frock who’s ate some lipstick and been punched in both eyes. (think comedian Leo Kearse in one of Frisby’s other videos)

Think about this. Who would object to a man in woman’s toilet who looks to all intents and purposes exactly like a woman and every bit as attractive? In the absence of actually waving their appendage about outside the confines of a cubicle, how would you know? On the other hand many people are instantly uncomfortable with someone who looks obviously masculine in woman’s attire. If you were a less than attractive man to start with the chances of you looking like an attractive woman are pretty slim.

Words you hear regularly to describe such people are “creepy” freakish” “sad” or “clownish”. Not flattering but people are allowed to express an opinion even if offensive. (or should be) So in short I think much, by no means all, of the pejudice experienced by trans people can be explained by the overiding aversion humans have to ugly people. Or at least those they consider to be ugly.

Let’s be clear here. I’m not denying biology. In my opinion a woman is an adult human female. I find no evidence for the existence of more than two genders. In the words of Rabbie Burns “A man’s a man fur a’ that” and he has a penis. But at the same time people have the right to live their lives as they wish as much is it harms no other. If a man chooses to live his life as a stereotypical woman and vice versa it’s no business of mine.

I’m also not denying the dangers posed to women by predatory males in female spaces such as prisons and toilets, and I find the notion of biological males in women’s sports both absurd and in many instances dangerous. Should certain women be perfectly happy to share their space, or compete in sport against biological males, who am I to prohibit that.

So on to that libertarian solution.

The first step is to recognise and defend property rights. Everyone has the right to make their own rules on their own property. That includes businesses. If a Café /Pub/ Night club wishes to have unisex toilets that’s their affair and if you aren’t comfortable with that go somewhere else that suits you.

The second is just as important. Uphold the right to freedom of association. Freedom of Association incorporates the right to exclude. For whatever reason. Feminists of course aren’t keen on that as it means that men have a right to exclude THEM. They want to retain their government dispensation of the exclusive right to discriminate based on sex afforded them through the Equality Act of 2010.

But what about public spaces? Well you know the libertarian answer to that one. Privatise.

What of prisons? I have to be honest here. Out of all the people in the world I might give a hoot about, those locked up for violating the rights of others are not my priority. Don’t bother me with assertions that women’s prisons are full of petty criminals. In this country if you are a woman and in prison.. It’s serious or you are a repeat offender. Drugs? Decriminalise.

Consider this. Violent male offenders are also a danger to other men. Especially young men. So why don’t we just segregate violent sex offenders from gen pop? Regardless of gender.

When it comes to sport it’s time for female athletes to unsubscribe from sporting bodies that don’t respect their wishes and form their own. Refuse to compete against biological males. Get government out of sport.

The ultimate irony here is that the strongest advocates for anti discrimination laws( contrary to free association) and the first to float the notion that gender was a social construct, were radical feminists.

Welcome to the cake you baked ladies.

Tastes awful. Doesn’t it.

Tam Laird  is leader of the SLP

Beauty Pays: Why Attractive People Are More Successful.

Daniel S. Hamermesh