A meeting over a proposed ban on transgender swimmers at Hampstead Ladies’ Pond was abandoned last night after it descended into acrimony.
A group of female swimmers lost a bid to bar trans women from using the pond, which has been open to them since 2019.
Organisers closed the annual general meeting of the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond Association (KLPA) minutes later after angry women refused to heed calls to stop shouting, sources told the Mail.
Campaigners shouted ‘traitors’ and ‘shame on you’ after the meeting voted to continue to allow trans women to use the open-air venue on Hampstead Heath in north London.
Earlier, the meeting heard pleas from women who said they no longer felt safe using the pond because of the policy of ‘inclusivity’ towards trans swimmers.
A meeting over a proposed ban on transgender swimmers at Hampstead Ladies’ Pond (pictured) was abandoned last night after it descended into acrimony
A group of female swimmers lost a bid to bar trans women from using the pond (pictured: a sign outside the pond saying ‘women only’)
Women at the Women’s Bathing Pond on Hampstead Heath, London
Sources inside the meeting said women accused the all-female KLPA management committee of prioritising the rights of trans women over those who had been born female
Sources inside the meeting said women accused the all-female KLPA management committee of prioritising the rights of trans women over those who had been born female.
Campaigner Venice Allan warned of the risk of a rape or sexual assault against a woman at the pond and claimed it was the ‘inevitable’ result of the KLPA’s ‘trans inclusive policy’.
The Ladies’ Pond opened in 1926 and is billed as a ‘unique women-only space’ that ‘provides a place of refuge and security for women and girls of all ages’.
In 2019, the City of London Corporation, which manages Hampstead Heath, adopted a gender identity policy allowing trans women to use the pond. It said it was needed to be ‘fully compliant with the Equality Act 2010’.
Campaigners called on the KLPA to amend its constitution to include the phrase ‘biological female’ and said single-sex spaces were allowed for changing rooms and swimming pools under human rights legislation.
They accused the KLPA committee of prioritising the rights of trans swimmers over a larger number of women who wanted a female-only space, including those from religious communities whose beliefs mean they can swim only in female-only environments.
The Kenwood Ladies Pond has been open to transgender women since 2019
The Kenwood Ladies’ Pond (pictured), was officially opened in 1925, although swimmers had been using it for centuries
Members supporting the rights of trans women said a ban would be unfair and unlawful and questioned how it could be enforced.
The bid to change the KLPA constitution failed, with around three-quarters of the 200 votes cast against the resolution.
The two-hour meeting – which had opened with a plea for members to be kind and respectful – was then said to have descended into a shouting match.
Miss Allan posted a video on social media showing herself standing on a chair at the meeting, warning women that their vote had increased the likelihood of ‘an act of male sexual violence in a sacred women’s space’.
In a statement, the KLPA said all women were welcome to join.