Swimmers at London’s famous Hampstead ponds today waded into the controversy over transgender swimmers getting access to the female-only waters – with mixed opinions.
The row was the only subject of conversation at the north London bathing mecca today – after a women’s rights group had denounced managers for ‘failing to acknowledge their concerns’ about the use of the women-only pool by transgender people.
The Women’s Rights Network (WRN) has accused the Kenwood Ladies Pond Association (KLPA) of being ‘high-handed and undemocratic’ by dismissing its attempt to ban trans women from the facility on Hampstead Heath.
But committee chiefs claim any such move would be ‘unlawful’, having taken legal advice on the move – but the local WRN branch claims it has refused to release the advice to members.
Today as the ponds were busy with bathers despite the forbidding weather, swimmers were divided on what should be done on the question .
The row about shared pools in Hampstead was the only subject of conversation at the north London bathing mecca today
Swimmers at London’s famous Hampstead ponds today waded into the controversy over transgender swimmers getting access to the female-only waters – with mixed opinions
The Women’s Rights Network (WRN) has accused the Kenwood Ladies Pond Association (KLPA) of being ‘high-handed and undemocratic’
Committee chiefs claim any such move would be ‘unlawful’, having taken legal advice on the move
Graphic designer Aimee Capstick, 35 (pictured) says that she has no problem with transgender people using the pond
Aimee Capstick,35, who uses the women’s’ pond regularly said: ‘I do not have a problem with transgender people swimming next to me.’
The graphic designer added: ‘Transgender people are just normal people trying to live a normal life. There’s no problem.’
But yoga teacher Jane Jones said she would feel ‘uncomfortable’ if a transgender person joined her either in changing cubicles or in the pond where entry signs warn visitors the area is meant for ‘women only.’
Ms Jones, 48, of Finchley said: ‘The pond is designed to be a safe space for women only.
‘I would feel very uncomfortable if there was a transgender person next to me while I’m changing or swimming. I have nothing against transgender people, but it is a pond meant for women only and that’s the way it should be.
‘It is a very difficult, very complicated matter for everyone.
‘I have a nephew who is 23 years old and who is transitioning. But that is the way I feel about it when I am swimming. There’s always a mixed pond which might seem better for transgender people. ‘
Retired civil servant Fiona Willis, 68, who swam in the 9C water today, said: ‘It is only becoming an issue for being an issue, unfortunately.
Retired civil servant Fiona Willis, 68 (pictured) has been swimming in the pond for 25 years
‘I have been swimming in this pond for 25 years, and I know that the lifeguards have been dealing with this in their own way discreetly for years and years and years.
‘ I did hear about a person with a hairy body in a bikini who had been a man or may have been transgendering but it’s still not a worry.
‘After all, one might not be certain if somebody was born a woman or is transgender.
‘But we are all here to swim and that’s it.’
Retired fashion expert Colin Swift,64, who worked with an array of stars including Elizabeth Taylor, Prince and Grace Jones, said: ‘We need to move on.
‘ I grew up in the seventies in the era of glam rock, disco and punk, when I saw every type of body, shape or sexual being. This should not be a big deal.
‘People just need a reason to have something to argue about as they have nothing else to do and when this is done they will move onto something else’
Retired fashion expert Colin Swift, 64 (pictured) believes ‘People just need a reason to have something to argue about’
But Jackie Dean, 52, a nurse, said: ‘If am swimming in the pond, which is meant for women only, and I felt there was a transgender person next to me, it would not immediately make me feel negative about it.
‘Though I can understand some women not finding it so easy to accept as it is supposed to be an area where we as women can go and be away from the opposite sex.
‘But it’s very complicated when you talk about people who have transgendered because they are women now and we would do good to accept them as they are. Nobody wants to hurt anyone.’
Graduate Joe Wilson, 23, who is working in a pub, said: ‘ I am a man who has not transitioned.
‘But if I went into that women’s pond, and said that I had, legally, then nobody can stop me because the law would be on my side. But I’m sure that the lifeguards would intercede – I hope that they would.
‘That pond is for women to feel protected and feel that they are in their own space. And I agree with that.’
Graduate Joe Wilson, 23 (pictured) thinks the pond should make women feel protected
There are already men-only and mixed swimming lakes in the area, while the women’s pond boasts famous members such as Kate Moss, Helena Bonham-Carter and Emma Thompson.
The row emerged after the KLPA was asked to update its constitution around the use of the word ‘woman’ at its annual general meeting, calling for it to be ‘interpreted literally and biologically so that only those born female in sex can use the pond’.
The pond itself has been open to trans women since 2010, when the City of London Corporation (CoLC) – responsible for running the facility – adopted a new gender identity policy.
Heather Binning, founder of the Women’s Rights Network told MailOnline: ‘The Kenwood Ladies Pond Association has consistently misrepresented the law and failed in its constitutional duty by refusing to acknowledge women’s concerns about men accessing the Ladies Pond.
‘The Equality Act and subsequent guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission makes it clear that single-sex spaces are lawful in a number of situations including changing rooms and swimming sessions.
‘The committee claims to have taken legal advice on this, but is refusing to share that advice with members and at least one member of the management committee.’
An unnamed spokeswoman for the Haringey and Islington branch of the WRN claimed the committee had ‘consistently failed to respond to concerns raised by members and wilfully refuse to acknowledge that many pond users object’ to the use of the pool by trans women.
The spokeswoman added: ‘A number of WRN members who are also regular pond users and members of the Kenwood Ladies Pond Association have raised concerns about the high-handed and undemocratic behaviour of the management committee.’
‘We hope the management committee will see sense, and act in accordance with the KLPA Constitution and start listening to its members.
‘However we fear that their refusal to share the AGM agenda and legal advice and statements that the media will be barred from the meeting give us very little faith they will do the right thing.’
Walkers on Hampstead Heath were split on whether the group was entitled to object to the use of the pool by trans women.
A woman walking her dog on Hampstead Heath, who did not want to be named, said: ‘I can understand the women’s frustration. Not every space has to be open to everyone.
‘I imagine this is an important space to them. It’s about feeling safe and comfortable, isn’t it?’
But a female runner, who also wanted to remain anonymous, said: ‘It makes sense that it would be illegal to ban trans people [from the Women’s Pond]. It’s discrimination, isn’t it?’
Asked about the debate around women’s spaces, the woman, who lives just a 10 minute walk from Hampstead Heath, replied: ‘Trans women are women though, aren’t they?’
Pauline Latchem and Beth Feresten, co-chairs of the KLPA, said in a statement: ‘The KLPA management committee has appended to the AGM papers a formal response explaining that it is in receipt of legal opinion that the proposal is likely to be unlawful and that, pending further legal advice, the amendment may be removed from consideration at the AGM.
‘In addition, the committee officers have reiterated that all women are welcome to join the KLPA and recorded their opinion that it would be irresponsible and contrary to good governance to recommend to the membership a proposal that is likely to be unlawful as well as impossible to enforce.’
The ladies only pond had been seen as a safe haven for women due to the absence of men.
Other opponents of the transgender policy have cited the fact that Muslim women and Orthodox Jewish women face being excluded from the pond due to their religion.
But a user of X, previously known as Twitter, posted a screenshot of the proposal on the social media platform calling supporters of the corporation’s policy within the KLPA ‘self-hating women’.
The user, @esjayXX, said: ‘We have a ladies swimming pond in London (as well as a men’s and a mixed sex).
Members of ‘Man Friday’ disrupt the men only bathing session at Hampstead Heath Pools in a protest over the gender fluid situation rule imposed on the Women only pool nearby in May 2018
A protester and member of ‘Man Friday’ wears a fake beard in May 2018
In May 2018, a group of female activists staged a protest next to the men’s pool of Hampstead Heath.
The group, which called themselves Man Friday, faced a barrage of abuse and threats from hardline transgender activists who branded them ‘terfs’ (trans-exclusionary radical feminists).
One woman sported a pantomime beard; another wore a lime green mankini, a male version of a bikini.
The women chose the male outdoor swimming pond for their demonstration against the change to allow trans women to use the women’s pond and female changing rooms.
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