A number of interesting developments came out of the final Full Council meeting of 2025. One comment that has sparked outrage amongst trans liberation activists came from Cllr Dulcie Tudor, which addressed the recent Supreme Court ruling on sex and gender.

In Tuesday’s meeting, Cllr Dulcie Tudor of Threemilestone and Chacewater asked Council Leader Leigh Frost:

“Is a transwoman, i.e. a man who identifies as a woman, a woman?”

The Independent councillor has asked similar questions at Lys Kernow in the past, last year raising whether teachers were supporting “vulnerable children” to socially transition without the knowledge of their parents, accusing Cornish schools of creating pipelines from “classroom to clinic”.

Cllr Tudor’s question was conspicuously timed, following a question from Cllr Gripper which raised the issue that the volume of reported hate crimes based on gender identity had risen in Cornwall.

This question was asked to Cllr Thalia Marrington, Portfolio holder for Community Safety & Public Health, who is a supporter of Liberal Voice for Women, a ‘gender-critical’ fringe group within the Lib Dems campaigning against gender-affirming care and rights for trans people. She stated that the increase in transgender hate crime had informed the Safer Cornwall Partnership Plan refresh.

Dulcie Tudor has faced several controversies in her eight-year career as a councillor, including receiving complaints about her behaviour from a senior council officer after criticising a constituent who identifies as a Gypsy. About mandatory training, she stated that she “believes that some of the mandatory training should be optional, highlighting the climate and the diversity elements, which she says should be left to people’s own beliefs.”

Tudor is not alone in her views. In the same meeting on 25th Nov, Lib Dem Cllr Juliet Line asked about a clinical trial of puberty blockers, and sought reassurance that Cornwall’s 636 children in care would be safeguarded against taking part in this. She made claims about the long-term impacts of the medical treatment.

The clinical trial comes after puberty blockers were banned indefinitely by the UK Government following the release of the Cass Review, an NHS-commissioned report that has repeatedly been criticised for misusing data and lacking scientific integrity. Furthermore, only children who are already accessing gender services will be considered for the trial. NHS studies have found that accessing puberty blockers greatly improves the quality of life for transgender or gender-questioning children, acting as a valuable intervention to prevent distress caused by puberty. The decision to ban them has been deemed a “cruel decision” by trans activists.

The recording of this question was reposted by Cllr Tudor, describing it as an “excellent question”. At a past council meeting, Line gave a speech about the Supreme Court ruling on sex and gender which was reposted on YouTube by Liberal Voice for Women.

The group have gone so far as to table motions banning trans women from standing in roles reserved for women. In 2022, Juliet Line signed a letter to the editor of the Telegraph, urging a pause on the bill to ban conversion therapy. Her name was amongst prominent transphobic figures such as Graham Linehan and Prof. Jo Phoenix.

The largest Cornwall-specific media outlet, Cornwall Live has repeatedly platformed the woes of Cllr Tudor. Tudor’s questions about the definition of women has been covered extensively, with the most recent report neglecting to mention any comment about the aforementioned increase in hate crime. Her feelings of ostracism resulting from her transphobic views have also been covered at length. Cornwall Live journalist Lee Trewhela’s coverage of Tudor’s activity displays a level of not-insignificant leniency towards her.

In response to Cllr Tudor’s question, Falmouth Trans Collective, Cornwall’s leading explicitly-radical trans rights campaign group, said:

“If a Councillor, or anyone else for that matter, proposed this question about any other minority then they would be faced with immediate backlash, and hopefully removal from their position. Instead, bigotry like this against transgender and non-binary people has been presented as a matter of opinion, rather than the hatred it actually represents. Rhetoric like ‘saving the children’ or ‘protecting women’ that is used to excuse transphobia ignores the increasing number women and children that are harmed by it, be it cisgender or transgender people.

“The trans community are currently scared, hopeless and in danger. It is not a debate to us. It is a fight for our very lives, for our existence and our right to live in peace.

“281 transgender and nonbinary lives have been lost this past year to anti-trans violence worldwide. Transphobic hate crimes are exponentially rising. There is no place for this hatred anywhere, especially not in Cornwall where there are a huge amount of trans people seeking refuge, but also just hoping to live. We are scared and just wish to be left alone. It is danger that has forced us to be a vocal presence, fighting back for rights we have lost or predict will be taken away in the next few years. We are terrified of what they will strip from us next, be it access to healthcare, bathrooms or public changing areas; our place in British society is systematically and deliberately being erased. Cllr Dulcie Tudor is just a sad example of someone who has been indoctrinated into rampant transphobic rhetoric but make no mistake that she is instigating violence with her words and actions. This should not be allowed to stand. Trans Rights are Human Rights.”

Cobblestone Media approached Councillors Tudor, Line, and Marrington for comment on their respective records on this issue. In her comment, Cllr Tudor simply responded:

“Trans is not real. No-one can change sex. Blocking puberty of children is child abuse.”

Cllr Line gave a comparatively measured response, which included a number of clarifications on her conduct both with the Liberal Democrat Party and in her capacity as a councillor.

She clarified that she ran in the Lib Dem Federal Committee as part of the Liberal Voice for Women slate. Line emphasised that in her speech to Full Council on 22nd July, she was attempting to call on the Council to “observe the law, and for single sex spaces to be maintained.”

In another section of her comment, she stated that she was happy with the assurance given from Cllr Frank about children in care in Cornwall regarding the puberty blocker clinical trial. And she also confirmed that she was “proud to be a founder member” of the organisation Liberal Voice for Women.

Cllr Marrington gave no comment. The next Cornwall Council meeting is in January of 2026, proposed questions to the Leader of the Council have not yet been made public.

Image Via: Cornwall Council.