Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats is a British political party. It was formed in 1988 by a merger between the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party (a remnant of the old Liberal Party survives as the post-1988 Liberal Party).
From 2010 to 2015 the Liberal Democrats were in a coalition government with the Conservative Party.
The LGBT group within the party is LGBT+ Liberal Democrats. There is a separate LGB Liberal Forum set up in 2022 [1].
Notable LGBT people within the Liberal Democrats include Baroness Barker, Simon Hughes, Brian Paddick, and David Laws.
In 2022 the LGBAlliance were booked to attend the annual party conference but subsequently Mike Dixon, the CEO of the Liberal Democrats tweeted that there had been an ‘administrative error’ and that the group were not welcome. Around the same time a new LGB Lib Dem group was formed.
In 2025 a bid to remove trans women from Liberal Democrat gender-based diversity quotas was blocked by party members at their annual conference. Dr Zoe Hollowood, a member of campaign group Liberal Democrat Voice for Women, wanted a debate - and then a binding vote - on updating party policy in light of the Supreme Court ruling that a woman should be defined by biological sex. But Conference rejected the debate by 2 to 1 votes [2].
External links
http://www.libdems.org.uk/home.aspx
- ↑ https://lgbliberalforum.org.uk/
- ↑ Lib Dems reject debate on blocking trans women from gender diversity quotas BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy0vvle9w7zo 20 Sept 2025