In a war cry against… language… on Tuesday, Tory MP Nick Fletcher told Times Radio that asking people to observe pronouns based on anything but their birth-assigned gender is “asking people to lie”.
Lewis Hancox, a trans filmmaker and comedian, told Stonewall: “I worry for all the people that are trans and haven’t come out yet because all the negative press can make them think that they’re setting themselves up for such a hard life.
“It can scare people off from coming out or taking those steps to finally be happy.”
The comments of amber-encased relic Nick Fletcher and other ‘anti-woke’ Tory ministers are most damaging for people like Lewis. Representing trans* people as deceivers is blatantly transphobic, and can feel particularly damning when coming from figures of authority.
If you’re not entirely sure what a trans* person is, let me, a cis man, explain some things I’ve learnt.
Much of the discussion by the media is about things that are already protected under the Equality Act 2010. The Act prohibits discrimination based on gender reassignment, which does not have to include medical treatments or surgery, it can be as simple as informally changing your pronouns. This is a good thing and I want to take a second to brush away ‘fears’ and ‘concerns’ of toilets.
If you’re scared that a trans woman is a man in disguise seeking to abuse women, don’t be. Men already abuse women without going to the bother of pretending to be one. Trans people are not deceivers looking to infiltrate single sex spaces, they’re people who are looking to be respected and supported.
Teachers and doctors talking about trans issues does not make more children and young people think they are trans when they aren’t, and allowing young trans people to explore their gender identity and pronouns greatly reduces the risk of suicide and mental distress.
Why, then, are ignorant cis men in power seeking to oppress a group of people who, at the lowest estimate, represent 0.5% of the UK’s population?
This little soundbite from classless baboon, Nick Fletcher, came from a discussion about whether Education Secretary Gillian Keegan should intervene in the case of Joshua Sutcliffe.
Joshua was a 33-year-old maths teacher and evangelical Christian who was banned from teaching by the Teaching Regulations Authority due to misconduct allegations, including misgendering a student and stating that same-sex marriage is wrong. All complaints against him were upheld by the TRA.