UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson shared a video about Pride to the official Downing Street account this week – LGBT+ users had some thoughts.
Johnson’s opening gambit of ‘hi folks’ managed to be wonderfully non-binary inclusive, the same can not be said of his Government.
“Why #Pride matters”
A Prime Ministerial acknowledgment of Pride in the UK from Boris Johnson, the man once unapologetically credited with calling gay people ‘tank top bum boys’, was branded ‘hollow’ by one social media user and poorly received by many others.
Largely due to the Government’s consistent shitting on the equal rights of track record on LGBTQ+ rights.
Why #Pride Matters. pic.twitter.com/XBj8frzPo3
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) June 20, 2022
As the UK celebrates 50 years of Pride in 2022, the current Conservative Government’s failings with regard LGBTQ+ people has been in the spotlight recently due to their collapsed promise of a trans-inclusive ban on conversion therapy.
The House of Commons (June 13) debated a petition signed by over 145,000 people calling for a trans-inclusive ban on the archaic practice, after Johnson scrapped plans for a ban covering all LGBTQ+ people.
The announcement to exclude trans people came despite the government’s own National LGBT Survey showing one in 10 trans people in the UK have been offered or have undergone conversion therapy, a practice which both Johnson and many members of his Government have openly acknowledged as being abhorrent.
The Government’s landmark international LGBT+ ‘Safe to be me’ conference, scheduled to take place this month to coincide with the 50th anniversary of London Pride, had to be cancelled after all the charities pulled out to protest the government’s handling on the matter.
In 2022, after a surge in LGBT+ related hate-crime reports in 2021, the UK plummeted down ILGA-Europe’s continental rankings for LGBT+ rights, falling from first place in 2014 to 14th this year.
As you can imagine, a video from the current government telling LGBT+ people ‘Why #Pride matters’ was met with just a *smidge* of incredulity from many.
Receipts:
You're an absolute disgrace. https://t.co/pBWcti3UbX
— Richard 🌈🏳️🌈 (@RJFirth) June 21, 2022
you have *excluded* trans people from your conversion therapy ban and you are currently trying to extricate the country from the ECHR – *HUMAN RIGHTS* so you can send people, among them LGBTQI people, to a country where they face almost certain death *because* they are LGBTQI https://t.co/1QGR8AS4Qa
— Luiseach Ní Nia (@Luiseach) June 21, 2022
What Boris Johnson really thinks is very different…. #Pride https://t.co/vru8448UhZ pic.twitter.com/Fez1NBHijo
— Andrew McBride 🐝 💚 (@andrewmcb) June 20, 2022
A gov't that:
Has neglected trans healthcare for 12 years.
Installed an incompetent EHRC head, who has attempted to undermine protections for trans people in equality law.
Installed a PM who has contempt for us.
Take our flag down, Boris, you're not worthy to fly it, scumbag. https://t.co/ojmRYr9xVK— Ash Routh 🏳️⚧️ (@AshRouth) June 21, 2022
Hollow words from a Government who are still content with deporting LGBT+ refugees to Rwanda despite their own report stating that LGBT+ people "regularly" face "arbitrary arrest and detention by state security forces without due process." #ToriesOut https://t.co/0qB0U9irIQ
— Chris Davis 🇺🇦 (@Chris_Davis1998) June 21, 2022
Boris Johnson said gay people are ‘tank top bum boys’ and compared equal marriage to three men marrying a dog.
The Tory government have also deported LGBT+ people to countries where LGBT+ people are criminalised and more Tory MPs voted against same sex marriage than for it. https://t.co/cqgNBjCI87— George Aylett (@GeorgeAylett) June 21, 2022
But you might end up on a plane to Rwanda. #ToryLies https://t.co/s6cfApsSts
— tartan lady (@tartanlady2) June 21, 2022
Boris Johnson, When are you going to acknowledge & apologise for calling gay men "Tank-topped bumboys" in 1998?
What about in 2000 when stating LGBTQ+ education was an "Appalling agenda".
How about when you stated that same sex marriage was like "three men and a dog" being wed? https://t.co/ojX1G4zk5I— Amy 🌙 (@AnxietySugar_) June 21, 2022
You are happy to send LGBTQ+ refugees to Rwanda where it is not safe to be LGBTQ+.
Your government is all show and no substance. https://t.co/6cVDryjc98— Lily Soaper 4 WM Lab Student Rep (@lilysoaper) June 21, 2022