Rishi Sunak pledges to fight “woke nonsense” as trans lives continue to be weaponised in the Tory leadership race.
As the Tory leadership race edges closer to a conclusion, with Liz Truss now leading the polls as favourite to take the top spot, a critical few days in the leadership contest lie ahead.
In February 2022, Truss, in her role as equalities minister, said the government “has no interest” in banning trans people from single-sex spaces.
At an LBC event on July 28, she made a number of comments, including that she wants to “protect single-sex spaces” and doesn’t support under-18s making “irreversible decisions about their own bodies”
Transition surgery is already only legal for over 18s in the UK, however people over 16 can access gender-affirming hormone therapy, which can cause irreversible changes, provided they have been on puberty blockers for at least 12 months. Although, under current services , the wait time for that is ridiculous and availability scarce.
In any instance, amidst the leadership race, added to all the usual TERF nonsense on Twitter, LGBTQ+ tags have been top trending topics almost consistently for the past few days and, today (July 30), the conversation online turned to Section 28.
The reason? A series of particular wordings from one competitor for the top spot, Rishi Sunak, which included lines like: “shield children from inappropriate material” (Section 28 was a UK law that existed from 1988 – 2003 which prohibited “the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities”, to “protect children”.)
Addressing members in West Sussex on Saturday, per Guardian, he will say: “What’s the point in stopping the bulldozers in the green belt if we allow left-wing agitators to take a bulldozer to our history, our traditions and our fundamental values?”
“Whether it’s pulling down statues of historic figures, replacing the school curriculum with anti-British propaganda or rewriting the English language so we can’t even use words like ‘man’, ‘woman’ or ‘mother’ without being told we’re offending someone?”
Sunak will outline plans which, under his leadership, would see a review the 2010 Equality Act and associated guidance, stipulating that “sex means biological sex”.
He will also promise to ensure children are “shielded from inappropriate material”, with statutory measures in place for topics like relationships and sex education.
Sunak said of the 2010 Equality Act that the legislation – which ensures people with protected characteristics are not discriminated against – was “conceived in the dog days of the last Labour government”.
Then adding, “It has been a Trojan horse that has allowed every kind of woke nonsense to permeate public life” and, “My government would review the Act to ensure we keep legitimate protections while stopping mission creep”, reports Sky News.
His plan to “protect British freedoms” also includes a promise to “protect free speech” by ensuring organisations “are open and welcoming” to people with differing political opinions and religious and philosophical world views, “putting a stop to practices such as no-platforming”.
The fear with this, of course, being that it could be a green light to be discriminatory in the workplace, should that just happen to be your ‘philosophical world view’.
The former chancellor also said he wants to clarify that gender self-identification does not have legal sway, echoing previous statements where he opposed trans woman being allowed to compete in women’s professional sports.
Currently under the Equality Act, trans people have a legal right to access single-sex spaces, including public bathrooms, that match their gender.
Despite previously saying he had “zero interest in fighting a so-called culture war”, Sunak’s latest policy announcement clearly indicate that not to be the case.
Here’s what Twitter has been saying:
Rumours Rishi’s team think he’s out of the running for the leadership & Rishi announcing he’ll introduce Section 28 for trans people happening on the same day is definitely pure coincidence & not again proving that trans people are a Tory’s fave distraction tactic from bad press
— Arthur Webber 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ (@BernieTranders) July 30, 2022
Really cool that Rishi Sunak is threatening to bring back Section 28, which will no doubt prompt Liz Truss to pledge that she will also bring in an even worse version of Section 28, and it’ll just ramp up until one of them promises to personally execute three trans people a day.
— Fancy Brenda 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ (they/them) (@SpillerOfTea) July 30, 2022
If the next Tory leader tries to reintroduce some form of Section 28 (as is looking likely), let’s take to the streets in huge numbers every day we can until its stopped.
If they think the LGBTQ community is going to be their punching bag, they are in for a huge shock.
— Jack Duncan 🏳️🌈 (@JackDunc1) July 30, 2022
“Leaving kids alone” is the assumption that all kids grow up straight until some become gay. I knew I was different from my friends in primary school, I just didn’t know what to call it. Section 28 meant I didn’t find out until I was 16 by which time it was a badge of shame.
— Scott Cuthbertson (@ScotCuthbertson) July 23, 2022
I can no longer support @RishiSunak as he attacks our equalities legislation and seeks to divide our country after he said he wanted to unite us. Attacking minorities rather than solving the cost of living crisis is just wrong @LGBTCons @Conservatives https://t.co/BcoI8lm2fN
— Sue Pascoe (She/Her) (@suepascoe001) July 30, 2022
Rishi Sunak, can you try cutting the cost of living so people can actually survive rather than expressing how utterly transphobic you are? People are begging and stealing for food but yeah it’s a huge issue that a kid wants to feel comfortable at school, how dare they right?
— Patsy Stevenson (@PatsyeStevenson) July 30, 2022
Worst thing about this is I don’t think he even believes it (or at least doesn’t care either way). Millionaire Rishi Sunak is merely taking another shit on the vulnerable after he’s crunched the numbers (badly) and thinks it’ll help his flailing campaign to play prime minister. https://t.co/5BMopBAY9L
— James Felton (@JimMFelton) July 30, 2022
I knew this was going to happen – but I thought it would be Truss, not Sunak. They’re trying to out-TERF each other and it’s not going to end well. Bathroom bills incoming in 3… 2… 1…https://t.co/E0Zv8Bb61d
— Andie Darlington 🏳️⚧️ (@andiedarlington) July 29, 2022
Attacking asylum seekers didn’t work, so now it’s the turn of the LGBTQ+ community. Always the same. Whether it is racists, transphobes, homophobes etc, bigotry is wrapped up as “legitimate concerns” and leads to minorities being discriminated against.https://t.co/Dm2doJwd4D
— Daniel Sohege 🧡 (@stand_for_all) July 30, 2022