Making a transphobic “joke” in front of the mother of a murdered trans girl – whose killers were ruled to be motivated in part by transphobia – is some next-level cartoon-style villainy.
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Rishi Sunak made a joke yesterday about how Kier Starmer can’t even define a woman.
No one should be making transphobic comments in parliament (or at all) and let’s not lie to ourselves that had it been any other day, anyone else in the audience other than Esther Ghey, the response from the MPs would’ve been silence. The boos and jeers? They were for the media, for clout because any other day of the week, transphobic comments are normal in the current government (and in some of the shadow cabinet).
Rishi Sunak refuses to apologise for his comments, saying he was right to point out that Keir Starmer has backpeddled over the issues of trans rights.
And in that he is correct. Keir Starmer has back-peddled, and he is right to point it out. That’s not the problem.
It’s the way he did it, the words he chose, the smile he had when he decided that trans women were good for a put-down. Rishi Sunak punches down and while I’m not surprised, I am angry.
Certain people gleefully enjoy punching down and trans women in particular are the current target in a long line of minorities for mediocre comedians, bigoted politicians trying desperately to hold onto their jobs and gender-critical people who seemingly need a hobby. As I’ve stated before, the Tories don’t particularly care about trans people either way but what they do care about is money and votes. The same goes for Ricky Gervais, he’s making money from his transphobia, and so do other gender-critical voices. There is good money to be had in hate.
Rishi Sunak knows an election is coming, he knows what the polls are telling him, and he knows he could lose to Labour even under the shitty leadership of Keir Starmer. We’re a country stuck between a rock and a hard place, and he knows we’re willing to choose a hard place if it means the Tories lose power. We’re at breaking point, the rise of hate crimes, homelessness, poverty and violence only rising and we’re desperate for change.
Not to forget, no one voted for Sunak.
None of the Tory party leaders, the past few PMs, have been anything but cartoon villains, hell-bent on destroying the country if it weren’t for some meddling trans kids. We don’t need to unmask them though, we don’t need to expose them. They do that themselves, time after time and yet we’re still no closer to getting these scooby-doo-esque villains out of parliament.
I urge you, if you haven’t already, to register to vote. You can do so online here and even register for a postal vote. Remember you need ID to vote now – A provisional license is an option as well as a Voter Authority Certificate.
Look for the policies of the other parties. Labour isn’t much cop, but look to see what the Lib Dems are saying and what they’re doing, the SNP, Plaid, The Green Party. There are options. We can have better.