By Lilac Carr, BA Politics and International Relations
The British press has been in unprecedented shock about the cruel transphobic ‘jokes’ made by PM Rishi Sunak in Parliament while the mother of Brianna Ghey, the 15-year-old trans girl recently murdered in a transphobia-motivated attack, was scheduled to be in Parliament. But as a trans person, I did not find the events shocking. Nor did I find shocking the PM’s categorical refusal to apologise for the mockery, in a following interview. I did not either find convincing the opposition leader Keir Starmer’s indignant condemnation of Sunak’s jibe, when he has, as Sunak crudely pointed out amidst his mockery, spent his time as leader flip-flopping on his views on trans rights while the British media and government continue to use trans people as a punching bag, dehumanise them and attack their rights. What I found shocking about these characteristically appalling events is instead that the British press appears to be shocked by them, when they are in large part responsible for transphobia in this country reaching this boiling point.
The BBC reported on the scandal with the title “Rishi Sunak faces calls to apologise over trans jibe to Starmer at PMQs.” In the article, they reported on Tory MP Elliot Colburn as saying, “[Trans people] have never asked to be part of this very toxic conversation,” stating that “trans issues” should not be used as an “electoral issue.” Beyond the question of whether Colburn is aware of which party he is a member of, publishing these words shows an unbelievable lack of self-awareness on the part of the BBC, whose transphobia is both tenured and well-documented.
In 2020, the BBC nominated JK Rowling, children’s author turned obsessive transphobe, for the Russell Prize, awarded for writing a rambling essay composed primarily of transphobic fearmongering and bigotry. In 2021, the BBC published an article baselessly claiming trans women were pressuring lesbians into sex, which included comments from a cis woman who had been accused of sexual assault by several women and who, following the article, publicly called for the mass lynching of trans women. The BBC has consistently refused to apologise for publishing the article, which remains up today, albeit in an edited form.
The BBC is not alone in this contradiction. While seemingly shocked by and critical of Sunak’s recent transphobic outburst, the British press has an extensive history of fuelling the dehumanisation and hatred of trans people that has resulted in the UK’s current intensely transphobic climate and enabled the Government’s attacks on minorities. The Independent, for example, referred to Sunak’s comments as “crass,” but has published articles referring to Rowling’s transphobia as a response to a “legitimate issue” and trans people’s existence as a “deeply divisive issue.” The Guardian, often seen as a left-leaning newspaper, published a response to the events condemning Sunak for “[chasing] cheap laughs.” But for years, the Guardian has presented trans people’s existence, rights and access to gender-affirming healthcare as a “debate,” and has wrongly stated that cis women’s and trans people’s rights “collide.”
‘It’s no shock that Sunak has refused to apologise as Brianna’s father demanded. Apologising would be a tacit recognition that cruelty against trans people could ever be wrong and that trans people might be worthy of dignity and respect. If this were recognised, much of the transphobic rhetoric of his government would fall apart.’
Much of the shock and criticism from the media and Starmer alike seem to be primarily because Sunak believed Brianna Ghey’s mother to be present, thus, making it a particularly cruel display of transphobia. But any trans person would tell you that cruelty is utterly cliché when it comes to transphobia; and as Brianna Ghey’s father rightly stated, Sunak’s comments would be unacceptable regardless of the presence of Brianna’s mother. It’s no shock that Sunak has refused to apologise as Brianna’s father demanded. Apologising would be a tacit recognition that cruelty against trans people could ever be wrong and that trans people might be worthy of dignity and respect. If this were recognised, much of the transphobic rhetoric of his government would fall apart.
This recent transphobic display by Sunak was unique not in its extreme cruelty but in its visibility to the general public. If the media and the Labour leadership want to condemn this transphobia, it would be a welcome and stark change in pace. To do so, however, they would have to recognise that transphobia is not simply wrong when it is outwardly cruel and that trans people’s material rights, equality and safety, (which is what is really at stake in all this, as demonstrated most awfully by Brianna’s murder), should not be subject to ‘debate’.
A rejection of this is always cruel and damaging, and if the media, the Tories, and Starmer’s Labour had recognised this, transphobia in Britain would never have reached this point; in all likelihood, Brianna Ghey would still be alive. While this recognition is much needed and would be welcomed, I will not hold my breath.