The British Prime Minister Is Under Fire for a Transphobic Gibe. What’s Different This Time?

If you live in the United States, you’re probably familiar with our homegrown culture war over trans issues, pushed primarily by Christian activists of the far right, which has resulted in a slew of anti-trans laws in various GOP-controlled states, with hundreds of further bills under consideration already this year. In fact, this scandal is brain-meltingly confusing even for transgender people in the U.K. PM Sunak accused Labor’s Starmer of “breaking every single promise he was elected on” and then proceeded to list the supposed broken promises. The list included things like pensions and tuition fees and ended with the “gibe” that Starmer had even done a U-turn on “defining a woman.” It’s worth noting that Sunak has repeatedly attacked the trans community in very similar terms, often even being more direct. Starmer has distanced himself from Labor’s previous position, which supported streamlining legal document changes for trans people in the U.K.. Starmer even kowtowed to the brigade of anti-trans activists who demand that every politician define the word women by saying that “a woman is an adult female.” This is a string of words demanded by anti-trans activists as a kind of litmus test because they think it leaves out trans women from the definition, and they count it as a victory when a politician parrots it. While trans people are understandably feeling a bit of whiplash at the moment, the harsh public response to Esther Ghey being present for a transphobic comment by a politician could indicate that Brianna’s murder has diminished the public appetite for open transphobia from U.K. politicians.