The Tory party are scapegoating trans people through fear and ignorance

As a trans woman who has lived happily and peacefully as a woman for 25 years, I view the increasing toxicity of the debate around my very existence with some trepidation. As such, I ask for my name and address to be withheld on publication.

I cannot fathom the real reason for the Tories’ focus on trans issues. Is it just an act of political desperation to create a definite wedge issue with Labour, or is it, not to mince my words, a simple demonstration of bigotry?

It feels like they have grasped at an issue on which they feel the British public can be roused through fear and ignorance of trans people, fuelled by cherry-picked incidents to scapegoat a wider community.

Our prime minister, whose stature diminishes in my eyes by the day, persists in his pathetic comments about men and women, without ever thinking about the impact of his language.

This government has been criticised before for the extreme language they use, particularly to “other” minorities and single them out for persecution, such as those seeking asylum on our shores. For some time now, a very similar thing has been happening to trans people, not only among right-wing Tories but in the media.

Surely anyone who has heeded the lessons of Brianna Ghey’s terrible murder can see how such language endangers the lives of trans people and fuels the recent rise in transphobic hate crime.

And now, with the latest proposals for the restrictions on sex education, it seems the Tories want to expunge the very idea of trans people from the minds of our youngsters, before the public gets a chance to expunge the Tories from all our lives in a much-needed election.

All the while some Tories are contemplating further measures to reduce the life opportunities of those trans people already among us. As if the years-long waiting list for gender clinic support isn’t already discouraging enough.

A law preventing trans people from being sacked on the spot for gender transition was only enacted in 1999, helping to remove the stigma so long attached to the notion of gender reassignment. New laws followed, including the Equality Act 2010. Yet I can’t help thinking that, along with all the other laws the Tories seem keen to break, our so-called equalities minister does not take seriously her duty to trans people.

I know I’ll never be physically female, but I am definitely legally female courtesy of the Gender Recognition Act, and I live as a woman in society without incident. Why I feel happier this way, I do not know. But to dismiss the fact that people like me feel this way and exist in this world as a “contested ideology” is both ignorant and insulting.

To make us into a part of the culture war for election purposes ignores the fact that every trans person is a vulnerable, sensitive human being no less worthy of respect and consideration than any other member of society. The fact the Tories are doing so is just one more reason why this heartlessly divisive party should be kicked out of power before they cause even more hurt than they already have.

Name and address withheld

We don’t start children reading Shakespeare without first having read them The Gruffalo. We don’t teach them algebra without first teaching them to add and subtract by using building blocks. Why should sex education be any different from all the other subjects we want our children to learn?

The diversity of human relationships is all around us and children don’t suddenly become curious about human bodies at a government-determined age. Learning about ourselves needs to start simply, at an early age, so that we have the capacity to understand complex and complicated issues later in life.

Sarah Kelly

Rockwell Green

Given the depth of the problems facing the UK, Keir Starmer’s six pledges seem pretty tame.  On the central issue of the economy, his remarks seem particularly thin.

Clearly frightened of upsetting potential Labour voters, Starmer is failing to rise to the challenge posed by the current parlous state of the nation. 

A particular lack in the Labour leader’s programme is anything to do with constitutional issues. For many of us (not least after the disaster of Boris Johnson’s administration) these would have to include the establishment of anti-corruption and constitutional courts. Many too would want to see commitment to a thorough reform of the second chamber.

This is not a time to be too cautious!

Andrew McLuskey

Ashford

The pursuit of net zero is proving to be a catastrophic burden for the hardworking people of the UK.

This ill-conceived agenda is driving up energy costs, pushing families into fuel poverty, and causing industries to collapse under the weight of unsustainable green taxes. Ordinary citizens are being forced to choose between heating their homes and putting food on the table, while our government remains deaf to their cries.

The current draconian policies designed to curb emissions are stifling innovation and economic growth, leaving our nation vulnerable and impoverished. It is time we rethink this disastrous path and prioritize the wellbeing of our people over an unachievable green utopia.

Let us not sacrifice our prosperity and future on the altar of misguided environmentalism.

Roger Quilliam

Address supplied