Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has launched yet another attack at the trans community by saying that people “can’t be any sex they want to be.”
He made the remarks during his closing speech at the 2023 Conservative Party conference on Wednesday (4 October) afternoon.
At one point, Sunak said that people shouldn’t be “bullied into believing people can be any sex they want to be” as he made clear his stance on trans people.
“We are going to change this country and that means, life means life. That shouldn’t be a controversial position. The vast majority of hard-working people agree with it,” he began. “We shouldn’t get bullied into believing people can be any sex they want to be. They can’t,” – Rishi Sunak
“It also shouldn’t be controversial for parents to know what their children are learning in school about relationships.
“Patients should know when hospitals are talking about men or women,” which was met with a large applause.
He went on: “We shouldn’t get bullied into believing people can be any sex they want to be. They can’t.”
“A man, is a man, and a woman, is a woman, that is just common sense,” he added, to yet more noise from Tories in attendance.
Many on social media site X (formerly known as Twitter) reacted to the comments, accusing Sunak of making “persistent attacks” and labelling him “disgraceful”. “A man, is a man, and a woman, is a woman”
One wrote in response: “Trying to distract people from his government’s corruption and incompetence by attacking some of the most vulnerable people in society. Vile.”
Needlessly stirring up hatred where it is unjustified to make a cheap political dig, before going on to claim the country is wonderful because of its tolerance. Disgraceful excuse for a PM,” another went on to add.
Sunak can go and do one. Pandering to middle class transphobes isn’t the election winner you think it is,” someone else echoed.
“The persistent attacks on not only one of the smallest but most at risk communities is vile. Absolutely disgusting party through and through including anyone who supports them,” a social media user weighed in.
It comes after Health Secretary Steve Barclay outlined plans yesterday (3 October) to ban trans women from accessing female NHS wards.
This has since been backed by other senior Tories such as Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall criticised the announcement, labelling it a “cynical attempt to look busy” instead of actually improving women’s healthcare.
Addressing party members in Manchester, Mr Barclay said: “We need a common-sense approach to sex and equality issues in the NHS – that is why today I am announcing proposals for clearer rights for patients.
“And I can today confirm that sex-specific language has now been fully restored to online health advice pages about cervical and ovarian cancer and the menopause.
“It is vital that women’s voices are heard in the NHS and the privacy, dignity and safety of all patients are protected.”
The post Rishi Sunak says people ‘can’t be any sex they want to be’ in new swipe at trans community appeared first on Attitude.
Oh great, so he isn’t just a massive bellend but also a transphobe, wonderful.
Women’s voices must be heard*
*Unless they’re pro-LGBTQ women’s voices, in which case they can stfu
Sunak is a grade A wanker
Maybe not, but they can be any gender they want to be.
Also worth noting though, there are more than 2 sexes.
How is this helping him in any capacity?
Distraction from actual issues
The mum’s net vote I imagine.
Playing on the fear of people and attitudes different to themselves is one of the Tories’ main ways of getting votes.
Has anyone stopped these assholes to ask why they even care? Of all the hills to die on, this is the dumbest conservative talking point and they’ve got everyone talking about (obviously the plan) but can’t we just dissolve all of that by demanding that they justify their faux outrage?
Easy target of a very small minority that can be mined for outrage.
Because hating on ~1% of the population, a lot of whom won’t vote for you anyway, doesn’t lose you many votes.
We shouldn’t get bullied into believing people can be any sex they want to be. They can’t
They can’t
Sounds like a challenge for transhumanist tech to solve 😎✊⚧️Ⓐ💻.
(Other people have covered the factual incorrectness here - the short of it is that (1) gender =/= sex and (2) “sex” isnt some monolithic thing but a complex, multi-axis thing itself - most of these axes are changeable to various degrees as well .)
It’s almost a game at this point where you can spot the bad actors because they’re constantly using gender and sex interchangeably and pretending they’re the same thing yet you know that they’re definitely educated enough to know the difference.
Hitler thought the same way.
You guys need to flush the #Tories completely in this upcoming election.
You’re expecting that labour would be politically further in your favour. How optimistic.
Don’t do that “they’re just as bad as each other” thing, Labour are clearly not this bad, and fortunately there are other parties to vote for!
Am I bitter that the only way the party of Labour will take power is by being Tory lite? Perhaps.
Pointing out that people are pointing out that the Tories are like the Nazis all of the time isn’t a defence, it’s just admitting the indefensible and side stepping the issue.
If people quote Nazi like things it’s going to get brought up. My challenge to you, is to be better.
These lot need putting in one of their seven bins.
How long til we can vote the tories out?
Their term ends in January 2025 but Sunak will call an election before winter when it’s too cold to go door knocking and flyering so likely in the Autumn meaning there will be another year of this madness.
I’m sorry but the only way to have your rights guaranteed is to fight for them, not vote
In what way would you suggest?
Is ignorance a national sport in the West? Organise, rally people, strike, protest, annoy the shit out of lawmakers who threaten you.
Gather a big force that could potentially organise a big riot.
Sun Tzu said:
Subjugating the enemy’s army without fighting is the true pinnacle of excellence.
That means you, most likely, won’t have to actually riot, if they see the community is organised they won’t risk a direct confrontation and would give in to your demands.
There are tons, tons of guides online on how to protest, organise, even how to go full guerilla. Just do not let your existance depend on a freaking vote.
Ignorance? I’m well aware of the methods you’ve suggested, I was just wondering what exactly you were referring to when you said ‘fight for them’, and what you consider to be the most effective method.
Unfortunately I don’t think it’s as effective as you think (at getting people to give into demands). Thousands of people protested after Liz Truss’ resignation asking for a general election last year. Rishi isn’t going to call a general election any earlier than he needs to because he knows the conservatives are likely to lose. That said, yes I do think protests are a good way to drum up support and encourage people to vote. Despite what you may think, voting is important.
Those protests were so big I only found a single article about them. Protesting means doing at the very least what the French were doing. Block roads, wreck havoc,
make transphobes disappear. Raising a big group of people would only work if they were organised and could, ahem, do something to the government.Voting is only impactful to a certain, little, extent, when the government tells LGBTQ community they don’t and/or shouldn’t exist and the plan to fight back is to vote harder then something isn’t right.
What a knob.
I need someone to make that meme of Mr Bean looking over that dude’s shoulder with Mr. Bean labeled as Sunak and the other dude as the American GQP. (Nvm, I’ve got it done: https://imgflip.com/i/81flvk)
I’m not sure I understand why the Tories insist on taking leaves straight out of the US ultra hard right Maga playbook on these things. This is one of those areas where the UK should be separating themselves away from what we’re dealing with in the US. Instead, it seems as if y’all Brits are really digging your heels in on trans issues when there are so many other issues on the agenda (this is the case in the US as well, so trust, I can fully appreciate the frustration).
From my best understanding, this is Sunak’s appeal towards hoping that he and all the Tories are run out of office during your next general election, but dang! This has got to be the most asinine take I’ve seen…since yesterday (things are perfectly inane in the US government at the moment).
Is that… Rishi Bean?
I’m not sure I understand why the Tories insist on taking leaves straight out of the US ultra hard right Maga playbook
Because they’re both playing from the Russian asset playbook.
It’s just hit me; this election cycle is their Lovely Horse. They’ve mined what they can from the coffers for now, and have no interest in presiding over the next few years of absolute fuckery, so they’ve got Dougal on keys and Jack on backing, and are fixing for a gracious defeat.
They don’t need to have an election until late January 2025.
Yeah, but they’re laying the groundwork now.
What the fuck.
WHAT THE FUCK
Out of touch man parrots out of touch opinions he thinks are held by people he thinks might vote for him.
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Genitals aren’t sentient.
My penis disagrees, but he’s kind of a dick.
Maybe I’m not understanding your comment, but in certain contexts, gender identity is not relevant but biological sex IS, such as in treatment or early diagnosis of cancers that are specific to one sex or the other. Hospitals need to be able to communicate verbally and in email or written correspondence about these things, but if language is obfuscated to the point where it is not clear what that individual’s risks are (based on their sex), then it is only that individual who will be worse off for it. This point doesn’t need to be extrapolated to larger contexts for political power, but it should also not be ignored because of possible implications to larger gender identity questions.
To be honest, it might not hurt for them to do some of those tests anyways in some circumstances. Some people might go through their entire life without knowing that they have both types of internal reproductive organs. Hell, some people don’t know that a majority their organs are inversed from the normal positioning. (Uncommon but not unheard of.)
Aside from that, I would argue that at the medical care level, it could/should be considered private medical information. Let’s say hypothetically that someone has severe PCOS. Having PCOS increases the risks for certain cancers, but it’s still unnecessary for anyone other than their doctor to know about it.
If you’re in the emergency room, they’re probably going to be doing various tests on you if you have severe symptoms. If you have severe abdominal pain, you’re probably going to get an ultrasound. You’ll probably get bloodwork tests that look at various hormone levels. (Pregnancy and a certain testicular cancer share some of the same flags. Certain hormone levels can also indicate thyroid issues.)
If someone goes to their doctor with complaints about their own reproductive system, I would hope that their doctor tests and treats them for that problem. Again, intersex people DO exist, so proper investigation should be a thing already. Even with CIS people, not everyone looks the same, and I think that it would be a shameful reason to let a person die.
Yes, everyone is unique to some degree. For instance my wife’s uterus is slightly tilted. It rarely matters, but every once in a while it causes discomfort. Knowing this, doctors don’t need to over react to additional and unexpected discomfort during pregnancy. But this isn’t relevant most of the time, so hospitals focus on factors that help quickly and efficiently diagnose the issue. Age and sex are probably the biggest of these factors, along with medical history. Gender identity is usually not important, though in some cases it could help identify someone who is intersex. But these cases are rare enough not to warrant their own check box, much like a tilted uterus.
Gender identity is important in all contexts because it helps you to make someone feel comfortable. This is critical in providing medical care.
The terms AFAB and AMAB serve perfectly well for this medical purpose. Equally, an extra column for gender. Gender: M, Sex: F.
Not that tricky really. Doesn’t need to go any further than that.
