Belgium’s transgender deputy prime minister has criticized Rishi Sunak, telling him not to join the bullies, following his ‘hurtful’ speech on gender issues at the Tory conference.
Petra De Sutter, Europe’s most senior transgender politician, accused Sunak of “fomenting transphobia” after saying “a man is a man and a woman is a woman”.
Mr Sunak told the audience in Manchester on Wednesday: ‘We should not be misled into believing that people can be any gender they want. They can’t, a man is a man and a woman is a woman. That’s just common sense.’
Ms De Sutter on Thursday condemned Mr Sunak’s comments, describing them as ‘hurtful and deeply disappointing’.
“These words fuel transphobia and endanger the lives of many people around the world,” Ms. De Sutter wrote on Twitter. ‘Trans women are women. And in no way a threat to others. Don’t join the real bullies Rishi Sunak.’
Her comments came as it emerged that hate crime against transgender people has reached a record high in England and Wales, with police recording an 11 per cent increase in the past year.
Petra De Sutter, Europe’s most senior transgender politician, accused Sunak of ‘fomenting transphobia’ after saying ‘a man is a man and a woman is a woman’
Sunak told the crowd in Manchester on Wednesday: ‘We should not be bullied into believing that people can be any gender they want. They can’t, a man is a man and a woman is a woman. That’s just common sense.’
While the overall number of hate crimes recorded by police in England and Wales has fallen year on year for the first time in a decade, crimes motivated by religion and transgender hatred have risen.
There were 4,732 transgender hate crimes recorded in the year ending March 2023. In accompanying notes published yesterday with the statistics, the Home Office said the increase could be due to transgender issues being ‘heavily discussed’ by politicians, the media and on social media. media.
Ms De Sutter even accused Mr Sunak after his speech of ‘fostering transphobia and endangering the lives of trans people’.
Ms. De Sutter herself is the target of transphobia. Just days after she was historically appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium in October 2020, the politician was attacked online by an extreme right-wing politician.
Bart Claes, from the nationalist party Vlaams Belang, claimed that the deputy prime minister wanted to “destroy and replace all the cornerstones of our Western civilization.”
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister also waded into the sex education debates during Sunak’s speech on Wednesday.
He said: ‘It shouldn’t be controversial for parents to know what their children are learning at school about relationships, patients need to know whether hospitals talk about men or women.’
His comments follow a conference in which several Cabinet members have used their own speeches to raise transgender issues, with Health Secretary Steve Barclay announcing a ban on trans women in female NHS wards and Home Secretary Suella Braverman saying she would ban sex offenders to change gender.
The issue has become increasingly important for activists on the right of the Conservative Party, with two stands at the conference center in Manchester focusing on the issue.
It has been a problem for the ‘New Conservatives’ faction led by backbenchers Miriam Cates and Danny Kruger, who have also raised concerns about sex education, claiming parents do not know what their children are learning.
But party members disagree on transgender issues.
Pictured: Rishi Sunak with his wife Akshata Murty at the Tory party conference on Wednesday
Ms Braverman’s speech a day before the Prime Minister’s speech, in which she attacked “gender ideology” and a “privileged woke minority”, sparked unrest that saw Conservative London Assembly member Andrew Boff removed from the conference centre.
Mr Boff said after his resignation: ‘This Home Secretary effectively vilified gay and transgender people with this attack on LGBT ideology, or gender ideology. It’s fictional, it’s ridiculous.
‘It’s a signal to people who don’t like LGBT+ people.’
While the Prime Minister echoed Braverman’s language on “virtue signaling” and transgender people, Sunak appeared to distance himself from the Home Secretary on the subject of multiculturalism.
In his speech on Wednesday, the Prime Minister celebrated Britain’s multiculturalism and described the country as “the most successful multi-ethnic democracy on earth.”
He added: “I’m proud to be the first British-Asian Prime Minister, but you know what? I’m even more proud that it’s just not that bad.’
In a speech in the US last week, Ms Braverman had attacked the “misguided dogma” of multiculturalism, saying it had “failed”, comments the Prime Minister refused to endorse.