In an uncommon W for the U.K. Parliament on Thursday, members of the House of Commons called for LGBTQ+ equality and denounced anti-transgender “hysteria” from government officials and media outlets.
A group of MPs — the abbreviation for members of Parliament — from the Labour and Conservative parties used their debate time on February 2 to mark the beginning of LGBTQ+ History Month in the U.K., and express support for trans people specifically. Dame Angela Eagle, the second out lesbian MP in U.K. history, decried what she called “the disgraceful targeting and problematizing of transgender people” which she said would inevitably lead to the erosion of all women’s rights.
But the most emotional words of the day came from Nadia Whittome, part of the Labour Party’s Socialist Campaign Group and a self-described queer woman. In her remarks, Whittome compared the current wave of anti-trans sentiment to the infamous Section 28, which from 1988 to 2003 forbade any mention of LGBTQ+ identities or history in U.K. schools.
“It’s thanks to years of tireless struggle, including by people in this room, that people of my generation could grow up without [Section 28],” Whittome said, appearing to hold back tears. Today, she continued, there is another generation of LGBTQ+ children growing up in what the MP called a “dangerous climate of hostility,” specifically calling out that trans children hear their existence as up for debate daily. “Some of the tropes against trans people today sound awfully familiar, like attacks used against gay people in the 1980s,” Whittome said. And it’s opening the door to wider homophobia, too.”
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Whittome ended her remarks by calling for solidarity across the LGBTQ+ umbrella, declaring “our community will never be divided” and saying “there is no LGB without the T.”
“We won’t give up on this fight,” Whittome said. “And believe me when I say we will win, just like those who came before us defeated Section 28.”
Whittome, a former hate crime support worker and caregiver, was elected in 2019 at age 23, becoming the youngest MP currently serving. Since then, Whittome has been a vocal advocate for trans rights and protections, telling Gay Times last year that the toxic debate over Gender Recognition Act reform “has become symbolic of the government’s failure.”
Anti-trans rhetoric has surged across the U.K. in recent years, as groups like the LGB Alliance and media personalities including J.K. Rowling have found allies like Conservative MP Kemi Badenoch, who held secret meetings with Alliance members while working in the Government Equalities Office before being appointed to lead the department last year by incoming Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. In 2021, the Council of Europe released a report condemning “extensive and often virulent attacks” on queer and trans people in several member states including the U.K. Since then, however, the situation for trans people on “TERF Island” has not markedly improved. MPs last year excluded trans people from a proposed ban on conversion therapy, and last month blocked a Scottish bill that would have reformed their GRA in what Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon called a “full-frontal attack” on Scotland’s democracy.
There’s a long way to go before transgender rights are respected and protected in the U.K., and too many people are trying to make sure that never happens. But though they won’t solve this crisis on their own, Whittome’s words are still sorely needed to push back against Parliament’s transphobia — and hopefully, she’ll remind a few of her colleagues that all LGBTQ+ human rights are worth fighting for.
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