Telegraph columnist lashes out at ‘spineless’ pro-LGBT politicians
The transgender flag. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty)
A Telegraph columnist has lashed out at “spineless politicians, pathetically eager to be on-trend” who support LGBT rights.
In a criticism of the NHS’s latest moves to ask all patients aged 16 or over whether they are “straight, gay, bisexual or other” when they visit a service, Allison Pearson said that the move was fuelled by “biological science lies”.
Talking about transgender people, Pearson writes: “All this fuss, even though such people make up only the teeniest sliver of our population of 65.46 million.”
“There are more Britons who keep guinea pigs than who identify as transgender,” she added.
Criticising Justine Greening’s review of the Gender Recognition Act, which will see a demand to provide two years worth of evidence showing you have been living as the opposite sex potentially scrapped, as well as invasive medical checks, Pearson wrote that being transgender is “a warped ideology”.
“Organisations that should know better have allowed themselves to be infiltrated by a warped ideology that dares to call the fundamental truths of biological science lies,” said the journalist.
NHS England said its hope was that by recording the data it could “ensure that no patient is discriminated against,” as health bodies are required to under the Equality Act.
A spokeswoman said collecting the data would “have no impact on the care [people] receive,” other than helping to make sure patients are being treated equally.
In support of Justine Greening’s review, Prime Minister Theresa May took to the stage earlier on this week to say that “being trans is not an illness”.
“We’re determined to eradicate homophobic and transphobic bullying,” said May in her opening speech at the PinkNews awards.
“We have set out plans to reform the Gender Recognition Act and streamline and de-medicalise the process for changing gender, because being trans is not an illness and it shouldn’t be treated as such.”
