Sorry, anti-trans bigots: Kirstie Allsopp’s pro-trans views are backed up by science and facts
TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp. (Getty / Karollyne Videira Hubert)
TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp is probably best-known for finding people stunning new places to live on Location, Location, Location – but more recently she’s been making waves as a fierce trans ally.
In recent weeks, Allsopp has used her platform on Twitter – where she boasts almost 450,000 followers – to advocate for trans rights.
And best of all? Everything she’s said can be backed up with cold, hard facts.
‘Teeny, weeny polka-dot-bikini-sized minority’
On 30 April, Kirstie Allsopp tweeted regarding the moral panic stirred up by anti-trans bigots.
Her tweet highlighted an obvious fact: the trans community are a tiny minority, despite gender-critics’ attempts to sensationalise their existence.
In January, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shared its once-a-decade census findings, gained from 45.7 million people surveyed in the UK.
The result showed that 1.5 million people identified with an LGB+ orientation, while 43.4 million people (89.4 per cent) identified as straight or heterosexual.
Only 48,000 people identified as trans men, with the same number identifying as trans women.
Similarly, in the US, a study by the Williams Institute, published last year, revealed that about 0.5 per cent of all US adults, approximately 1.3 million people, and about 1.4 per cent (300,000) youth between the ages of 13 and 17, identified as trans.
‘The danger of everything trans’
On Monday (1 May), responding to another tweet about the “danger” trans women pose to girls if they use the same spaces, Kirstie Allsopp called that perspective on life “bizarre”.
The rhetoric that trans people are a danger to society is one frequently used by anti-trans groups in a bid to ostracise the transgender community.
But under the 2010 Equality Act transgender people are protected from discrimination, meaning that trans people should be treated “according to the gender role in which they present“, allowing them legally to use services that align with their gender.
The misinformation spread about trans people posing a “danger to children” is backed up by no evidence but is also shared widely by anti-LGBTQ+ campaigners.
However, the Williams Institute data showed that trans people are more than four times as likely to be victims of violent crime than their cisgender counterparts.
Furthermore, a Swedish study, which followed 324 trans women who had under-gone gender-reaffirming treatment between 1973 and 2003, found they were no different from a group who were biologically female in terms of recorded criminal convictions.
Majority of public support trans people
In April, Kirstie Allsopp even used her platform to defend TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney following gender critical pundits vehemently misgendering the trans influencer after she was photographed in a Nike sports bra and took part in a Bud Light campaign.
At the time, the TV presenter tweeted that she was happy for Mulvaney in her transition and wasn’t worried by anyone identifying as a woman.
She isn’t alone. A study, which surveyed 3,695 people aged 18 to 25 year olds, found nearly 70 per cent of non-LGBTQ+ young adults were supportive of trans people.
Of the 89 per cent of LGBTQ+ young adults who said they were supportive of trans people, lesbians were most likely to both know a trans person (92 per cent) and express support for trans people (96 per cent).
In 2020, a YouGov poll on behalf of PinkNews revealed that 57 per cent of women surveyed agreed that trans people should be able to self-identify as their chosen gender, compared with 43 per cent of men from an overall sample of UK adults.
On the whole, 50 per cent of the UK population surveyed said they were in favour of trans people self-identifying, compared with just 27 per cent who said they opposed the idea.
‘Using preferred pronouns is simply good manners’
Kirstie Allsopp has also shown how small, but meaningful, a gesture it is to respect other people’s pronouns. Doing so, is just good manners, she said.
In fact, countless studies have shown that using people’s correct pronouns can literally save lives.
In 2020, a study published in The Lancet Public Health, found that trans people who have ID that correctly recognises their gender have better mental health.
On Wednesday (3 May), Joanne Lockwood, a trans advocate and the founder and chief executive of SEE Change Happen, explained how embracing pronouns can improve inclusion at work.
She highlighted that studies have found using the correct pronouns can help lower depression, improve self-esteem and wellbeing, and reduce imposter syndrome.
Conversely, being misgendered leads to feelings of being invalidated, disrespected and unseen.
‘Biological women’
Kirstie Allsopp has also stood up to anti-trans dog-whistle terms such as “biological women” by simply stating that she does not want to be associated with people who have terms like this in their social media bios.
The term “biological woman” is used by TERFs in an attempt to distinguish themselves from trans women, and it’s been weaponised by others who have fallen for anti-trans rhetoric.
In an interview in February, prime minister Rishi Sunak parroted several anti-trans talking points declaring a woman is an “adult human female” and that “biological sex matters”.
In April, trans advocates condemned the Human Rights Commission for proposing to amend the Equality Act to make sex “biological sex” which could have an impact on trans rights.
Allsopp’s defence of the trans community has come as a bit of a surprise, especially considering her history of comments on social media.
She has often been the focus of controversy, including for a recent column in The Sunday Times, where she claimed young people were at fault for being unable to get on to the housing ladder.
