Suzy Eddie Izzard says trans rights and women’s rights ‘shouldn’t be fought against each other’
Suzy Eddie Izzard says trans rights and women’s rights ‘shouldn’t be fought against each other’ (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)
Suzy Eddie Izzard has said that people advocating for trans rights and those focusing on women’s rights shouldn’t be fighting each other, and that attempts to create division within the two communities are part of “right-wing ideology”.
The comedian and would-be Labour MP believes that the discussion on transgender rights is currently at a “tipping point”, and that anti-trans narratives mimic the homophobia that was common before same-sex marriage.
“Before marriage equality happened, there was a lot of anti-gay and lesbian ideas of couples being together [and people saying] ‘surely that’s a bad thing’,” Suzy Eddie Izzard told Yahoo UK.
“Then we went through marriage equality… and people realised ‘Oh, it’s about love’, and all those arguments have sort of drifted away.
“Some transphobic people [are] out there and they’re gonna get very loud right at this moment, and then that time will pass and we will go through that and we will go to a place where it’s live and let live, and [we] just say ‘people exist’.”
Izzard noted a popular anti-trans talking point: that transgender rights are at odds with women’s rights, and said that the two communities “shouldn’t be fought against each other”.
She added: “That’s a right-wing ideology and they’re trying to set people against people, that’s just not good.”
The comedian added that she is playing a trans character in her upcoming film, Doctor Jekyll, but that the story is less about her identity and more a mystical tale about “dark power and how that could be inside someone”.
Izzard has previously spoken out against attempts to pit trans people against women, claiming: “It’s the Tories’ culture war. There is no culture war. It’s not there. As a trans person, it’s not there.”
Speaking about the Conservatives, she said: “They’re trying to divide and conquer. They’ve always tried to do that.
“There are people who are out and proud and positive, LGBTQ+ people have been coming out for years. I came out almost 40 years ago, how much notice do people need?”
Her comments came after prime minister Rishi Sunak was criticised for making anti-trans comments during the Conservative Party conference, where he claimed that misgendering transgender people is “common sense”.
He has since doubled-down on that statement, saying that he thinks “a man is a man, and a woman is a woman”, adding: “We can’t ignore fundamental facts of biology… saying those things shouldn’t be controversial.”
