Entertainment world responds to Rishi Sunak and Tory government’s trans comments and policies

5 October, 2023

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during the final day of the Conservative Party Conference on October 04, 2023.

Figures of the entertainment world have come forward to share their opinions on the latest thoughts from the Tory government, which seeks to limit the rights of the trans community.

The comments were made by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during his speech at the Conservative Party conference, where he shared his thoughts on prison sentences for violent criminals and his attitude towards the trans community.

He began by saying he wants to ensure harsher prison sentences for “sadistic” killers, and that his opinion on the topic should not be seen as a “controversial” one.

“I am clear there are some crimes so heinous that those who perpetrate them should spend the rest of their lives behind bars. So I can confirm that we will legislate for sexual and sadistic murders to carry a full life term with no prospect of release,” he said. “We are going to change this country and that means life means life. Now that shouldn’t be a controversial position, the vast majority of hard-working people agree with it.”

He later tied this to his opinion on the trans community, saying that he believes that people cannot “be any sex they want to be”. “It also shouldn’t be controversial for parents to know what their children are being taught in school about relationships, patients to know when hospitals are talking about men or women,” he added.

“And we shouldn’t get bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be. A man is a man, a woman is a woman, that’s just common sense.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during the final day of the Conservative Party Conference on October 04, 2023
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during the final day of the Conservative Party Conference on October 04, 2023. CREDIT: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

The comments come after the UK government recently outlined a proposition, which would prevent transgender people from having access to single-sex hospitals.

Now, numerous members of the entertainment world have come forward to share their thoughts on the issue, including Sam Smith and Billy Bragg.

“To all trans/non binary and gender non conforming people in the UK right now,” the former wrote on their Instagram Stories. “You are not alone. Your humanity and your life matters. Sending every one of you so much love x.’

The latter agreed, making reference to comments previously made by Conservative MP Lee Anderson: “Given what was said from the platform at the Tory Conference it sounds like Lee Anderson wasn’t kidding when he said the Tories are going to fight the next election on culture wars and trans bashing #TransRightsAreHumanRights.”

Shirley Manson of Garbage took to the band’s Instagram stories to criticise the comments. “Please please please educate yourself about trans peoples who have existed since time began and stop punishing them,” she wrote. “Help protect them and honour them. Please do the study or shut your mouths.”

Comedian Josie Long also took to X/Twitter to share support for the trans community in light of the controversial comments. “I love my trans friends and family, and that if you’re trans i love and support you! Fuck this government and their supporters into the sun,” she wrote, while model and activist Munroe Bergdorf added: “I’m frustrated, angry and sad at the state of this country.”

Find more responses from the world of entertainment below.

Alongside famous faces from the world of film, tv, music and more, others have also spoken out against the anti-trans ideologies outlined by the UK Government. Writing on Tribune, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn wrote “The challenges facing LGBT people will never be redressed by a government waging a divisive culture war.”

“If the government really did support human rights activists fighting against LGBT discrimination, they would take seriously their concerns about the lack of access to healthcare,” he added. “And they would stop using trans people as a punchline and start treating them as human beings instead.”

Similarly, Tim Hopkins – the director of Scottish LGBTQ+ rights charity, Equality Network – stated the rang reminiscent of those of Margaret Thatcher about gay people in the ‘80s.

“That comment is highly reminiscent of Margaret Thatcher’s conference speech comment that ‘young people … are being taught they have an inalienable right to be gay’,” he said (via The National). “She thought attacking gay people would keep the Tories in power, but in the longer run it just made them look, as Theresa May said, like the ‘nasty party’. The same will happen here.”

Additionaly, a reported shared by Stonewall revealed that there has been “an 11% rise in transphobic hate crime[s]”, which have arrived “in a week where trans people have been mocked and portrayed as dangerous by powerful politicians.”

In other news, yesterday (October 5) it was reported that Toploader – who count former PM Liz Truss as a fan –  were facing backlash after they played their 1999 hit version of ‘Dancing In The Moonlight’ at the Blues Kitchen for the conference.

“Toploader played the Tory conference and now I will make it my mission to turn their records around in every record shop I enter,” wrote Reverend And The Makers frontman Jon McClure.

Former BBC Radio 6 Music host Shaun Keaveny agreed, writing: “This is perfect symmetry. Two things I never want my kids to listen to: Tories and Toploader”, while actor Kathy Burke said “Toploader must be really skint as well as being really shit.”

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