Opinion piece
The annual Conservative Party conference was held from the 1st - 4th of October 2023 in Manchester. It showcased a dystopian display of short-sightedness, ignorance, and a triad of out-of-touch politicians spouting hate. It presented a floundering party and their desperate attempts to appeal to the far right of their voter base after the widespread dissolution of public confidence in the party. They ironically label themselves as ‘change makers’ and announce their special ability to diagnose the problems within the country, the same country they have been leading for 13 years.
During the conference, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the scrapping of HS2 and his plan to replace A Levels before moving on to blatantly and confidently attacking the rights of transgender and queer people. In an illegal breach of the 2010 Equality’s Act (that provides a legal framework protecting the rights of individuals being discriminated against because of gender reassignment) he states: “We shouldn’t get bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be. They can’t. A man is a man and a woman is a woman — that’s just common sense” to appallingly raucous applause. The Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, mirrored this transphobic rhetoric in her speech that preceded Sunak’s, by repeatedly making transphobic jokes, while warning of a “hurricane” of mass migration in a horrifyingly dehumanising, racist speech criminalising migrants and refugees. Across the entire conference, we witnessed a classist, delusional dismissal of the human rights of minorities.
The section I am going to focus on is the front lining of gender politics as a diversion tactic from the role the Tories played in the ongoing collapse of this country. The statements made did not come as a surprise for many who keep up with the movements of the Tory party, who have repeatedly targeted minorities over the last few months to appeal to the right-wing element of their voting base. But why do they need to appeal to the far right-wing? The Tories have been consistently losing support ever since the pandemic. Many from their previously loyal supporter base have grown frustrated and disillusioned with the party due to increasing Tory lies and leadership failings. So to cling on to power they therefore need to cement votes from the radical far-right who agree with their hate speech and who vehemently oppose queer existence. Scapegoating transgender people therefore distracts from the systemic issues that the Tories have worsened. However, this transphobic rhetoric wasn’t highlighted in the media until the recent party conference with the backdrop of widespread reporting on HS2. This defiantly transphobic rhetoric has now been catapulted onto a much bigger platform reaching the left as well as the far right.
Returning to the central Sunak quote I presented previously, we see Sunak play on the idea of bullying. Sunak inverses the role of the bully, situating the Tories as the victims of the trans conversation to place themselves in a position to, as Tory MP Penny Mordaunt would say, “stand up and fight” back against the left agenda. Painting themselves as the victims allows people who identify with far-right politics to believe they have something to fight for. It allows them to feel justified in their hatred, fuels their ignorance, and validates their aggression against trans and queer people. This rallying and justification of the far right is inherently frightening, especially in the context of the rising attacks on the LGBTQ+ community. When considering that trans people are the most vulnerable faction of the community, and are statistically more likely to experience hate crimes, this becomes even more concerning. In the last year alone, hate crimes against trans individuals in England and Wales rose by 11% according to the Office for National Statistics figures. Trans lives need to be protected, not further jeopardised. Additionally, the idea of “common sense” is used here to actively insult the intelligence of the opposing view, but it becomes devoid of meaning, as just like most of the comments made during the conference the wider statement is simply unfounded and untrue. There is a widespread scientific consensus that there are more than two genders - this is common sense. This can be added to the narrative of Tory lies that continue to grow.
The ‘trans conversation’, upon the lips of the right-wing often swings to that of women's rights. The Tories apparent obsession with “safe spaces for women” is again a diversion tactic for blatant transphobia. Ironically, the Tories do not care about or prioritise women's rights and creating a safe space for women. In the UK, childcare is the third most expensive in the world according to data from the OECD. Moreover, record-breaking inflation has made it harder than ever for mothers to feed their children while battling with their growing bills. The struggling NHS is putting strain on the health of the nation but women’s health is especially dire. Moreover, The Tories have made zero progress in lowering violence against women and instead are scapegoating trans women to try to distract from their failings and change the topic of conversation. Instead of attempting to control and regulate male violence against women and actually providing female-only safe spaces, they are stripping trans women of their basic human rights. Health Secretary Steve Barclay announced a plan to ‘protect the rights of women’ by banning trans women from female only hospital wards to restore ‘common sense’ to the NHS. This ludacris move places trans women in an extremely dangerous position and labels them clearly as trans for anyone to see, making them vulnerable to violence and extreme dysphoria. It is fundamentally dehumanising and deeply immoral. It is also ill thought out, as by their own logic trans men would have to be in ‘female only’ wards. This forces a male presence in female wards, one that women who have suffered abuse by the hands of men would find distressing. Instead of tackling extensive waiting times or properly funding the NHS the Tories are unfairly scapegoating trans people to rally support from the far right and further ostracise a population of people who already face discrimination, violence, and more personal struggles that most cisgender people could not begin to comprehend.
Further, Sunak also launched an attack on the growing queer education in schools commenting that it “shouldn’t be controversial for parents to know what their children are being taught in school about relationships.” The Tories want to censor queer education by not teaching children about queer identity and the options they have outside of heteronormativity. This is something that has historically led to severe mental health issues for children, an issue that a failing NHS cannot deal with, with waiting lists already higher than ever. Making this censorship is as dangerous to queer progression as it is to the health services. Further, stripping children that might have disapproving parents of a safe space to be able to express their identity and be themselves is extremely dangerous. Again we see the party spouting nonsensical hate centralised only on cementing votes from far-right homophobes and from worried parents who have anxieties that need to be addressed with honesty and compassion, not with misinformation and fear-mongering. Children need to be widely educated on queer life, and not strictly indoctrinated into restrictive heteronormativity, for them to prosper happily.
But what are the next steps for LGBTQ+ progression?
This is undeniably a hit, yes. In the past few years, we have seen progress in the LGBTQ+ community, but not enough. We have achieved progress to get where we are now by being visible and loud, so this needs to continue. We need to support trans and queer artists and keep our progressive voices loud. We need to get involved in trans marches and fund charities that are already doing grassroots trans activism. We also fundamentally need to protect our trans friends and remind them that they are loved and respected. A positive we can glean from this is that it is all the markings of a man with no clear path forward. The Prime Minister is out of his depth, dangerously lashing out by using gender politics as a tool. The entire conference showed a party inherently estranged from tackling the real issues the public face. This desperate attempt to cement votes doesn't change the fact that the country is close to ruin, wages haven't returned since 2008, the NHS is on its knees, we have a housing crisis, a renting crisis, record-breaking inflation, record-breaking use of food banks, record-breaking homeless, and a worsening cost-of-living crisis. The pandemic can’t be blamed for everything as much as the Tories try, and the general public is sick of the Conservatives, not just the progressive sector. Voting is as essential as ever and with young people being the least likely age demographic that are registered to vote we need to ensure we are voting and making changes from grassroots upwards.
Image BBC 2023