Labour MP Rosie Duffield condemned for spreading ‘harmful falsehoods’ about trans kids
Graham Linehan (left) with Labour MP Rosie Duffield (right), on his YouTube podcast. (YouTube/ Graham Linehan)
Rosie Duffield has been condemned for sharing “harmful falsehoods” about trans children in an appearance on anti-trans comedian Graham Linehan’s podcast.
The Labour MP made a host of bizarre statements in her appearance on Linehan’s live-streamed podcast on Wednesday (29 September), but the most “dangerous” of all was her incorrect claim that children are having gender affirmation surgeries.
She said: “Making those decisions when you’re so young… Be who you want to be, experiment, you know, do whatever you want to do.
“To cut your body parts off and then render yourself completely infertile or to make decisions that you cannot ever reverse, that is horrifying.”
Nowhere in the UK is gender affirmation surgery available to children.
The only physical intervention offered by the NHS to children under the age of 16 is puberty blockers, the effects of which are reversible.
Cross-sex hormones (oestrogen or testosterone) can be prescribed from the age of 16, but only after 12 months on puberty blockers.
Surgery is only available to people over the age of 18, in an adult services.
Jolyon Maugham, executive director of the Good Law Project, tweeted: “Rosie Duffield is here, at best ignorantly and at worst dishonestly, spreading harmful falsehoods about trans healthcare.
“No one ‘so young’ gets surgery. You can’t have it in the UK as a child.
“This is dangerous and harmful propaganda.”
Rosie Duffield is here, at best ignorantly and at worst dishonestly, spreading harmful falsehoods about trans healthcare. No one "so young" gets surgery. You can't have it in the UK as a child.
This is dangerous and harmful propaganda. https://t.co/2gCRwisZGK
— Jo Maugham (@JolyonMaugham) September 29, 2021
Further criticism came from trans and LGBT+ people, as well as Labour supporters.
Rosie Duffield just outright lying about trans healthcare here.
If you rely on fiction to make your point, then it's not a very good point. https://t.co/cTTxgkEigP— Ashley Routh ?️⚧️ (@AshRouth) September 30, 2021
Rosie Duffield has no idea what she’s fucking talking about. Everything she’s pedalling here is an out and out lie. No child can get gender-affirming surgery here in the UK. These people are fanatical, it’s so scary https://t.co/lxWR6dxA6w— Amrou Al-Kadhi ? (@Glamrou) September 29, 2021
Never let Rosie Duffield convince you this is only about women’s safety. The complete lack of understanding and the language she uses in this 20 second clip alone tells you everything you need to know. https://t.co/D1c9RvUWe8— Meg Dearing (@megxndearing) September 30, 2021
Trans youth under the age of 18 do not, and cannot, access surgical interventions. This is a lie.
D*ffield is an MP using her considerable platform to a) spread misinformation and b) is really soiling the Labour Party with her transphobia. https://t.co/kg37e0IvSf
— Juno Dawson (@junodawson) September 29, 2021
Here we see Rosie Duffield on Glinner’s YouTube show spreading dangerous mistruths about trans healthcare in the UK.
Yet another reason why Keir Starmer should remove the whip from her. Will he take action? Will he fuck. He does not care about tackling transphobia at all. https://t.co/620qRIU9f0— George Aylett (@GeorgeAylett) September 29, 2021
Left-wing activist George Aylett added: “Here we see Rosie Duffield on Glinner’s YouTube show spreading dangerous mistruths about trans healthcare in the UK.
“Yet another reason why Keir Starmer should remove the whip from her. Will he take action? Will he f**k.
“He does not care about tackling transphobia at all.”
Rosie Duffield has repeatedly denied that she is transphobic and claims to support LGBT+ rights.
During Graham Linehan’s podcast, Rosie Duffield said being non-binary was a ‘choice’
During the podcast, Rosie Duffield told Graham Linehan, who was permanently banned from Twitter for “hateful conduct” over his relentless anti-trans rhetoric, that he had paved the way for her.
She said: “All of the things you’ve said and done have led me here… You guys were there first and you taught me what was going on and you were much braver.”
Again wading into the discourse on who has a cervix and the topic of trans inclusive language, the Canterbury MP said she had had “discussions with people that are concerned about migrant women”.
In Kent, she said, there are “a lot of asylum seekers and women come over often not fully speaking English”. She argued that this meant phrases like “people with a cervix” would be too confusing.
“It’s a real thing,” Duffield claimed. “I’ve had people writing to me about it.”
Duffield later described being non-binary as “choosing not to be male or female”, and added: “This is a whole new thing for all of us.”
She also insisted that non-binary people should be questioned about their identity: “Why are you rejecting mostly being female, being a woman? Don’t we need to say, ‘Where’s that coming from?'”
Duffield inserted herself into the so-called “debate” on trans rights since she tweeted last year that “only women have a cervix”.
Despite an initial apology, Duffield dug in her heels on her “gender critical” views, even liking a tweet from anti-trans campaigner Maya Forstater that branded the Law Society’s guidance on transition in professional settings as “celebrating cross dressers in the office”.
This month she chose to not attend the Labour Party Conference, claiming that she feared for her safety.
PinkNews has approached Rosie Duffield for comment.
