Piers Morgan condemned as ‘bigoted and transphobic’ by Stonewall
Stonewall has condemned Piers Morgan’s comments about non-binary people as “bigoted and transphobic”.
Today on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, the co-host said that non-binary children are “a contagion” and that identifying as non-binary is “a massive new fad”.
Morgan also told Fox Fisher and Owl, a trans non-binary couple he was interviewing at the time, that their gender identities were “hypothetical”.
He added that “two or three” trans kids died from suicide last year, adding: “It’s incredibly small…Well that’s just a stat I read; I don’t know if it’s true or not.”
In 2014, a study found that 48 percent of trans people under 26 in Britain had attempted suicide.
A Stonewall spokesperson said that Morgan’s comments were “deeply damaging and offensive.
“No-one has the right to deny another person’s gender identity, and to mock them for trying to live an authentic life is a form of bullying and completely unacceptable.”
Fox and Owl did well at holding Morgan to account during the interview, with Fox telling him: “Stop fearmongering,” and adding: “It’s not a fad, Piers.”
Owl also did themselves proud, saying to Morgan: “It’s not about being cool, it’s an inner sense of identity.”
Fox even managed to sneak in a burn while talking about their book Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?
“Read the book, it’s for (ages) three and up, so it should be good for you, Piers,” they said.
The host has been irrationally irate about gender-neutral issues ever since Emma Watson received the first gender-neutral MTV Movie and TV Award earlier this month.
Yesterday, the Good Morning Britain host said he “might wear a skirt to work tomorrow as part of my gender-neutral, non-binary identity,” and asked if he could identify as black.
Today, he asked Fox and Owl if he could identify as a black woman or an elephant.
“If I turned round right now and said I am a black woman…I made a joke yesterday, but I’m being partly serious.
“If I decided to identify myself as a different skin colour, would you respect that?”
They tried to explain that race and gender are different concepts, but Morgan failed to grasp what they were saying.
Proof of that came when he later said: “My problem with everyone being able to identify as they choose is: where does that end?
“If kids can come in and say they’re not a boy or girl anymore, what else can they say they’re not?
“Is anything fine? Can I say I’m an elephant?
“I don’t think it’s silly,” he finished brusquely, like a toddler who’s been told they can’t drive the family car.
Watch the interview below:
