Rishi Sunak parrots anti-trans dog-whistles in Piers Morgan interview: ‘Biological sex matters’
Rishi Sunak has explained that he feels “biological sex really matters” when talking about trans rights (Piers Morgan Uncensored/TalkTV)
Prime minister Rishi Sunak parroted several anti-trans talking points in an interview with Piers Morgan, declaring that a woman is an “adult human female” and that “biological sex matters”.
Sunak appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Thursday (2 February) to discuss his first 100 days as leader of the Conservative Party and unelected PM, discussing his brutally tough immigration stance, nurses’ wages and the inclusion of trans people in sports.
Morgan kicked off the TalkTV interview with what he dubbed “the world’s most controversial question”, asking the PM to define a “woman”, and slamming Keir Starmer for claiming it is incorrect to say “only women have a cervix”.
“I know what a woman is: an adult human female,” Sunak said, a definition often used by so-called “gender critical” people.
He added that we “must have enormous compassion and tolerance and understanding” for trans people, but that “biological sex really matters”.
Referring to Isla Bryson, a trans woman convicted of rape before she transitioned, who will now be housed in a male prison, Sunak claimed the case represented the “challenge” surrounding single-sex spaces.
“That’s why when it comes to these questions, biological sex matters… Whether it’s sex, whether it’s women’s spaces, whether it’s prisons, biological sex really matters,” he said.
When pressed by Morgan, he added that trans athletes competing in women’s sport “doesn’t strike most people as being fair”.
Rishi Sunak also touched on the ongoing nurses’ strikes, claiming that he would “love to give nurses a massive pay rise” and that he came from a family of people who worked for the NHS, but that the decision is “tough”.
He added: “It’s not always easy in this job because I’m focused on doing what I believe is right for the country… often that means doing things that may not always be popular, and this is a good example of that.
“I would love to give the nurses a massive pay rise. Who wouldn’t? Certainly [it] would make my life easier, wouldn’t it?”
Sunak also insisted that the government’s plan to deport refugees to Rwanda while their asylum claims are processed will definitely go ahead, with reports claiming that women, married men, and LGBTQ+ people are being sent notices for deportation.
“The system that we need, the system that I want to introduce, is one whereby if you come here illegally, you should be swiftly detained and in a matter of days or weeks we will hear your claim, not months and years. Then we will safely remove you somewhere else,” he told the chat show host.
“And if we do that, that’s how we’ll break the cycle.”
The prime minister has been criticised for his stance on the trans community before, stating in November that he wanted to modify the 2010 Equality Act to exclude trans people.
According to The Telegraph, Rishi Sunak was planning to “review the Equality Act to make it clear that sex means biological sex rather than gender”.
Currently, the act protects people from discrimination on the basis of both sex and “gender reassignment”.
Under the latter, trans people are protected regardless of whether they have undergone or plan to undergo medical transition, and regardless of whether or not they hold a Gender Recognition Certificate, the document by which a person can change their legal gender.
It means trans people can access single-sex spaces such as shelters, toilets and hospital wards.
The Telegraph also reported: “It would… mean clarifying that self-identification for transgender people does not have legal force, meaning transgender women have no legal right to access women-only facilities.”
