LGBT+ Conservatives sorry for ‘calling anti-trans Tory MP a c*nt’
The LGBT+ Conservatives group has apologised for a joke referring to ‘transphobic’ MP David Davies as a “c*nt”.
Davies, the Conservative MP for Monmouth, is one of the most virulent opponents of transgender rights in the House of Commons, repeatedly making offensive jokes at the expense of trans people and appearing in the media to call for transgender equality to be rolled back.
The politician’s stance attracted anger from his own party’s LGBT+ group, which sent a tweet over the weekend.
They had written: “David TC Davies’ transphobic views are abhorrent and out of kilter with Conservative Party policy.
“It’s clear that the T in his name stands for transphobe. It’s equally clear what the C stands for.”
Davies immediately demanded an apology, posting the swear word in full in the process. He wrote: “It is appalling that a Conservative group which purports to stand for equality is willing to allude to the word “c*nt” to describe MPs it doesn’t like. You are a disgrace.”
He added: “Implied use of word a “c*nt” is abusive & misogynistic. You’re an official Conservative group. We are against social media abuse. I’ll be making official complaint to @BrandonLewis on Monday.”
The LGBT+ Conservatives have now apologised for the incident.
They wrote: “As @DavidTCDavies has requested an apology for our tweet on Saturday we would like to officially apologise to him for the tweet and any offence cause.
“We will continue to debate with him vigorously on #trans rights but in a mutually respectful way. The tweet has now been deleted.”
Davies has a long history of outspoken comments opposing LGBT rights.
He attracted ire from the group over a message that said: “Somebody possessing a penis & pair of testicles is definitely not a woman. This should be a biological fact not a matter for political debate.”
The Tory MP has called on the government to drop plans to reform gender recognition laws, claiming it was important to avoid giving rights to people who are “effectively cross-dressers”.
(Photo by Matthew Horwood/Getty Images)
In a recent column Mr Davies said: “I suspect it will be impossible to express even the slightest concern about this without being accused of a host of ‘isms’ – but I am going to try.”
He added: “We cannot consider the rights of transgender people without considering the rights of others.
“If a man decides to register him/herself as a woman, should he/she have the right to use women’s toilets, changing rooms, hospital wards, etc.? This would clearly have an impact on the rights of women using those facilities.
“Some might say I am on the ‘wrong side of history’ and ‘bigoted’. But I would maintain that anyone in possession of male genitalia should be expected to use male facilities regardless of what gender they feel they are.”
Mr Davies is no stranger to ‘isms’, having previously described same-sex marriage as “barking mad” and suggested most parents would prefer their children “not to be gay”.
Justifying his opposition to equal marriage, Davies had said: “I think most parents would prefer their children not to be gay, knowing most parents want grandchildren if nothing else.”
He later dismissed accusations that he is a homophobe by citing his participation in an amateur boxing match against a gay fighter.
Mr Davies said: “Once fought gay boxer. Respect & like.trained with after bout so not bigoted. actvists [sic] calm down- listen to other views.”
He has also claimed that LGBT-inclusive sex education might encourage children to have gay sex.
In an interview, the MP said: “I suppose, at a certain level, I see heterosexual sex as being – and it’s probably the wrong word to use – but the norm. I think it’s reasonable to say that the vast majority of people are not gay.”
“I just worry if children are going to be taught that [heterosexuality] isn’t necessarily the norm, and that you can carry on doing all sorts of other things, are we going to have a situation where the teacher’s saying, ‘Right, this is straight sex, this is gay sex, feel free to choose, it’s perfectly normal to want to do both. And you know, why not try both out?’ I mean, are we going to have that?”
In the same interview, the MP had also recounted, unsolicited the story of a friend who had come out as gay before getting married to a woman, describing their sexuality as a “bit of a funny phase”.
Davies also recently criticised male police officers for getting their nails painted as part of a campaign to find unpaid slaves believed to be working in nail salons.
He said: “There’s no way I would have painted my nails — it’s not going to help you catch enslavers, is it?”
