Politics

LGBT+ Conservatives name Penny Mordaunt ‘ally of the year’ despite anti-trans comments

Penny Mordaunt attends the third day of the Conservative Party Conference. (Getty)

The Conservative Party’s LGBTQ+ group is facing criticism after it named Penny Mordaunt as its “ally of the year”.

Mordaunt was once seen as one of the Tories’ most vocal LGBTQ+ allies, but burned bridges when she spoke out against “trans orthodoxy” while running for party leader earlier this year.

Despite that, Mordaunt was named “ally of the year” by LGBT+ Conservatives at the party’s conference in Birmingham on Monday (3 October).

In her acceptance speech, Mordaunt praised the UK for its “strong track record” on LGBTQ+ rights – however, she said there was “still a lot to do” such as tackling hate crime and healthcare.

Mordaunt told LGBT+ Conservatives that prime minister Liz Truss is “listening” and that she will do “a really good job on all these policy areas”.

Closing out her speech, Mordaunt urged LGBTQ+ Tories to “stay brave” for people all around the world who look to the UK as “a beacon for freedom”.

Penny Mordaunt ‘threw trans people under the bus’

The announcement by LGBT+ Conservatives was met with widespread criticism, with many condemning the group for recognising Mordaunt after she spoke out agains trans rights.

Shortly after announcing her bid for the Tory leadership, Mordaunt, who now serves as leader of the House of Commons, sparked backlash as she sought to answer the question “do I know what a woman is?” on Twitter.

A controversial Twitter thread saw Mordaunt stress her view that trans women are different to “biological women”.

Mordaunt sought to recast her time as women and equalities minister, saying that she “challenged the trans orthodoxy with real and genuine concern” while in the role, and spoke out against trans women in sport.

Shortly afterwards, she said in an appearance on LBC that she “never supported self-ID” for trans people, and that she disagreed with the “clamour” to separate gender recognition “out from healthcare”.

Mordaunt was equalities minister under Theresa May, during the period where reforming and demedicalising the Gender Recognition Act was government policy.

Her words came as a disappointment to many LGBTQ+ people who saw Mordaunt as their only hope for a progressive Conservative leader.

Prior to her leadership bid, Mordaunt was seen as a vocal LGBTQ+ ally who took part in Pride marches, won a PinkNews award, and even proclaimed that trans women are women and trans men are men in the House of Commons.

Her efforts to distance herself from the LGBTQ+ community failed on all fronts – she lost the support of the LGBTQ+ community, and her apparent flip-flopping was seized upon by right-wing critics including the Daily Mail.

At the official launch of her leadership campaign, Mordaunt was asked about her stance on the “war on woke”.

“Well I think we should be taking about the cost of living, I think we should talk about healthcare,” Mordaunt replied.

“But let me deal with the issue that is floating in the background there.

“I think it was Margaret Thatcher that said every prime minister needs a willy. A woman like me doesn’t have one.”

 

 

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