Munroe Bergdorf says ‘authoritarian’ Tories driving her to flee the UK: ‘Fascism in action’
Munroe Bergdorf said she is increasingly weary of living in the UK. (Instagram)
Trans model and author Munroe Bergdorf is considering leaving the UK if the Tories “hold on to power”.
Munroe Bergdorf said she is “no longer willing to live under an authoritarian government that is intent on reducing trans people to second-class citizens“.
She spoke after it emerged the government is considering amending the Equality Act to define sex as “biological”, so that trans people are no longer protected from sex-based discrimination.
Bergdorf said she would “almost certainly be packing [her] bags” unless the Tories are ousted.
“This climate is already creating an increasingly unliveable environment for trans people to navigate, and over the next year or so ahead of the general election it’s due to get a lot worse,” she wrote on Instagram Wednesday (5 April).
“I only hope that people can see this for what it is, and use their vote to stand up against what is quite clearly fascism in action.”
Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch signalled that she is considering to redefine sections of the Equality Act to nullify certain rights for trans people in a 21 February letter to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).
She asked the EHRC for advice on restricting the definition of sex to “biological sex”. In response, EHRC chair Baroness Kishwer Falkner said that changing the definition would provide “greater legal clarity” that could be used to exclude trans women from certain spaces.
“As things stand, a women’s book club, for instance, may have to admit a trans woman who obtained a [Gender Recognition Certificate],” she wrote. “On the biological definition, it could restrict membership to biological women.”
Such a change could mean trans women, like Munroe Bergdorf, would not have the legal right to access single-sex spaces such as bathrooms and hospital wings – though it’s unclear how this could possibly be enforced.
It would also force trans men to share spaces with cis women.
Though not a recommendation, Falkner’s letter advocated for “further consideration”.
It came just a few days after prime minister Rishi Sunak pledged to look into guidance created by a right-wing think tank effectively recommending schools to forcibly out trans children.
Following the publication of the report by Policy Exchange, which recommended that school officials inform parents “when a child discloses feelings of gender distress,” Sunak promised to publish new guidance for schools.
Using the loose justification of “safety and wellbeing,” he said that “parents must be able to know what is being taught to their kids in school, especially on these sensitive areas”.
The Policy Exchange report also featured a foreword by “gender critical” Labour MP Rosie Duffield, who said that the government “must end this reckless experiment now”.
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