Politics

Boris Johnson called out for supporting Jamie Wallis just hours after making a trans joke

Boris Johnson called out for supporting Jamie Wallis just hours after making a trans joke
Boris Johnson refers to ‘basic facts of biology’ after question on ‘gender ...
Independent

Boris Johnson has been criticised for making a joke about transgender people the night before Tory MP Jamie Wallis revealed they were trans.

The prime minister wrote a message of support to Wallis on Twitter after they said they had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, causing people to compare that support with the joke Johnson reportedly made at a dinner for Tory MPs at London’s Park Plaza hotel.

"Good evening ladies and gentleman, or as Keir Starmer would put it, people who are assigned female or male at birth,” he had quipped, according to Politico, referring to the Labour leader's refusal to answer whether a woman can have a penis in an interview with LBC earlier this week.

Then to Wallis, he wrote: "Sharing this very intimate story would have taken an immense amount of courage.Thank you @JamieWallisMP for your bravery, which will undoubtedly support others.

"The Conservative Party I lead will always give you, and everyone else, the love and support you need to be yourself."

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The sequence of events did not go unnoticed by people:

In parliament last week, Johnson said the “basic facts of biology” are “overwhelmingly important” after being asked about trans rights at PMQs.

He added that when people are keen to “make a transition in their lives” they must be “treated with the maximum possible generosity and respect”.

"We have systems in this country that allow that and have done for a long time, and we should be very proud of it,” he said.

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