Tory Leadership Contest and what it means for LGBT+ people in the UK

So, we have the last 2 MP’s who will be our PM for probably the next 2 years unless an early GE is called.

They are Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

Both where both Cabinet Ministers under the outgoing PM, Boris Johnson. Liz Truss was the Foreign Secretary and Equalities Minister while Rishi Sunak was the Chancellor.

Liz Tuss

Liz Truss while Equalities Minister oversaw the EHRC, Appointed its head, Baroness Nicholson, who has proven to be transphobic and also said she wants to protect “Single Sex Spaces”.

During her time in the equalities office, Truss has repeatedly hit out at “identity politics”, saying nobody wants to be a “token gay person” in a working environment – but perhaps her biggest failure lies in reforming the Gender Recognition Act (GRA).

In September 2020, Truss announced that she would not introduce self-identification for trans people. If adopted, it would have allowed trans people to change their legal gender without a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and without answering invasive questions about their bodies and their identity.

Truss abandoned those reforms despite a public consultation conducted under Mordaunt’s leadership which showed strong support for change.

There was also the fallout surrounding the disbandment of the LGBT Advisory Panel and her abject failure to ban all conversion therapy, despite repeated promises that she would do so.

While in office, she likes to imitate Margaret Thatcher, seems to always look for a photo shoot and wastes tax payers money getting them as well.

She acts like a robot half of the time and is not good at answering question’s. I would also like to point out she pulled out of one of the televised debates between the candidates before the final vote on Wednesday last week by MP’s.

Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak was the Chancellor for over 2 1/2 years. He is not in favour of LGBT+ rights in general.

Ahead of launching his campaign, an “ally” of the former chancellor of the exchequer told the Mail on Sunday that he will reverse “recent trends to erase women via the use of clumsy, gender-neutral language” if he wins the Tory leadership.

The ally was quoted as saying: “He believes we must be able to call a mother a mother and talk about breastfeeding, alongside trans-inclusive language where needed.” Sunak is said to be considering banning trans women from women’s sport in the name of “fairness”.

Speaking during a Mumsnet Q&A in April, Sunak said trans people should be “Respected but added that biology is “important” and “fundamental” when it comes to toilets and sports.

While in office he presided over the highest taxes we have seen in 75 years. He also wrote of over £39Bn in COVID related waste like track and trace, unusable PPE etc. He also has given bankers, as he is a former banker, tax breaks while giving the rest of the country tax rises.

His wife has been under non-dom status (meaning she doesn’t pay any tax in the UK on her earnings) even though she is worth £350million. She also put her staff on Furlough during the COVID pandemic.

Sunak also received a fine for breaking COVID rules in 10 Downing Street, the same time as the outgoing PM Boris Johnson got one.

Conclusion

The 2 MP’s left are damaged by the support they gave the outgoing PM, Boris Johnson. Both are not good for the LGBT+ Community and both are not good for this country. We are in for a rough 2 years unless of course we get a General Election before hand, which is in the power of who ever takes over Boris Johnson.

Kira Herdman