Boris Johnson has said he does not \u201cthink that biological males should be competing in female sporting events\u201d, amid the fallout from his decision not to ban conversion practices for people questioning their gender.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Wednesday, the prime minister said the issue \u201cwasn\u2019t something I thought that I would have to consider in great detail\u201d. Johnson also said that women should have spaces in hospitals, prisons and changing rooms which were \u201cdedicated to women\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s as far as my thinking has developed on this issue,\u201d Johnson told a journalist during a visit to a hospital in Hertfordshire. \u201cAnd if that puts me in conflict with some others, then we have got to work it all out.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean that I\u2019m not immensely sympathetic to people who want to change gender, to transition, and it\u2019s vital that we give people the maximum possible love and support in making those decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut these are complex issues. And I don\u2019t think they can be solved with one swift, easy piece of legislation \u2026 It takes a lot of thought to get this right.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also insisted it was right to exclude people who were questioning their gender from a long-promised ban on so-called conversion \u201ctherapy\u201d.<\/p>\n
After the resignation of a senior equality adviser and cancellation of the government\u2019s flagship international LGBT conference in the face of a mass withdrawal of support from stakeholders, the prime minister said he was \u201csad\u201d at their response.<\/p>\n
Despite some Tories pressing for No 10 to reverse its decision to take forward a ban on conversion practices only for those questioning their sexuality \u2013 not their gender \u2013 Johnson appeared to confirm that the decision taken last week was final.<\/p>\n
Johnson said: \u201cI suppose I\u2019d just make a few points: I don\u2019t think that it\u2019s reasonable for kids to be deemed so-called Gillick competent to take decisions about their gender or irreversible treatments that they may have. I think there should be parental involvement at the very least. That\u2019s the first thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecond thing, I don\u2019t think that biological males should be competing in female sporting events. And maybe that\u2019s a controversial thing, but it just seems to me to be sensible.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prime minister added: \u201cWe will have a ban on gay conversion therapy, which to me is utterly abhorrent. But there are complexities and sensitivities when you move from the area of sexuality to the question of gender. There, I\u2019m afraid, there are things that I think still need to be worked out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry we haven\u2019t been able to reach agreement with the organisations concerned but that will in no way diminish our determination to tackle prejudice wherever we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson, and the previous government led by Theresa May, had promised for years to institute a ban on conversion practices, which critics say subject those questioning their sexuality or gender to undue pressure or, in the most extreme cases, torture.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Iain Anderson, the government\u2019s LGBT+ adviser, stepped down and accused ministers of trying to drive a wedge between those who were gay, lesbian or bisexual and people who identified as transgender.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cBritain needs a strategy for trans people and I can\u2019t see one at the moment. We have a tabloid debate going on about people\u2019s lives. It\u2019s not a respectful debate; it\u2019s turned into a woke war.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Tory MP Dehenna Davison also expressed concern at the cancellation of the Safe To Be Me conference, due to be held in June to put pressure on countries to enact stronger rights for LGBT+ people.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had such a huge opportunity to prove the UK (and the Conservative party) is a defender of freedom,\u201d she\u00a0posted on Twitter. \u201cAs a Conservative member of the LGBT+ community, it is so wrong it has come to this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Scottish\u00a0Conservatives\u00a0on Wednesday diverged from the Westminster party as they committed to voting for a ban on all conversion practices \u2013 including a ban on trans conversion practices \u2013 in forthcoming Holyrood legislation.<\/p>\n
But the Scottish party also announced that \u201csupporting women\u2019s spaces in council-run venues including schools, parks and swimming pools\u201d would be a key plank of its manifesto for the May council elections.<\/p>\n
source:theguardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Boris Johnson has said he does not \u201cthink that biological males should be competing in female sporting events\u201d, amid the fallout from his decision not to ban conversion practices for people questioning their gender. Speaking on Wednesday, the prime minister said the issue \u201cwasn\u2019t something I thought that I would have to consider in great […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":19723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[11261,8348,11626,5090,157,5307,7568,10767,10000,323,2512,11399,12210,4028,6560,2264,6825,5328,10954,6030,7236,8483,2693,2717,6220,10832,6864,278,11973,3174,3457,5723,8810,9037,11410,1568,4890,7586,255,6594,5511,5350,12605,3080,5251,6267,3954,5320,10415,594],"class_list":["post-19722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-accused","tag-ban","tag-bisexual","tag-boris","tag-boris-johnson","tag-britain","tag-cancellation","tag-conflict","tag-conservative","tag-conservative-party","tag-conservatives","tag-debate","tag-female","tag-freedom","tag-gay","tag-government","tag-hospital","tag-hospitals","tag-international","tag-journalist","tag-kids","tag-lesbian","tag-lgbt","tag-lgbtq","tag-love","tag-manifesto","tag-ministers","tag-mp","tag-one","tag-prime-minister","tag-russia","tag-sam-sex","tag-schools","tag-scottish","tag-swimming","tag-theresa-may","tag-tories","tag-torture","tag-tory","tag-tory-mp","tag-transgender","tag-twitter","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-war","tag-westminster","tag-will","tag-women","tag-work","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}