Penny Mordaunt claims that as Minister for Women and Equality she “challenges trans-Orthodox with genuine and sincere concern”.
She did nothing of the kind. And now, with breathtaking hypocrisy, she’s attempting to rewrite history.
I was there as a women and children activist and I could see exactly what was going on.
Penny Mordaunt now claims that in 2018 she launched an investigation into the number of adolescent girls who were sent to the Gender Identity Development Service at the Tavistock Clinics London and Leeds.
Penny Mordaunt claims that as Minister for Women and Equality she “challenges trans-Orthodox with genuine and genuine concern”. She did nothing of the kind. And now, with breathtaking hypocrisy, she’s attempting to rewrite history
The state equality office she heads was supposed to protect the rights of women and minorities. In contrast, what I saw was a Whitehall department addicted to trans ideology—its language, its goals, its propaganda.
A senior official once insisted to me that the Ministry was completely impartial, but that was nonsense. Whenever I tried to question their doctrines on transgender politics, I was treated with barely concealed hostility.
On one occasion, at a parliamentary session organized by Monmouth MP David Davies to discuss women’s concerns, I was appalled to see two officials from the State Equality Office sitting behind him, openly giggling.
When I attempted to raise an issue in meetings with the State Equality Office, the jargon used by officials was obviously biased. It was clear to me that they were assuming “trans women are women” and that any debate about female-only spaces like toilets and changing rooms must always include trans women.
Penny Mordaunt now claims she launched an inquiry in 2018 into the number of adolescent girls who were sent to the Gender Identity Development Service at the Tavistock clinics in London (pictured) and Leeds. The state equality office she heads was supposed to protect the rights of women and minorities. In contrast, what I saw was a Whitehall department addicted to trans ideology—its language, its goals, its propaganda
The hostility I faced was palpable. This made it impossible to have a meaningful discussion, let alone arrive at balanced political decisions. It seems that under Penny Mordaunt these attitudes were never questioned.
Not much else was questioned. When transgender activists like the Mermaids charity submitted statistics to the original transgender equality inquiry in 2015, it was accepted without fact-checking.
Government officials seemed to think it would be transphobic to cast doubt on its unimpeachable accuracy.
For example, figures on the number of trans teens who had seriously considered suicide were taken at face value, although they were disputed by the Tavistock Clinic.
It wasn’t until Liz Truss took over as Minister for Equality in 2019 that I began to see some of the prejudice being dismantled.
It’s bad enough that Miss Mordaunt was such an ineffective defender of women’s rights and her department seemed bent on swallowing whatever trans activists said.
What’s worse is their hypocrisy today, their pretext for treating the Trans train with skepticism.
Her allegation last week that she requested an “investigation” into the numbers forwarded to the Gender Identity Development Service at Tavistock is not the whole truth. Your research, if you can call it that, turned out to be a few stats that any Google search could have uncovered in moments.
When I offered my support for this “investigation” in 2018, I was told that its purpose had been misreported. It wasn’t “a study of the number of girls referred” — it was gathering evidence on “the problems faced by people who are assigned a female at birth and who transition at puberty.”
In other words, they weren’t as alarmed by the number of girls questioning their gender identity as Miss Mordaunt is now claiming. From my point of view, it was just an exercise in ticking boxes.
And look at that jargon – “people assigned a female at birth.” The government’s Equal Opportunities Office cannot bring itself to simply call a young woman ‘a girl’.
Penny Mordaunt as Secretary of State for Women and Equality Penny Mordaunt arrives at 10 Downing Street on April 30, 2019 to attend a Cabinet meeting in London. It wasn’t until Liz Truss took over as Minister for Equality in 2019 that I began to see some of the bias being withdrawn
She needs to be an “assigned woman,” as if her femininity is something she will outgrow.
Women and girls are wiped out. We see women-only spaces disappearing everywhere, from M&S bra-fitting departments to women’s prisons.
Expectant mothers are “parents-to-be” and “pregnant women,” not women. Trans women are “women,” but pregnant women are “people.” That sums up Penny Mordaunt.
The mission of organizations like Stonewall and Pink News is to abolish sex as the distinction between male and female and replace it with gender self-identification. Both organizations were big fans of Penny Mordaunt.
Women who fight back face rape and murder threats on social media and risk losing their jobs and livelihoods in the real world.
At a Women’s Place UK meeting I attended in Brighton to discuss violence against women, we had to deal with screaming trans activists who then banged on the windows throughout the debate.
It was really intimidating and very scary. The police refused to intervene.
But Penny Mordaunt, who is campaigning for the post of Britain’s next prime minister, says she wants to stop talking about this “toxic” subject and turn to issues that are more relevant to a majority of the British public.
The majority of the British public are women. We are fed up with being treated as if our rights and the safe spaces we fought so hard for are irrelevant. We will not be deleted.
Stephanie Davies-Arai is the founder and director of Transgender Trend
