Suzy Eddie Izzard blasts U.K. conservatives for manufacturing an anti-trans “culture war”

Suzy Eddie Izzard has accused UK conservatives of waging a politically motivated “culture war” against the country’s transgender community.

The British comedian, who in August announced her bid to become the next Labour Party Member of Parliament representing Brighton, attended the party’s conference in Liverpool this week. While there, she blasted members of the conservative Troy Party for ginning up anti-trans animus.

Related:

Sam Smith speaks out for trans people as UK government increases attacks

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was the latest politician to attack trans people, saying they don’t exist.

“It’s the Tories’ culture war,” she told PoliticsJOE. “There is no culture war. It’s not there. As a trans person, it’s not there.”

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She described most people she encounters as accepting her identity, and accused conservative leaders of manufacturing anti-trans animus for political gain.

“They’re trying to divide and conquer. They’ve always tried to do that,” she explained. “‘Could we possibly get a culture war?’ You could hear the meeting in your mind of the Tories sitting down and saying: ‘We’ve got to stoke up people, keep saying culture war’. It’s not there.”

“There are people who are out and proud and positive, LGBTQ people have been coming out for years. I came out almost 40 years ago—40 years ago. How much notice do people need?” she added.

Izzard’s comments echo criticisms of recent anti-LGBTQ+ statements made by high-ranking members of the U.K. government.

Last week, following U.K. Health Secretary Steve Barclay’s announcement of a plan to ban transgender patients from single-sex wards at National Health Service (NHS) hospitals, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the crowd at the U.K.’s Conservative Party Conference that they “shouldn’t get bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be. They can’t. A man is a man, and a woman is a woman, that’s just common sense.”

In an interview with Sky News, U.K. Home Secretary Suella Braverman agreed with Barclay’s proposal, saying that “Trans women have no place in women’s wards or, indeed, any safe space relating to biological women.” Braverman characterized the move as necessary to protect cisgender women’s “dignity, safety, and privacy.” However, a recent investigation by trans advocacy group Translucent looked at data from 102 NHS trusts across the U.K. and found zero complaints from cisgender women about trans women being cared for on the same hospital wards between April 2020 and June 2022.

Braverman also recently sparked outrage when she suggested that fearing persecution in their home countries due to being a woman or LGBTQ+ should not qualify refugees for asylum. Her comments drew a rebuke from the United Nations and sparked protests in London. A coalition of more than 200 human rights organizations led by U.K. LGBTQ+ nonprofit Stonewall sent a letter demanding that the government commit to protecting women and LGBTQ+ asylum seekers.

Critics, including out actor Ian McKellen, have suggested that Braverman’s comments were calculated to boost her credibility with conservative voters and her chances of succeeding Sunak should the Prime Minister lose the next general election.