JK Rowling, David Tennant clash over gender issues in UK election

London: In an election campaign lacking star power and pizzazz, the intervention of two British cultural icons has provided the biggest punch.

Last week David Tennant, the former star of Doctor Who and beloved Scottish actor, used an LGBT awards ceremony to launch an attack on Kemi Badenoch, the UK’s minister for women and equalities, over trans rights.

David Tennant and JK Rowling have made interventions in the UK election.Credit: Jamie Brown

“Until we wake up and Kemi Badenoch doesn’t exist any more, I don’t wish ill of her, I just wish her to shut up,” he said in his acceptance speech after being named a celebrity ally.

Backstage he went further, saying that his message to young trans people was that “it’s a tiny bunch of whinging little f---ers that are on the wrong side of history and they’ll all go away soon”.

The stoush, just days before Brits go to the polls, came amid a now-familiar political debate on transgender policy, with the issue becoming a key battleground in the election.

The Tories have accused Labour of planning to “dilute women’s rights” by introducing self-ID “by the back door”. They recently made an election pledge to make biological sex a protected characteristic under the Equality Act. Gender reassignment is currently protected.

UK’s Minister for Women and Equalities, Kemi Badenoch.Credit: AP

Tennant, whose child is reportedly non-binary, said he was on the side of “human decency” and believed “everyone has the right to be who they want to be”.

“Pride is very important in our house, it’s a family affair – we have skin in the game so this event tonight thrills me.”

He became a prominent public advocate for trans kids over the past two years, famously wearing a T-shirt with the words “leave trans kids alone, you absolute freaks” to the launch of the second series of his Amazon Prime fantasy comedy series Good Omens.

During her time in government, Badenoch has advocated for banning trans women from entering women’s toilets and sports teams to protect female rights and safety. Her campaign has involved several broadsides against the police, the media, the NHS and universities over their policies on transgender issues.

Sir Keir Starmer and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.Credit: AP

She demanded an apology from Tennant and attempted to weaponise his comments to fuel a culture war.

“I will not shut up,” she posted on social media. “A rich, lefty, white male celebrity so blinded by ideology he can’t see the optics of attacking the only black woman in government by calling publicly for my existence to end.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary James Cleverly were among those to leap to her defence.

But Dawn Butler, the Labour candidate for Brent East, weighed in to support Tennant, writing: “Not all Black women think the same. I agree with David Tennant.”

Among those to defend the woman who some predict could be a future Tory leader was fellow Scot, author JK Rowling.

The Harry Potter author – a long-time supporter of and donor to British Labour – has faced a sustained backlash in recent years over her outspoken stance on trans issues and her claims that trans women “are not women”.

She posted a BBC article on social media, which characterised Tennant and Badenoch’s public sparring as a “row”. Rowling labelled Tennant a part of the “gender Taliban”, accusing him of receiving “special dispensation” from the media, “for they are a holy caste”.

Sharing a screenshot of Tennant’s “tiny bunch of little whinging f---ers” comments, she said: “This man is talking about rape survivors who want female-only care, the nurses currently suing their health trust for making them change in front of a man, girls and women losing sporting opportunities to males and female prisoners incarcerated with convicted sex offenders”.

Trans rights activists take part in a protest against the ban on hormone blockers in London.Credit: Getty Images

Tennant, who portrayed Barty Crouch Jr in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, joined a growing list of the franchise’s actors who clashed with Rowling on trans issues.

In April, Rowling told Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson – who played Harry and Hermoine – to “save their apologies” for “traumatised detransitioners” after the stars made statements supporting transgender rights.

Rowling’s criticism of left-wing gender politics from the Scottish National Party and Labour has grown over recent years. In 2021, she was outraged when Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was “not right” for Rosie Duffield, a Labour MP who has stressed the importance of biological sex, to say that only women have a cervix.

In an article for The Times last month, Rowling said she had a “poor opinion” of Starmer’s character, claiming he was “dismissive and often offensive” in respect of women’s concerns about their sex-based rights.

Last week, Starmer clashed with a radio caller who accused him of speaking “absolute twaddle” over access to single-sex spaces.

Asked about Tennant’s comments, Starmer said he “wouldn’t have engaged” with the discussion in the same way.

To much criticism from the LGBTQ community, he hardened his stance this week, saying transgender women do not have a right to access female-only spaces, amid confusion over Labour’s stance on which toilets trans people should use.

In recent days, Labour clarified its position on transgender rights, with its health spokesman Wes Streeting saying the party would “modernise and reform” gender laws if it comes into power on July 4.

The party said it would keep the requirement for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria but that this could now be provided by a single clinician.

Labour has also offered to meet Rowling after Rachel Reeves, the would-be chancellor and the highest-ranking woman in a Starmer government, said she would be “really happy” to “give her assurances” over plans to change the process through which people can legally change gender.

But Rowling remains doubtful Labour is prepared to push back.

“As long as Labour remains dismissive and often offensive towards women fighting to retain the rights their foremothers thought were won for all time, I’ll struggle to support them,” she wrote.

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