“The Minister should be taking action to reduce the rising tide of hate against the trans community, instead of inflaming the situation”
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Labour MP for Jarrow Kate Osborne has demanded an apology from the Minister For Women And Equalities Kemi Badenoch who called her a liar at a recent parliamentary committee. Osborne called out Badenoch for using the word “epidemic” when referring to young people coming out as trans, stating that the use of “inflammatory” language was damaging to the trans community.
In response Badenoch accused Osborne of lying about her use of the word “epidemic”. Badenoch made headlines last week for several controversial statements about the trans community, going as far as to claim that gender-affirming care was akin to conversion “therapy”.
Kate Osborne told DIVA exclusively: “I was taken aback by the vitriol from the Minister for Equalities – who had earlier in the committee said we need to take the heat out of this debate. The Minister called me a liar six times. I immediately asked her to withdraw and the Chair of the Women and Equalities committee reminded her to use Parliamentary language – she did not withdraw the allegation.”
“The Minister has repeatedly, including yesterday, used the word epidemic to describe young people needing gender-affirming care. Calling things an epidemic has obviously negative connotations. The dictionary definition refers to a disease, and it is often used to describe violence against women or child poverty – they are diseases and things that should be eradicated. Trans people are not.”
“It really shouldn’t need to be said that calling any group of people an epidemic is a bad thing,” Osborne continued.
Later in the meeting, Badenoch claimed that the word “epidemic does not mean disease”. However, as Osborne pointed out, the dictionary definition of the word epidemic is “a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time” or “an undesirable phenomenon”.
Osborne also said that “it is completely unprofessional and inappropriate to call me a liar, she had no answers to the myriad of questions on education, abortion, health care, hate crime and so many other issues.”
“The Minister should be taking action to reduce the rising tide of hate against the trans community, instead of inflaming the situation.”
Kate Osborne has sent these comments to Kemi Badenoch and has demanded a formal apology.
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