People Can't Be Any Sex They Want, Says PM Rishi Sunak

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak might have just landed himself in trouble with his latest comments on transgender people.

The prime minister shared his stance on the gender debate during a speech at the 2023 Conservative Party conference on Wednesday.

He said "a man is a man, and a woman is a woman", sparking a social media debate on the issue that has also taken centre stage in the United States. "We 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," said Sunak.

''We are going to change this country and that means, life means life. That shouldn't be a controversial position. The vast majority of hard-working people agree with it. It also shouldn't be controversial for parents to know what their children are learning in school about relationships. Patients should know when hospitals are talking about men or women,'' he added.

Sunak's remarks have received a mixed reaction, with some supporting his views while others are calling them disrespectful. A user commented: "Everyone here in the threads thinking Sunak really cares about anyone here. He only cares for his rich friends."

"This is a very shame [sic] statement to be made by a UK's Prime Minister," commented another.

Earlier this year, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak came under fire for allegedly making "demonising" remarks about the transgender community.

The controversy involving Sunak erupted after a video of him mocking one of his opponents for supporting trans rights went viral on social media. The video was sourced by Pink News and showed the prime minister mocking Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey by making jokes about "women having penises".

The remarks were made during a speech at a party with the 1922 Committee on June 5, 2023. The meeting was attended by Veteran's Affairs Minister Johnny Mercer, Philip Hollobone, MP for Kettering, and Desmond Swain, MP for New Forest West, among others.

In the leaked video, he could be heard saying: "It shows his spectacular misjudgement and why he's completely unfit to lead our country." It is not clear who he was referring to here.

"Over the same period of time, you might have noticed Ed Davey has been very busy," Sunak continues. "Like me, you can probably see that he was trying to convince everybody that women clearly had penises.

"You'll all know that I'm a big fan of everybody studying maths to 18, but it turns out that we need to focus on biology."

The video was widely shared on various social media platforms, with people demanding an apology from the prime minister.

Kate Osborne, Member of Parliament for the constituency of Jarrow, also took to Twitter to take a dig at Sunak for his comments. She accused him of "escalating a culture war" and "throwing trans people under the bus to distract from the Tory made cost of living crisis".

His office had to issue an explanation highlighting how the joke was aimed at his rival and not at the community.

"You've heard the prime minister talk about his enormous compassionate understanding for people questioning their identity and that they should be treated with dignity and respect," his spokesperson said.

"On this specific issue, these are points he's made in interviews, publicly ... My understanding is that this was a joke aimed at a political opponent rather than a specific group," they added.

In January, Sunak's government blocked a gender law proposed by the Scottish Parliament. The law allowed transgender people to change their gender without providing a medical diagnosis. The UK government vetoed it stating that it violates national equality laws.