Daily Mail columnist and radio personality Katie Hopkins has been skirting controversy once again (what a surprise) as she this time takes aim at the transgender community.
Speaking on her weekly show on LBC Radio the former Apprentice contestant has lashed out at the transgender community, claiming that they should receive no help or treatment from the NHS, especially fertility treatment, pointing to long NHS waiting times for other treatment as a reason to not help the trans community.
'Is it okay that we are paying for these individuals and their lifestyle choices? I don't think so as it goes.
'As much as I love to wave the rainbow coloured banner as the next individual. As much as I see that's the way the world is going - I may need to catch up with that. I don't agree with it.
'I don't think that we should be paying for trans people to have their eggs frozen on the NHS. If we live in a world of endless resources... If money fell from the sky in a golden shower, of a quite different making... then well of course, there would be no problem with the amount of cash available but the fact is we are 2.4 billion pounds in debt with our NHS.
'The fact that we've got cataract operations being cancelled, three out of four trusts now do not perform cataract operations until the patient is perfectly blind because we don't have the funds to approve them.
'Do we really need to pander to the trans community and their whims? I say no.'
The NHS currently offers trans people the choice of freezing eggs and sperm so that transgender people can have children later in life, in a similar way that this choice is open to cancer patients and people facing other treatment where fertility may be affected, though quite often trans people have to pay for this service themselves.
To blame the transgender community and the meagre treatment that we receive on the NHS for the major debt and delays faced across the entire service is ludicrous and shortsighted in its ignorance, and no better than saying immigrants are responsible for people having problems finding jobs. It's a snap judgement that doesn't hold up upon closer examination of real world facts and figures and is informed by nothing more than bigotry and blaming of minority groups.
As it stands at the moment transgender people face a waiting list of more than two years to receive their first gender clinic appointment so that they can receive medical aid in their transition, a period of time that is excessively long and leads to huge amounts of distress for those awaiting their appointments.
Katie Hopkins is quite clearly just lashing out about a situation she knows little to nothing about, with an opinion formed without any research and based on fear mongering headlines and tabloid stories, but then what do we expect from someone who writes for The Daily Mail, a 'newspaper' that was actually responsible for the death of a transgender woman, Lucy Meadows.
From a personal point of view I would like to say the following to Hopkins, being transgender is not a 'lifestyle choice' I made. I did not choose this for myself. I did not make the choice to paint a target on myself for every hateful bigot in the world. I did not choose to face harassment in the streets. I did not choose to face discrimination in the workplace. I did not choose to receive death and rape threats. I did not choose to become massively suicidal and depressed. I DID NOT CHOOSE THIS.
Being transgender is not a choice, and it most certainly is not a 'lifestyle', and I will argue that point with anyone who claims otherwise until I am blue in the face because those kind of accusations are ridiculous.
Perhaps you should learn to do a little research on a subject before you open your mouth in the future Ms Hopkins, otherwise you just make yourself look stupid, like when you told your listeners that the M25 would close for a week because you believed a spoof article. Educate yourself and stop spreading hate and lies about our community.
Amy.
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Dear Kate, it is not a lifestyle choice it's who we are, i am sorry you can't get your pea sized brain around the fact that Transgender people have been around since the dawn of man kind. I am sorry that you feel uncomfortable about us but that is really your problem to over come. You should be asking yourself why it should bother you so much and why you think that we don't have a right to exist and be treated like every other Human being. For some Transgender people not receiving support from the NHS would cause many to take their own lives. Being trapped in a body that is opposite to the gender we identify as, is like being trapped in a prison cell desperate to break free. Until society can accept people for being their true selves and stop judging us, stop persecuting us, stops discriminating and hating, stops placing obstacle so that we can't live as our true selves and go about our daily lives just like any other human being. Transgender people will continue to suffer and sadly continue to have high rates of suicide. Kate you are what is very wrong with society you have no humanity and seem to have no compassion for any other human being who just happens to be different and does not fit inside your tiny little box. I don't feel hate towards you i just feel pity for you. Your a sad and ignorant human being. While you use your position in society to hurt my fellow transgender brothers and sisters, why don't you do yourself a favour and actually meet and get to know us and get educated about what being Transgender is about. It's not as if their is very little knowledge out there, as there are many medical and scientific resources out there backing up the need for the services offered by the NHS. You are not a doctor or a scientist so I suggest in future you keep your mouth tightly shut on subjects you know very little about.
ReplyDeleteTrans people who want to cryogenically save sperm or have eggs kept pay for that personally.
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ReplyDeleteMs Hopkins has previously promulgated compulsory Mobile Euthanasia.... strange she did not view herself as likely to be collected on the bus!!!
ReplyDeleteWhy should she care , she only wants to wind people up and she blows in the wind . Stop Listening and reading the filth and lies you pushes out look who she writes for . They just said The NHS funded 3000 FTM ops in 1 year , really , I sure don't think so .
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