How Transphobic Moral Panics Fuel Authoritarian Politics
Britain’s moral panic over the trans “threat” is often promoted by people who see themselves as liberals. But their transphobia echoes the same reactionary themes long used to demonize minorities.
A trans rights activist holds a placard while taking part in the “Furies Against Fascism” protest in Glasgow, Scotland, on February 5, 2023. (Andy Buchanan / AFP via Getty Images)
The horrific murder of Brianna Ghey has put transphobia in Britain’s news headlines yet again, with police currently investigating it as a potential hate crime. Brianna, sixteen, who was fatally stabbed by two teenagers in a park, had become known on TikTok and spoken of being bullied at school because of her trans identity. Her murder led to over fifty vigils across the country, with thousands attending.
Violence targeting trans people is unfortunately not rare. In 2022, Vice reported that “the number of homophobic hate crime reports in the UK has doubled and the number of transphobic hate crime reports has tripled over the last five years”.
It is essential to see such extreme actions as part of a broader discursive environment — one that links together mainstream, far-right, and extreme-right actors. The disproportionate and generally negative focus against trans people across the media spectrum has been well documented. In a 2020 report, the Independent Press Standards Organisation in the UK noted that there had been a 400 percent increase in coverage of “trans issues” between 2014 and 2019. Many mainstream public actors have also used their huge platforms to push anti-trans narratives into the mainstream, emboldening extreme-right activists.
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