The Supreme Court judgment on the definition of a woman on 16 April restored a degree of sanity to a world that was in danger of going mad. Even Keir Starmer now knows that a woman is a matter of biology rather than ideology. Can somebody please tell the Americans? Or, more precisely, those progressive types over the pond who like to concern themselves with other people’s business.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security is an American non-profit organisation that started out to address concerns about the situation in Iraq in the wake of Isis. The institute claims to connect ‘the global grassroots with the tools of genocide prevention’, and generally to do a bit of good in the world. How effective their campaigns might be in a world where aggression remains rife is for others to judge.
Their latest red flag alert, however, homed in on the United Kingdom and, in particular, the experiences of transgender and intersex people. They saw ‘evidence of genocidal intent and actions targeting these communities’. According to them, ‘this hostile environment is a subtle, pernicious and clear attempt to eradicate transgender and intersex people from British life.’
The hyperbole is so far from my experiences as a trans person that it is ridiculous, and such deluded campaigners from afar should merit no further discussion. What bothers me more are people closer to home who ought to know better. Last week, Victoria McCloud – a former judge, who also happens to be trans – announced:
I now see it as my sad duty to make an evidence-based report to Genocide Watch and The Lemkin Institute requesting investigation into the systematic oppression of the trans community of the UK.
Victoria McCloud
Perhaps we now know why the Americans suddenly poked their noses in? And that wasn’t a one-off. The BBC recently reported McCloud’s fear that ‘someone’s going to get killed’ because of the Supreme Court ruling. My view of the situation is rather more mundane. Could it be that some people don’t like the judgment and fear being called to account for their actions?
It was never right for male transitioners to assume that they could co-opt themselves into the rights of women simply by uttering the magic words ‘I identify as a woman’. We now live in a saner – and better – world where everybody knows that other people’s rights matter too. McCloud needs to get over it. My fear is the genuinely vulnerable will be put at risk, not from some genocidal mob but from fear itself.
As trans people, we are told regularly about that ‘systematic oppression’. When there is power in being a victim, claims of persecution can attract benefits and rewards. For over a decade, the trans community has drawn in vulnerable youngsters with promises that can never be delivered. Now I sense that the carnival is moving on: the Cass Review put the brakes on the chemical castration of children; the Supreme Court gave women the confidence to object to people they perceived to be men in their spaces; and Pride has lost its grip on our public institutions – at least in councils run by Reform UK.
But while society moves on, some youngsters risk being left to flounder. Some never experienced puberty, others were led to believe that they were the opposite sex at unknown cost to their psychological development. Rather more were told that they had a gender identity that set them apart from mere muggles.
Life might be far more complicated for them in the coming years and decades. They need to be helped to focus on the things that really matter – building committed relationships, finding productive employment, and taking up their place in society. It helps nobody to ruminate on the fiction that they are hated for claiming a transgender identity. The reality is that few people even care.
The world of their future will have its challenges, but genocidal mobs trying to eradicate trans people from the UK are hardly likely to feature – whatever a former judge might like to believe.
Debbie Hayton is a teacher and journalist.
Her book, Transsexual Apostate – My Journey Back to Reality is published by Forum
* This article was first published by The Spectator on 2 July 2025: No, British trans people aren’t at risk of ‘genocide’.
Debbie Hayton 
4 replies on “No, British trans people aren’t at risk of ‘genocide’”
Well, let’s be fair. There is SOME hostility against trans people, probably in every country, but I don’t think the bigoted people are forming themselves into mobs. I suspect there is some natural antipathy towards men who dress as women, antipathy from other men who think men should be masculine, and antipathy from women who want trans women to stay out of their spaces. The combining of male and female in one person has always struck me as odd to the extent that it makes me uncomfortable. But I’m not looking for other skinheads (just joking — I’m not one of those) to find some trans women to beat up. However, to the extent that trans women go into prostitution and try to pass themselves off as real women, they are certainly at risk of being murdered, especially in countries where the men are “macho”. What often happens is that the trans prostitute offers oral sex to the “john”, but the john decides he wants real sex and tries to rape the prostitute, only to discover what she really is. There is genuine hostility in the world against people who have some sexual abnormality.
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In my opinion the hostility comes from the trans activists and the mentally ill ( there are clearly some).
For years women have been aware that the occasional cross dresser uses their facilities and as long as they are discreet about it no one cares very much but when the activists appeared it all started to be about rights, demands and respect no matter how bizarre their appearance. Women are becoming sick of being told what they should think and the privacy they should give up in order to appease these confused and unpredictable people.
Now they are claiming to be victims. Of what exactly? Everyone I’ve heard talk on the subject including JK Rowling ALWAYS emphasises that everyone has the right to live as they choose but they don’t have the right to impose their views on other people be they women or children. I can’t claim to know how men feel about it all. However if there is a threat to trans people it’s more likely to come from men than women which is presumably why trans men are afraid of using men’s facilities.
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Yes, an anatomically correct trans man would be at risk of sexual assault when using a men’s locker room, although I can imagine that any such trans man would have had her breasts removed.
On another Substack, a woman complained about trans women claiming to be Lesbians joining and using a site meant for real Lesbians. A man pretending to be a Lesbian strikes me as the height of hubris. It is bad enough that these men claim to be women, but claiming to be Lesbians too is just totally creepy. The woman posted pictures of some of them. They all had the faces of men masquerading as women, and they all looked ridiculous. The company which owned the site — probably men — said it was their policy to accept trans women as women; and if the trans women say they are attracted to women, then the company accepts them as Lesbians. What a ridiculous distortion of reality.
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I meant to say it’s presumably why trans women are afraid of using men’s facilities!
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