A TikTok star from Darwen has criticised the Prime Minister for comments he made about gender at a Conservative Party conference.
The social media influencer, known as ‘Max Balegde’ made a TikTok video calling Rishi Sunak “transphobic” for some of his comments at the conference.
This is after Mr Sunak used his speech to weigh in on debates about sex education and transgender rights.
Mr Sunak said: “It shouldn’t be controversial for parents to know what their children are being taught in school about relationships.
"Patients should know when hospitals are talking about men or women.
“And 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.”
A Government spokesperson it has “a proud history of advancing LGBT rights” but added “biological sex is fundamentally important to protecting single sex spaces and providing appropriate healthcare”.
Speaking to his 3.5 million followers, Max said Mr Sunak’s comments have left him feeling “sick and outraged”.
Max is currently planning a protest march in London, with more details to be revealed on his social media page.
In a video, which at the time of writing had 1.9 million views on TikTok, Max said: “I have to come on here and say something because I genuinely don’t believe that I have ever been more frustrated with something in my life.
“The fact the Prime Minister and Conservative Party are using transgender people and issues to create a spectacle, anger and hatred so everyone ignores the major faults within their party and how they have impacted the country.
“It will go down in the history books as one of the most vile things that has happened in our generation.
“They are choosing to scapegoat transgender people.”
Max said he “can’t fathom” how difficult it is to be a transgender person in this day and age. Around 0.5 per cent of the UK population identifies as transgender.
Max said: “Transgender people [already] may get backlash at some point in their life.
“[And then] our government is going out of its way to… discriminate against them.
“Our Prime Minister on a stage, saying awful things and making transphobic comments, with a crowd of people cheering, is possibly the most disgusting thing I have ever seen.
“I am so outraged by this and you should be too… it makes me sick.”
Max said he wants to use his platform to make a change and is hoping to organise a protest march.
In a later video he said: “I feel like I should use my platform to make change. I am going to try my best to organise a march in London next week. If you want to be part of it go to my Instagram for details.
“I want to make sure we are safe and doing this legally.”
A government spokesperson said:“The government has a proud history of advancing LGBT rights and one of the most robust legislative protection frameworks for LGBT people in the world.
“There is no place for hate crime in our society, it does not reflect the values of modern Britain, and we remain committed to ensuring these abhorrent offences are stamped out – which is why we have a robust framework to tackle it wherever it is found.”
“However, we are clear that biological sex is fundamentally important to protecting single sex spaces and providing appropriate healthcare as set out by ministers.”
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