TL;DR: Opinion - Prime Minister Keir Starmer has shared his "fury" at a 2022 homophobic attack towards his niece and her wife, an incident that happened years before his party introduced multiple anti-LGBTQIA+ policies that have seen the UK fall steeply in international human rights rankings.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has shared that he was absolutely furious to have learned about a homophobic attack his niece and her wife faced.
Speaking on the Man Made podcast, he shared how the couple were beaten up for holding hands, expressing shock because he thought "we had moved on from that".
The incident was in 2022, and in the years since, he has led the Labour Party's charge on delivering a number of anti-trans policies, while fueling media culture wars by refusing to stand by the Trans+ community.
His stances on LGBTQIA+ rights have included presiding over the banning of puberty blockers, introducing what's been deemed 'Section 28, 2.0' and a continued failure to ban Conversion Practices, a practice deemed internationally as torture.
The PM recalled his pride in his family’s "first gay wedding" but went on to share how "Within a year, my niece and her wife have been badly beaten up, in their own town, for holding hands by a group of blokes". When he saw the photographs that showed bruising and swelling to her face he had "almost uncontainable fury.’
He described his dismay at "the idea that blokes would beat a woman up for holding the hand of her wife. Now?"
The comments have sparked a lot of anger. In the queer community, we've known for some time that hate crimes are rising at excruciating rates - an almost incomprehensible rise of 462% in the decade between 2014 and 2023. And even before that, anti-LGBTQIA+ hate never went away.
And that's before you even consider the misogyny behind attacks like this one, which is being fueled by pitting Trans+ people against women instead of focusing on the perpetrators of hate.
Many of us have benefited from the growth in acceptance we enjoyed in the 2010s, but that time of progress feels like a distant past for those of us who look like anything other than a straight, white guy.
The UK is declining steeply in human rights rankings for a number of reasons. On LGBTQIA+ rights, we've plummeted from top spot to 22nd in less than a decade, and are being listed alongside the likes of Hungary and Russia as a country where civil rights are in decline.
That should be sending shockwaves, but for a community that has grown so used to daily attacks, slurs and being punched down on, it’s become something we've had to learn to take in our stride. We all have a story like that which Starmer's family faced, from horrific attacks to more common daily homophobia.
Kids have thrown rocks at me, and giggled about the f*g walking down the high street. I've been targeted by local councillors for supporting local pride organisations in a town where Pride flags faced so many arson attacks, they were not flown this year.
So yes, Keir - you're not alone in being pretty furious too. But the queer community aren't just angry at the attackers.
They know accountability also lies with the institutions, media, and successive Prime Ministers who have given permission to the homophobes and transphobes to spread their bigotry - and have even exercised hateful rhetoric publicly themselves.
Every word of hatred, direct or disguise, contributes to attacks, violence and a culture of fear for our community in public spaces. I hope Keir Starmer remembers the outrage he felt about the attack on his family next time he gets up to speak on LGBTQIA+ issues in parliament.
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