United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson weighed in on the debate about transgenderism in his country, saying that “the basic facts of biology remain overwhelmingly important” in conversations about the issue.
At the Prime Minister’s Questions, a weekly meeting in the British Parliament where the House of Commons asks questions of the Prime Minister, Johnson was asked by House of Commons member Angela Richardson about a review of Britain’s National Health Service funding for transgender youth.
“I welcome the review,” Richardson said, adding that it “highlights the need for more research into our young girls, why so many of them are presenting with gender distress.” Richardson then asked for Johnson to meet with her and other concerned Members of Parliament to discuss how the U.K. could “constructively support these young people who are experiencing gender distress.”
Johnson told Richardson that he would be happy to meet with her. “And I think that this is one of those issues that the whole House is coming to realize, one that requires extreme sensitivity, tact, love, and care,” he added. “We must recognize that when people want to make a transition in their lives, that they should be treated with the maximum possible generosity and respect. And we have systems in this country that allow that, and have done for a long time, we should be very proud of it. But I do want to say in addition that I think when it comes to distinguishing between a man and a woman, that the basic facts of biology remain overwhelmingly important.”
Johnson’s remarks came after opposition party leader Sir Keir Starmer said in a March 12 interview with the U.K.’s Sunday Times that “trans women are women.” In the interview, Starmer called for laws that would affirm transgender people in order to give them “respect and dignity.” The Sunday Times reported that two of his shadow cabinet ministers “struggled” to define what a woman was. Yvette Cooper, Shadow Home Secretary of the U.K., said she did not want to go down a “rabbit hole of a definition,” while Anneliese Dodds, the shadow secretary of state for women and equalities, “pointed to the range of different definitions in a variety of contexts,” the Times reported. Starmer, however, did produce a definition of what a woman is in his interview. “A woman is a female adult,” he said, “and in addition to that, trans women are women, and that is not just my view – that is actually the law.”
Johnson’s comments come as the transgender debate continues to be a topic of much discussion across the U.K. and in the United States.
President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, said, “I’m not a biologist” when asked during her confirmation hearing what a woman was.
Daily Wire podcast host Matt Walsh has repeatedly asked progressive gender activists to define the word “woman” on social media and during his recent appearance on “Dr. Phil.” Walsh is also preparing to release a new documentary for The Daily Wire on the subject, “What Is a Woman?”