Meet Kemi Badenoch: The PM hopeful who misgendered trans people and mocked LGBTQ+ rights

Kemi Badenoch is in the running to become the next leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the country. Hailing from Wimbledon, Badenoch grew up in the USA, Nigeria and the UK. After studying at the University of Sussex, she worked her way up through the Tory party and was elected to parliament in 2017.

Most recently, she held the position of equalities minister in Boris Johnson’s government. Now, she’s established herself as the ultimate “anti-woke” candidate in the Tory leadership contest. Here are just a few of her terrible takes on issues like LGBTQ+ rights, the environment and racial inequality.

Kemi Badenoch misgendered trans people and mocked LGBTQ+ rights

Badenoch has mocked LGBTQ+ rights and previously referred to trans women as men.

Last year, VICE published the contents of an audio clip in which Badenoch can be heard saying: “It’s no longer about minority rights in terms of race any more or nationality.

“It’s now, you know like, it’s not even about sexuality now, it’s now like the whole transgender movement, where, okay well we’ve got gay marriage, and civil partnerships, so what are transsexuals looking for?”

The phrase transsexual is considered outdated and offensive by any trans people.

Badenoch continues: “Even when, you know, so, people hear about, you know like the whole bathroom thing.

“It’s actually more of an American thing but they have a similar problem, that, right so now it’s not just about being free to marry who you want, you now want to have men using women’s bathrooms.”

Deputy leader of the Labour Party Angela Raynor branded Badenoch’s comments “disgusting”.

Raynor added: “With hate crimes and transphobia on the rise we need an Equalities Minister who will stand up for trans people, not add fuel to the fire of abuse and discrimination faced by LGBT+ people in our country.”

At the time, a government spokesperson said: “This 2018 comment has been taken out of context, with the Minister making a clear point about striking the balance for equality and fairness when there are multiple and often competing demands between different groups. It should not be used to misrepresent her views.”

She thinks there’s no ‘institutional racism’ in the UK

Kemi Badenoch defended a controversial report into race relations that argued there is no evidence of “institutional racism” in the UK.

Labour MP Dawn Butler described the report in question as “gaslighting on a national scale”.

Fighting climate change is certainly not a priority for Badenoch

If made PM, Badenoch would scrap the UK’s commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions.

At her campaign launch, she said that policies designed to combat climate change “have overburdened our economy” and “consume taxpayers hard-earned money”.

She thinks universities are ‘indoctrinating’ students

Writing in The Sun, Badenoch laid out her opinions on universities.

“Sadly, some universities spend more time indoctrinating social attitudes instead of teaching lifelong skills or how to solve problems,” she said, before launching an attack on so-called “low quality degrees”.

In response, the University and College Union (UCU) wrote on Twitter: “Those that seek to devalue education understand its value – and its power – all too well. And they’re terrified of it.”

The Conservative Party leadership election continues, with each candidate needing to secure 30 nominations to progress to the next round.

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