Trans people are considering fleeing Britain and claiming asylum abroad after the Supreme Court‘s ruling because they now fear for their safety in this country, a Labour peer has claimed.
Lord Cashman made the claim in a debate in the House of Lords on Thursday, saying people were looking to leave the country after the land’s highest court ruled that transgender women are not legally women.
He told the Chamber: ‘Currently, trans people in this country live in fear, they live in fear of their safety, their futures.
‘Indeed, some friends are now looking at seeking asylum in countries where they will fear not [for their] safety but where they will receive a welcome.’
However, Lord Cashman did not provide any evidence for this.
Equalities Minister Baroness Smith of Malvern said in reply that she ‘very much hoped’ that trans people still believed this country welcomed them and that their ‘rights and dignity are upheld’.
It is thought that no one has ever fled Britain to seek asylum elsewhere.
Michael Cashman, an LGBT campaigner and former EastEnders actor, was previously suspended as a Labour peer after comments he made on X about gender-critical Rosie Duffield, a former Labour MP.
Lord Cashman made the claim in a debate in the House of Lords on Thursday saying people were looking to leave the country. Here he walks in a 2023 Pride parade
It comes after after the Supreme Court ruled that transgender women are not legally women. Campaigners Susan Smith (left) and Marion Calder are pictured outside court celebrating the decision
He triggered a wave of criticism when he accused her of being ‘frit or lazy’ after she revealed she would not attend local Election hustings due to ‘constant trolling’ about her views last June.
Lord Cashman’s claim comes as Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he wished he had listened to the debate around single-sex spaces as he indicated that trans men will be barred from women’s toilets, changing rooms and wards under new policies.
During PMQs on Wednesday, the Prime Minister refused to concede he was wrong to say ‘trans women are women’.
In the first session since the Easter break, the premier was repeatedly challenged by Kemi Badenoch over his shifting views on gender.
She accused him of lacking ‘moral courage’, swiping that he ‘doesn’t have the balls’ to reveal his true opinions in public.
The Tory leader also demanded that Sir Keir apologise over women’s rights campaigner Rosie Duffield being ‘hounded out’ of the Labour Party. Ms Duffield – who now sits as an independent – watched on in the Commons as he ducked the call.
The exchanges came after the PM finally gave a direct response to the Supreme Court ruling last week, confirming that women are defined by their biological sex for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010.
It means transgender women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) can be excluded from single-sex spaces if ‘proportionate’.
Michael Cashman, an LGBT campaigner and former EastEnders actor, was previously suspended as a Labour peer after comments me made on X about gender-critical Rosie Duffield, a former Labour MP
Cashman joined the BBC opera EastEnders in 1986 as Colin Russell, becoming the first openly gay character in the series. He shared British soap’s first-ever onscreen gay kiss (above)
In contrast to Sir Keir, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has given a clear statement that trans women are ‘by definition not the same as biological women’.
And Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy acknowledged during an interview that she ‘misunderstood the application of the law’ before the ruling.
Rosie Duffield, the former Labour MP who says she was pushed out of the party over her gender-critical stance, criticised Keir Starmer as weak for his shifting position on transgender rights.
Now serving as an independent MP for Canterbury, said she has yet to receive an apology for how she was treated during her time in Labour.
Speaking to Times Radio, she said: ‘He’s more of a manager than a political leader -that’s how many of the seasoned backbenchers see him. He tends to sit on the fence and respond rather than lead.
‘He’s not running a bank, he’s not a barrister any more, or the director of public prosecutions. He’s leading a political party and shaping national politics.’
Cashman joined the BBC opera EastEanders in 1986 as Colin Russell, becoming the first openly gay character in the series.
His portayal culminated in the UK’s first same-sex kiss on a British soap opera in 1987.
Beyond his acting career, Cashman co-founded the charity Stonewall in 1989 to campaign against discriminatory laws and promote equality.
