Eddie Izzard has said Labour’s selection for Brighton Pavilion felt like a ‘referendum on trans people’ as she congratulated her opponent Tom Gray on becoming candidate.
Ms Izzard lost after a hustings on Sunday after both an online and in-person vote by Labour members living in the constituency.
The campaign saw a torrent of transphobic abuse aimed at Ms Izzard – but also questions raised over how she would be able to campaign while performing in New York from January to March.
Others said they would rather select a local candidate, pointing out Ms Izzard has no strong links to the area and previously stood for selection in Sheffield.
Today, she said: I wish to congratulate Tom Gray on his selection and hope he becomes the MP for Brighton Pavilion. Brighton, with its vibrant community and progressive values, holds a special place in my heart.
“Having grown up in East Sussex and collaborated with Brighton businesses for over 27 years, my connection to this city remains strong.
“I want to thank my supporters, endorsers, and campaigners who stood by me with unwavering belief and courage. However, the level of transphobic abuse during this campaign has been deeply troubling, in particular the targeting of those who dared to stand with me.
“They faced relentless online abuse and hostility, yet their commitment to what’s best for Brighton Pavilion and my vision for what we could achieve in overturning a 20,000 Green majority never wavered.
“Their bravery exemplifies the true spirit of Brighton – a community founded on inclusivity, equality, progressiveness, and democracy.
“Labour should always stand to confront and call out discrimination wherever it lies. At times this felt less like a selection contest and more like a referendum on trans people.
“If we saw racism, homophobia, anti-semitism or misogyny directed towards any campaign on the same scale that transphobia was directed towards our campaign, we should rightly have expected it to be called out immediately.
“We must guard against the view that when it comes to trans people, any abuse goes.
“This experience strengthens my resolve to help change our country towards a more tolerant and respectful nation. It’s time to end the Tory culture wars and stop people being demonized and dehumanized in order to score political points and protect the status quo.
“To the people of Brighton: your support has been my strength. Despite this setback, my love and commitment to you and our shared ideals remain steadfast.
“Together, let’s continue to fight for a world where everyone has the right to a fair chance in life.”
Whilst I don’t agree on the abuse, that is never okay, I feel they wouldn’t be a good candidate for Brighton.
Personally, I feel their career and brand would overshadow anything they try to do, and they’d always suffer from the criticism of “they are only here because they are famous”.
Spending most of the time touring, is an amazing and unique opportunity, but it raise legitimate concerns about how dedicated one is to the role, and it will always feel like there is an escape route for them whenever it gets too much. I feels, to me at least, halfhearted. I think if Izzy was active in Brighton, that would be a much more compelling level of engagement.
I’m sorry that people took this opportunity to hurl abuse. That is a poor reflection on themselves as bigots.
Why is She/Her so hard to say?
Every single reply to this article displays transphobia to one level or another, so yes -she is justified on seeing the selection -in part at least- as a vote on trans acceptance. For not standing stronger, Labour carry a share of this shame.
Honest people find it hard to lie. Why should rational people be compelled to use language that is inaccurate and damaging to women and girls?
Addressing someone by their preferred form of address is entry level politeness. Deliberate misgendering is transphobia.
Placing you somewhere between rude and bigoted?
Your choice.
Who addresses anyone as she/her? We address people as you, whether there is one or more of them. Why do TRAs endlessly repeat this lie?A
Couldn’t have said it any better.
Stop being micro-aggressive
What you call ‘Trans acceptance’ actually means forcing everyone to lie and walk on eggshells. So many people see through the con and are sick of being forced to lie.
Just keep making my point why dontcha…
You’re point being trans people shouldn’t be criticized or challenged? Are trans people another class of privileged people who shouldn’t face scrutiny and doubt like the rest of us? You LGBT people don’t want equality, you want superiority.
That you hate women? You’re already making that point, buddy.
100% agree and the issue is shown in this very article where he is repeatedly referred to by female pronouns. Words have meaning and underpin society but there is a global push to undermine that.
You do you.
Other people are already taken and are not yours to dictate to.
Mr Eddie Izzard sort selection for public office and was rejected. Mr Issards qualification for and commitment to that office were in doubt. Mr Izzards reasons to seeking selection were also in doubt.
His ‘preferred state of being’ is one of those issues. Voters don’t want a campaigner for a cause that doesn’t reflect the needs and aspirations of the vast majority of them. Candidates MUST ALWAYS reflect what their constituents want not what they feel they want.
I think you’ve demonstrated my point there, Fiets. Although I didn’t touch upon Eddie’s presentation choice, you jumped onto my comment and overshadowed any potential discussion regarding their political appropriateness or ability with a topic that ultimately has no bearing on Eddie’s ability to be a political figure.
Again I ask
Why is She/her so hard to say?
Evidently you don’t have an answer, since you’ve disingenuously chosen to attempt to tangent twice, opting to again attempt to create a discourse where none exists.
This does continue to underpin the core reason why Eddie would not be a good candidate here. Inflammatory people surrounding Eddie, distracting from the core job.
Because you’re making reinforcing the idea that women and girls are nothing more than regressive sexist stereotypes or something for men to appropriate? Language matters and that is why we have r@pists in womens prisons and men injuring women and stealing opportunities in women’s sport – which is already underfunded and unrepresented. You probably are ok with that, though.
It’s gaslighting misogyny and I hope you don’t have a daughter.
He’s a sore loser.
Nothing to stop him standing as an Independant and then the vote would be about people’s perceptions of his capabilities as an MP. Sadly, I think none of the candidates have the qualities of Caroline Lucas but at least she was sharp, had had a successful career which brought relevant experience to the role.
It’s not all about you Eddie. Assuming that it was was your fatal mistake. In fact you scarcely even mentioned politics outside of your own personal ones or demonstrated any credible knowledge of them. Not once did you say what you were going to do for the electorate or for Brighton and Hove and that is the first thing a voter wants to know. You had a cheek to put yourself forward on that basis, but if it suits you to condemn us all as ‘phobic’ for pointing out that you weren’t a credible candidate, then do that.
This
Spot on. Izzard is an entertainer, not a politician there are enough clowns in parliament already.
No problem with Eddie being trans or whatever, but as a constituent I just don’t think she has the right background and experience to represent Brighton Pavilion. I wouldn’t have voted for her, but I will vote for Tom Grey for sure as he is a Brightonian and through.
Whilst I don’t think it was a referendum on Trans people, if it was you have to say there is a real issue for the trans lobby if the liberal and progressive members of the Brighton Labour party decided to reject Eddie.
Truth be told the main complaint was that Eddie had no real connection to Brighton, (he even supports Crystal Palace FC), and Tom Gray just appears to be the better candidate regardless of gender. A huge misstep as well to be working in New York for the first 3 months of the year.
Smart, funny guy with, most likely, Autogynephilia. So what?! Politics is about more than the latest fad trying to rebrand a sexual fetish as something that replaces a biological reality.
Eddie would presumably say that those people who pointed out that he is a man in a dress and not a woman (which interestingly was his own position for the last 20 or so years) were engaging in transphobic abuse. But disagreeing with someone’s fantasy isn’t abuse, it’s remaining tethered to the earth. The alternative is that we all have a lot of flatearthphobia to apologise for.
One hundred percent. Eddie was a proud transvestite back in the day but very definitely a man the rest of the time. Now he’s some victim of gender identity politics? Really?
Less to do with transphobia but the realisation that Eddie was a “joke” celeb candidate already booked to go to New York for three months to do his Hamlet show, that’s where his priority lies. Remarks that he would campaign and engage via Zoom over the pond hardly added to his electability. I think he just wants to be an MP to add to his bucket list – last year he tried to be a candidate in Sheffield.
Don’t give up your day job Eddie.
Fantastic Mo Mowlam tribute act though!
Only weeks earlier Eddie was pledging his allegiance to the people of Sheffield. Said exactly the same things. People can see a grifter. And it is not transphobia to point out his poor behaviour in respect of women and girls, (quoted in his autobiography) or to disagree with his personal take that a woman can be reduced to a feeling in a man’s head.
Eddie looking for victim votes as per usual…yawn. LGBT this, LGBT that…that’s all he seems to care about. What will you do for the rest of us if you were to be elected?
Exactly. It was all about Eddie’s personal agenda and bias. If he were to be elected, it would be disastrous for the women of Brighton. Goodbye to safeguarding.
He doesn’t care about womens rights. Simply becuase he isn’t one. He cares about his freedom to do what he wants when he wants. His defend card is TRANSPHOBIA!!
It seems like Eddie is not just a very poor loser, but also not a particularly loyal member of the Labour Party. Labour Party members in Brighton Pavilion were offered a choice of four candidates & chose Tom Gray by a comfortable margin because he appeared to them to be the best candidate over the much more famous Eddie. Are they now to be accused of “transphobia” for making the choice that seemed best to them? Is Izzard setting Gray up as “the transphobes choice”?
The selection was not in any way a “referendum on trans people”, whatever that means. It was who does Brighton Labour think is the best candidate to win the seat & represent them at Parliament. And sorry, Eddie: whether in “girl mode” or “boy mode” it’s not you – though I’m sure you’ll try again somewhere else you have no connection.
Well he would say that wouldn’t he….
Oh Eddie – you failed to be selected by Labour members because you are a narcissistic patronising deluded candidate, who was all about me-me-me and not about us-us-us, who actually live in Brighton! And by the way, human beings can’t change sex, no human being is non binary and you calling yourself Suzy doesn’t fool anyone, man!
Let’s not get totally carried away here, folks, whether one way or the other. Eddie, as an overt and very believable man, did some really good stuff in films , even fairly recently. Very watchable and talented. However, dressing up in a frock and having an alternative name of Suzy, was rather mind-bending for some of us – especially as this person had no B&H connection and seemed to be gunning for a seat in Parliament, somewhere or anywhere. The Zoom thing really did say it all – if you were totally committed to getting selected and trying to become an MP, then you would hardly be hedging your bets, as Eddie has by announcing that they were swanning off abroad for work for months during a critical period. I am not in Pavilion constituency, so have no personal axe to grind in this.
Like everyone else, I totally condemn abuse that Eddie seems to have suffered-and there should be no place for this at all – but, very unfortunately, it is going to happen with some residents or whoever who know no better, if ‘one’ stands on a ticket, as Eddie has, which mostly seemed to be about transgender matters.Quick reminder, maybe, that a vast minority of B&H residents are not transgender or LGBT and whatever other letters are now tagged on the end of that.
Just because someone says something, does not make it true. Feelings aren’t facts. Dress up all you like but your chromosomes don’t lie no matter how much you want them to.
I really should refrain from stating that various research has suggested that sexual orientation and same-sex behaviours may be, at least in part, genetic!
What relevancy has homosexuality have to do with the ability to “change chromosomes” (gametes would be more apt in this context?) Why does a “genetic basis” for sexual orientation mean you can alter your genes? You can’t, I’m not sure what point you are trying to make. Seems irrelevant. The comment is saying you cannot change your sex, unless you think sex is determined by makeup and dresses or liking action man, or you think humans are clownfish or banana slugs.
“chromosomes don’t lie”
Incorrect, look up genotype vs phenotype.
Ah, Delenda, you said it instead!
So someone’s biological sex versus thier personality?….so chromosomes still don’t lie then? No power in the universe has, can or will ever alter a persons biology!
Anyone who stands for election is going to hear a lot of criticism. A candidate has to be ready for that. A trans candidate has no more right to be exempt from criticism than anyone else.
Even afterward once elected, and sometimes when not! Thick skin is a definite must because people can be rather obnoxiously cruel at times behind anonymity.
I’m going to comment here, at the end of many other comments, some of which I too find a bit transphobic.
But this is a difficult topic for everybody, and there’s no doubt that Eddie’s/Suzy’s trans status got in the way of him or her or they being selected, simply because it added another layer of doubt.
Izzard was already labelled negatively, as a non-Brighton resident, and as a Crystal Palace supporter. Being trans was not a negative in Brighton, but a complication, confusing for any potential voters.
TBH, I had to read the Wiki biography page to see what pronouns to use. And apparently the professional name is still ‘Eddie Izzard’, but when dressed as a boy he’s Eddie, and when dressed in a frock, she’s Suzy.
All that name and pronoun stuff, he, she, they, then gets in the way of the positives – namely that Izzard has been a longstanding and loyal supporter of Labour and would like to do more, as an electoral candidate.
Maybe we are just not yet ready for a gender-fluid or non-binary MP, even if we happily accept them on day to day life. I’ve always loved Eddie, from his early days in stand up comedy. But on this occasion, he/she/they needed to do some rallying cries, to bring us along with, as troops.
Sometimes being a celebrity does work in politics – look at Zelenskyy in Ukraine, and where he came from – but sometimes being TV-friendly and charismatic also gets you elected to the job you can’t actually do. As per Boris Johnson.
In the meantime, trans issues continue to develop – along with some contentious issues, and some possible philosophy mistakes – but who knows how we will feel in ten years time?
There was a time when no voter would have elected an ‘out’ gay MP – and in Brighton and Hove we’ve already got two of those.
You are usually one of the brightest commentators here Billy but I think you’ve missed the mark here. Not getting seleceted was nothing to do with the trans identity of Suzy/ Eddie, (after all this was Brighton Labour members voting not the general public). He simply was beaten by the better candidate someone who has local ties, will not be away for 3 months of the campaign and came accross really well at the hustings.
I think you both make salient points frequently and again here I think you both have very valid opinions. I’d suggest you were both right, elements of both probably are true here. The doubts as described by Billy, and the ongoing connection with Brighton with the other guy (I’ve completely forgotten his name, he’s so inoffensively forgettable…) together meant that Izzard was always going to be a risky choice.
Izzard is a rich, privately educated, white, western male who tried to push a narrative that a vote for him was progress
Brighton no longer has any female only rape crisis support groups, he failed to engage with any women asking him for his stance on this, he also ignored women asking about female spaces, and we know Izzard uses female spaces
He parachuted in having done no grassworks work in Brighton and took on local candidates who have been working hard locally for years
I gather he was terrible at the hustings, knowing nothing about local issues and giving some incoherent answers, particularly around how to solve the local housing crisis
Izzard didn’t lose because of transphobia, he lost because he wasn’t the best person for the job
You make an interesting point about parachuting. Personally, hearing about someone who not only has a connection to Brighton but has actively spent time making it a better place would be looked on favourably at the polling booth when it came time for me to vote.
Ah – but how did he find out – was it via Zoom ?