Why Does Trump Want To Make Life Harder For Trans Kids, Asks James O'Brien

23 February 2017, 14:46

Donald Trump has made one of his key priorities as President to reverse Barack Obama's policy to allow transgender children to choose which toilets they wish to use? Why on earth does he want to make their lives harder, asks James O'Brien.

The US President has revoked the landmark guidance to public schools by his predecessor, letting transgender students use the bathrooms of their choice.

Speaking on his LBC show, James said that the way trans people are seen today is the way gay people were viewed in the 1970s - an attitude that seems ridiculous now.

He said: "Why is this a political issue in America? Am I right in suggesting that the people who get wound up by transgender issues are very much part of a tradition of laughing at people who are different to the 'norm' or at worst, actually abusing them?

"That's why I use the homophobia precedent. It's exactly the same language I hear from precisely the same sort of tabloid journalists that used to be the kind of homophobia that would now probably cross into the lines of criminality, but because transgender issues haven't caught up with that world, you can say what you like about those young people without fear of reproach.

"I'm genuinely baffled by why the President of the USA would consider it a key priority to undo legislation introduced by his predecessor that sought to make life easier for some of the children living the most difficult of lives in his country. Why? Why is this politics?