De-banked vicar: ‘There’s a sea change against trans ideology’

The Anglican vicar who was “de-banked” after questioning Yorkshire Building Society’s (YBS) promotion of LGBT ‘Pride’ month has said the public are waking up to the lies of trans ideology.

Revd Richard Fothergill, who had been a YBS client for 17 years, received a letter earlier this year notifying him of his account’s closure just four days after he responded to the building society’s monthly request for feedback.

Speaking to The Telegraph’s Planet Normal podcast, he said he believed there had been a “sea change” of public opinion against transgender ideology during the last year.

‘Reality’

The vicar explained: “I think at last normal people in every walk of life and not necessarily just people of faith at all are pushing back and saying no, come on, reality, let’s have some reality here. There are males and there are females. That’s it.

“If you as a male really think it’s important to dress up as a woman and present yourself as a woman, you aren’t a woman. You’ve got X and Y chromosomes all through your body. You will always be male. And so it’s an ideology.”

Rachel Dee, President of pro-trans group Beaumont Society, branded Revd Fothergill’s defence of biological reality as “transphobic”, but also recognised that it is “wrong to de-bank anyone” over their views.

“Whatever his views are on the trans issue, whether anti or pro, it doesn’t make any difference. It’s wrong for the YBS to take a stand on it just because they disapprove of his views. The bank is not there to make judgment on your views. They are there to service your banking requirement.”

‘Prevent debate’

Last month, a respected think tank warned that transgender ideology is ‘profoundly endangering’ free speech and democracy in society.

‘Transgender ideology: A new threat to liberal values’, published by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), argues that many trans activists “do not aim to win the debate but rather to prevent debate from occurring” while pursuing the “assertion of raw political power by one political perspective upon the rest”.

In one example, the report highlighted that activists in groups such as Stonewall and Mermaids have claimed that those who say that men cannot become women through self-identification should be prosecuted for ‘hate speech’.