Mick Hartley

When we look back on the history of trans ideology, sport will very likely be cited as the main reason for its inevitable decline. Most people may not be that bothered about where a criminal is housed or about the issue of women-only spaces, being easily seduced by the idea of just showing kindness to a supposedly beleaguered minority. But, as I noted yesterday, seeing Lia Thomas, way over 6 ft, looming over his female competitors as he claims yet another women's trophy, the sheer unfairness of it just can't be ignored.

Then Boris Johnson, seeing the open goal, at last managed to say it: biological men should not be allowed to compete in women's sport. And he came out against the ban on so-called conversion therapy – ie talking to children first before pushing them down the irreversible path to medical intervention – for gender dysphoria.

Hadley Freeman:

The gender activists loudly cried that this was a re-run of Section 28. But if you heard bigotry in the PM’s words, you weren’t really listening: Johnson sounded moderate and realistic. Meanwhile Labour continues to flail in the background over whether or not men can get pregnant. The Left have handed the Right this victory on a gold platter.

This was the week when the wheels started to come off the ideological bandwagon, when Stonewall’s grip on British politicians began to loosen. Quite how it all started in the first place is a story for another day, although that story could well start in 2016 when Ruth Hunt — then the CEO of Stonewall, now in the House of Lords — admitted in a speech that Stonewall was having difficulty raising donations after gay marriage was legalised, as donors thought gay people were “all right now”. “And what we’ve had to say to them is, well, you still wouldn’t feel safe enough if you were on the night bus, but well done for being rich enough to get an Addison Lee,” she said. She then reeled off further examples of people who might need Stonewall’s help, and concluded with “You still wouldn’t be safe enough if you were transitioning in your gender.” Did Hunt hype up the gender campaign and sell out women – which, of course, includes lesbians and bisexual women – just to ensure Stonewall’s revenue flow? Like I said, a story for another day.

In the end, it wasn’t one person who pointed out that gender extremism wears no clothes. There were so many: therapists, academics, parents, authors, athletes, politicians, barristers, journalists, scientists, feminists, gay activists, all shouting over the years that this ideology would hurt women, children, gay people and trans people. And this was the week the spell began to break.