U.K. PM Rishi Sunak declares 'a man is a man and a woman is a woman'

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Britain’s Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak waded into the gender identity wars at his party’s annual conference on Wednesday, saying it’s common sense that “a man is a man and a woman is a woman.”

In his closing speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, Sunak told attendees it shouldn’t be a “controversial position” to say you are either male or female and to not be bullied otherwise.

“We are going to change this country, and that means life is life. Now that shouldn’t be a controversial position. The vast majority of hard-working people agree with it.

“And it also shouldn’t be controversial for parents to know what their children are being taught in school about relationships. Patients should know when hospitals are talking about men or women,” Sunak said to cheers from the audience.

“We shouldn’t get bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be. They can’t. A man is a man and a woman is a woman, that’s just common sense.”

Reaction to the comments was mixed, with some agreeing with Britain’s leader, who took over from Liz Truss nearly a year ago.

“Nothing but the truth,” wrote one person on social media site X. “There is no technicality about one’s gender.”

“That’s about as much truth as someone in government has spoken in a long time,” another pointed out.

However, others accused the prime minister of stoking culture wars instead of fixing the economy.

“Good to see the economy is in shambles and the conservatives are focusing on the key issues, like telling other people how to live their lives,” wrote an X user.

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Another commenter called Rishi’s comments “regressive rhetoric.”

“All he has now are dog whistles and regressive rhetoric, which I think he believes will resonate with an uneducated, unhappy (populace). A (populace) made unhappy by the ideology he fronts.”

Others said his speech was an attack on the transgender community.

“With the NHS (National Health Service) in freefall, the ongoing cost of living crisis and people worried about affording energy bills again this winter, you’d hope the leader of this country had better things to do than stoke up a culture war against trans people like myself,” Chris Northwood, Manchester’s first trans councillor, told the Manchester Evening News.

Meg Birchall, who became the first trans councillor in Oldham last May, said Sunak’s comments “sickened” her but she wasn’t surprised.

“The immediate thing that stood out to me was the use of the word bullied. You’re the most powerful politician in Britain saying that a very small minority is bullying. It’s ridiculous.”