Transgender Football - The Political Agenda

Ms Andrea King
May 24
5 min read

Updated: 6 days ago

I’ve always disliked politics. Never voted. Not once. Before you reply and give me what for, yes, people have died so I can have the right to vote. But they also gave me the freedom of choice and I’ve always chosen not to do so or have any interest in politics. Why? Lies, corruption, deception spring to mind. They’re all the same. Promise the world, deliver the same old crap.

Cartoon protest signs reading NO, YES!, We Exist and Against Bans march on legs around a soccer ball on grass. — (Image credit: Emad Hajjaj | Copyright 2022 Cagle Cartoons)

Take the Iraq war for example. “Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction” our governments told us. He did, yes — but what they rather conveniently forgot to mention was that those weapons had been dismantled well before the world was lied to. It was a pretext. A fabrication dressed up as intelligence. Hundreds of thousands of people died for it.

And then “Brexit is the best way forward for the UK” they kept telling us. It will save billions, stop illegal immigration and the economy will thrive. No, no and no. It’s cost the UK billions, immigration is a bigger problem than it ever was and economists broadly agree that the UK is worse off than it would have been had we stayed in the European Union.

That’s why I don’t bother. Until now.

Why now you say?

Because now they’re coming after me, as a trans woman. And all the other trans people both in the UK and the USA. And they’re relentless.

Over 600 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in the US in 2025 alone. 126 of those were aimed specifically at trans people. Here in the UK, our current Labour government presided over a Supreme Court ruling that redefined “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 as biological sex rather than gender identity. Which basically means that if I now need to pee whilst out in public, I should use a men’s loo.

What the absolute f… fiddlesticks is that all about! (Almost got me there.)

It seems all common sense has left the building. But hey, it’ll be alright in a couple of years time. Labour have just been battered in recent elections and the chances of them still being in government after the next general election are slim to say the least.

Phew!

No. Not phew at all.

Because as it stands today, the most likely successor is the Reform party. And their view on trans people is even more hard line. They want to mandate single-sex spaces in all public buildings and schools. They want to ban “transgender ideology” in primary and secondary schools — their words, not mine — and require schools to tell parents if any child under 16 so much as questions their gender. They want to overhaul the Equality Act to define sex as biological, scrap every DEI role in public services and are deeply sceptical of healthcare for trans young people, which they cheerfully call “transgender indoctrination.”

So the current lot are erasing us quietly. The next lot want to do it loudly and with a smile on their face.

Oh my god, the horizon looks very, very bleak.

Why politics matters

So, do politicians hate trans people?

Probably not, if I’m honest. I’d wager most of them have never sat across from a trans person and had an actual conversation. Never realised that we’re just — people. Boring, ordinary people who want to go to work, come home and maybe watch some crappy television without having our right to exist debated on a panel show.

But hatred isn’t really what’s driving this. What’s driving this is something colder and more calculated than hatred.

We’re useful. We’re an easy target. That’s the grim little truth sitting in the middle of all of this. Trans people — a tiny, tiny percentage of the population — have become the most useful political football in a generation. Think about that for a second. Conservative legal organisations are literally sitting there writing template bills and then just — sending them out. Circulating the same legislation across multiple US states with minimal changes. Same product, different postcode. That's not hatred. That's not even genuine fear. That's a machine. Someone built it deliberately and they're running it on purpose.

Because when you need people angry, scared and voting, you need an enemy. And we’re a very convenient one. There aren’t enough of us to fight back effectively. We’re visible enough to point at. And a lot of people don’t personally know a trans person, which means we’re still abstract to them — which means we’re still easy to demonise without it feeling personal.

So with this in mind, I do now have an interest in politics. I will be voting at the next election. Who the hell are they — the people in power — to say that I don’t have the same rights as everyone else. That it’s okay to discriminate against me because I’m trans.

Honestly, it makes my blood boil.

Orange text reads Real experience. Real change. between gray leafy vine borders on a white background.

I am a D&I consultant, keynote speaker, Mental Health First Aider, writer and transgender woman with 20+ years of senior corporate leadership experience. I work with businesses across all sectors to build genuinely inclusive cultures whilst also supporting transgender individuals and their families through every stage of the journey. If this piece resonated, you can find more articles on andreaking.net or book a free discovery call if you'd like to talk.

The views expressed in this article are my own and are based on personal experience and perspective. They are not intended as medical, legal or professional advice.