Graham Linehan speaks out as cancelled Father Ted creator delivers verdict on landmark Supreme Court gender ruling
Graham Linehan has celebrated a landmark ruling from the UK Supreme Court on the definition of a woman.
The 56-year-old writer, who won multiple Baftas and Emmys for comedy classics like Father Ted and The IT Crowd, has long been outspoken on gender critical issues.
On Wednesday, Britain’s top judges unanimously agreed that the terms “woman” and “sex” in gender legislation will only refer to a biological woman and biological sex.
The move was celebrated by numerous biological women’s rights groups, including For Women Scotland, which spearheaded the calls for the courts to make the ruling.
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Joining the voices welcoming the move was Linehan, who was present for the decision being made. “We won. The Supreme Court rules for @ForWomenScot,” he wrote on X.
The 56-year-old also shared a photo of the written ruling with the caption: “Amazing. Applause and tears in court.”
Linehan continued to repost other celebrations from activists and issued a tribute to Magdalen Berns, a gender critical YouTuber who died in 2019 from cancer.
“Wish she was here to see it,” he wrote alongside a picture of Berns.
The writer also took a swipe at lawmakers who had previously chosen to stay away from the issue.
Responding to a clip of Lib Dem leader Ed Davey, Linehan wrote: “Dumbest generation of politicians. They made absolute fools of themselves for nothing.”
The comedy titan fell victim to cancel culture after he openly questioned the dogmas surrounding the transgender issue.
In June 2020, his X (then Twitter) account was permanently suspended after posting “men aren’t women tho” in response to a Women’s Institute post wishing transgender members a happy Pride.
The ban was the beginning of an avalanche of denunciations, deplatforming, and threats from activists, which even contributed to the collapse of his marriage.
At the time, Linehan had spent years working on a musical adaptation of Father Ted that was totally scrapped because of his association.
Trina Budge, the director of For Women Scotland, declared that the decision was a “victory” for women.
“This case was always about women’s rights… never about trans rights. It’s absolutely a victory for women’s rights,” she told Sky News
Other campaigners have described Wednesday’s ruling as a triumph of “common sense”.
Speaking in the Supreme Court, Lord Hodge declared that it was not the court’s responsibility to create policy on the way in which transgender people should be protected by the law.
“Our role is to ascertain the meaning of the legislation which parliament has enacted to that end,” he said.
He continued: “The central question on this appeal is the meaning of the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010.
“Do those terms refer to biological women or biological sex? Or is a woman to be interpreted as extending to a trans woman with a gender recognition certificate?”
He declared: “The terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.”