Gender-critical feminist suggests parents should tell children they’ll face a ‘miserable life’ if they come out as gay
"I'm not saying the feelings are a choice, but the identity is a choice," Kathleen Stock said on Times Radio
By Callum Wells
Gender-critical feminist Kathleen Stock has suggested parents should tell children they’ll face a ‘miserable life’ if they come out as gay.
The philosopher and writer made the comments during an appearance on Times Radio, where she discussed the UK government’s proposed ban on conversion practices.
“I’m not saying the feelings are a choice, but the identity is a choice” – philosopher and writer Kathleen Stock on LGBTQ+ people
Stock, who is a lesbian, argued that while feelings are not a choice, identifying with a particular sexuality is.
“I’m not saying the feelings are a choice, but the identity is a choice,” she said. “Then that means that having a family later is going to be much harder, there’s going to be potentially homophobia to face.”
Stock suggested parents should be able to raise concerns about the challenges their children might encounter as LGBTQ+ people.
Referring to statistics cited by advocacy groups about distress among LGBTQ+ young people, she suggested a parent might respond to a child coming out by saying: “Well hang on a minute, it sounds like you’re going to have a really miserable life.”
Her remarks came as she criticised the draft Conversion Practices Bill
She added that “that should be a permissible conversation”.
Her remarks came as she criticised the draft Conversion Practices Bill, describing the proposed legislation as “very draconian” and warning that its wording could leave parents facing criminal prosecution for well-intentioned conversations with their children.
The former University of Sussex professor argued that violent and abusive conversion practices are already covered by existing criminal laws. However, she took issue with the bill’s proposed definition of harm, which she said included “psychological and emotional pressure”.
“It’s just not a criminal matter to have those conversations in good faith” – Stock on parenting an LGBTQ+ child
Stock also questioned the fact that the draft legislation does not require proof of intent, claiming that “even a parent acting in total good faith and well-meaning, well-intentioned behaviour could still count as abusive under the way this statute is drafted at the moment”.
She continued: “It’s just not a criminal matter to have those conversations in good faith and yet this law potentially is very so vague that it looks like it might cover those things.”
Asked whether she thought the proposed legislation was deliberately illiberal or simply poorly written, Stock responded: “As so often with the LGBT activist movement, it’s like cock-up or conspiracy, I don’t know, because it is definitely extremely badly drafted.”
She also traced the proposals back to an earlier political climate in which it was considered “completely forbidden to disagree with someone”, describing the period as “fundamentally an authoritarian moment”.
What has writer Liam Rondi said about Stock’s comments?
The comments have drawn criticism from writer Liam Rondi, who asked on Instagram: “A miserable life caused by what, Kathleen? By people who treat you like shit on the bottom of their shoe for being gay?”
He added: “The fix she’s offering isn’t to deal with those people – it’s to get to the child first and tell them to change.”
In a series of slides accompanying the post, Rondi posed a question to parents: “If your child was being bullied for anything, let alone something they didn’t choose and couldn’t help, would you go after the bullies?”
He then asked whether parents would instead “sit your child down and tell them to act like someone else to keep the bullies happy?”
“Of course you wouldn’t – unless, apparently, they’re gay,” he concluded.