‘Transphobic’ peer slammed for her views on vegetarians
Baroness Deech criticised for saying those who have fake meat should ‘just eat lettuce and be done with it’
A PEER has faced a backlash after describing vegetarians who eat “fake meat” as “transgender vegetarians”.
Baroness Deech, the former principal of St Anne’s College, Oxford, was criticised by both vegetarians and transgender rights activists after making the comment on BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House yesterday.
When asked whether she would eat vegetarian burgers that taste like beef and “bleed” beetroot juice, Lady Deech replied: “No, I don’t think I would.”
The crossbench peer implied that people who want to eat something resembling meat should have the real deal, and said vegetarians should stick to vegetables.
“If you do eat meat, you want to feel that you’re somehow getting that protein into you,” she said.
“If you’re going to be a vegetarian you should just go out and eat lettuce and spring onions and be done with it.
“I don’t like this crossover really. It’s sort of transgender vegetarianism.”
The peer was responding to an article in yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph business section about Impossible Foods – a company which claims to have created a meat-free burger that tastes just like the real deal.
She was roundly criticised on Twitter for her “transgender vegetarianism” comment with one listener calling her a “patronising idiot”, and many others accusing her of being “transphobic”.
Shelley Silas, a playwright, voiced her disgust, tweeting: “#What the hell is ‘transgender vegetarianism’? It’s offensive to the transgender community, just as anti-semitism is offensive to you and me. Please think about what you say.”
Another listener said: “There is such massive ignorance around transgender. Why do people think it has anything to do with vegetarianism?”
Lady Deech also aired her views on “snowflake” students and told how she wished they would take inspiration from the bravery of Malala Yousafzai, who recently visited her birth country of Pakistan for the first time since she was shot by the Taliban in 2012.
She commented: “Universities are places where you should be able to say everything that’s within the law. You have to adopt a certain attitude to be in the in-crowd.” The Caledonian Sleeper train has been accused of “compromising women’s safety” by favouring transgender rights.
Customers booking the overnight service between London and Scotland are told they may have to share cabins with passengers “of the same gender”.
But last week, the operator said “the service is provided on the basis of the gender the individual identifies with”.
On Twitter, one woman wrote: “This is not trans bashing. This is [a] worry about predatory males.”
But Rupert Soames, chief of the line’s operator Serco, replied: “I think you are referring to the possibility that people may say they are a woman when in fact they are a man. Sigh. Fortunately people who travel on @Calsleeper are not deceitful.”
A spokesman said: “The option to share with another person of the same sex is being phased out in the autumn.”