I will get hate mail but people can’t change sex, says biologist

LORD WINSTON has said he fears he will be inundated with hate mail after backing a professor at the centre of a trans controversy by saying people “can’t change sex”.

The biologist, who is professor of science and society at Imperial College London, warned Fiona Bruce, the host of Question Time, that producers would need to edit the programme after he aired his views.

During a debate about universities’ ability to simultaneously promote free speech and protect their diverse student body, the discussion swung to Kathleen Stock, a professor of philosophy at the University of Sussex, who has faced calls to be removed from her position amid accusations of transphobia.

Backing his fellow academic, Lord Winston said: “I’m about to say something that will mean you’ll probably want to edit the programme when I’ve finished.

“I will say this – [you] cannot change your sex. Your sex actually is there in every single cell in the body.

“You have a chromosomal sex, you have genetic sex, you have hormonal sex, you have [psychological] brain sex, they’re all different.

“And we are very confused about this, unfortunately.

“And progressively it’s gotten into this argument that people will now accuse me of being transphobic.”

Challenged that others say people can change sex, Lord Winston doubled down on his views.

He went on: “[You] can’t say this publicly, but this is one of the big problems.

“[Saying] this on this programme undoubtedly will result in me getting a huge amount of hate mail – it always does.”