Tory councillors accused of online transphobia and abuse

Two Conservative councillors in Morpeth, Northumberland, have been accused of transphobic and abusive comments on a Facebook group, including one instance involving a graphic of Hitler referring to gas chambers for someone with ‘complicated’ gender identity.

The councillors, Rachael Hogg and Joao Parreira, are alleged to have made comments in the Facebook group ‘Morpeth Matters’. The comments now seem to have been removed, but still exist in grainy but legible screenshots.

They include:

• one councillor appearing to suggest that complaints made by a trans woman might help her campaign
• a suggestion from the other councillor that they should send the woman a screenshot of one of her social media profiles ‘and “let her know we are watching”
• a comment from the female councillor suggesting that ‘shipping’ service to move the trans woman and others out of Morpeth to Longframlington, ten miles away, “would be a great service”
• a comment about making people ‘disappear’
• a ‘like’ by the male councillor of a graphic depicting Adolf Hitler and a ‘gas’ button for people with ‘complicated’ gender identity

The most pertinent examples are flagged below with a red mark or line:

The stress of online abuse and the worry that it may spill over into physical danger caused the woman to tell the Evening Chronicle – in an article that did not name any perpetrators – that she ‘lived in fear’ and was scared to go home:

A petition was also started, asking the council and local Conservative party to step in, but no action appears to have been taken.

Given recent racist comments by a Tory councillor and a Conservative association, the allegations above shed an even less flattering light on the hypocrisy of Tory ‘outrage’ over supposedly misogynist comments by Clive Lewis, which the Tory party tried to bring to the House of Commons for an urgent debate and were yesterday sent packing by the Speaker for their ‘absurd’ and ‘inappropriate’ motion.

Both councillors, as well as Conservative HQ, were asked for comment. None have responded.

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