Sonny Bill Williams has ignited a storm of controversy on social media and been labelled “transphobic” for backing a remark from a girl who “thanked God” her mother and father wouldn’t let her get a intercourse change when she was 12.
Williams, who retired from a glittering profession in rugby and rugby league in 2021, in the present day shared a tweet from well-known anti-transgender and anti-vaccination advocate, Doctor Anastasia Maria Loupis.
The Danish physician’s social media feed is plagued by feedback about stamping out homosexual and transgender rights, anti-vaccination sentiments and Donald Trump fan fiction.
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Williams re-tweeted a put up, quoting “100, 100″ to show his strong backing for the views from the controversial Doctor with more than 154k followers.
The backing quickly gained traction on social media, and saw many taking aim at Williams for what they saw as his ‘transphobic’ views.
“From ages 4-12 I wore boys’ clothes, played boy sports and rejected all thing ‘girly’. When my brother teased me for being a girl, I even said that when I got older I would ‘cut my boobs off’. I was not transgender, I just idolised my brother. Thank God my parents were sane,” the tweet says.
Seen alongside the phrases have been an image of a younger red-headed woman padded up as an American soccer participant, side-by-side of a glamorous shot of a red-headed lady on a ship holding a beverage.
He later deleted the tweet.
The two-time Rugby World Cup winner, NRL Premiership hero with the Bulldogs and Roosters and champion boxer has greater than 936,000 Twitter followers, who have been divided over the controversial view – although the overwhelming majority have been “disappointed” and “angry” together with his backing of the controversial feedback.
NZME columnist Alice Soper condemned the remarks, and Williams’ help of them, countering that “you are who you are, and the world is better for it”.
Others implored him to make use of his monumental social media platform to keep away from spreading such ‘anti-trans’ views which have the potential to hurt transgender people.
A research from LGBTIQ+ Health Australia stated that 48.1 per cent of transgender and gender-diverse individuals aged 14 to 25 reported that that they had tried suicide of their lifetime, in comparison with 10 per cent of the final inhabitants.
“Sonny Bill, I had a massive amount of respect for you, both as a rugby league & union player, and as a decent human being. I strongly urge you to listen to more transgender voices, so you can learn and understand how hateful & out of touch spreading this anti-trans rhetoric is,” one consumer wrote on Twitter.
“I assume there are plenty of transphobic personalities, I just wish I never had to see them coming out. Sonny, this is harmful and untrue of many trans journeys. Time to find a trans ally rugby/league player to follow now,” wrote one other.
“These people have massive platforms, it’s not good,’ commented one, while another wrote that Williams should ‘listen to your trans brothers and sisters… instead of reposting disinformation’.”
A small variety of individuals applauded Williams for his stance, supporting his proper to disagree with transgender rights and intercourse modifications.
“This is right, if kids get a legal right to go through with a lot of their youthful thoughts, with no pushback from parents and very little life experience, they will grow up with a tonne of regrets,” one wrote.
“What Sonny is saying is true, all that previous behaviour didn’t make her transgender… in today’s climate they would have started hormone blockers,’ another commented.”
This article initially appeared on the NZ Herald and was reproduced with permission.
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
