Pop Icon Sophie Ellis-Bextor Came Out For Trans Rights

Pop Icon Sophie Ellis-Bextor has come out for trans rights while shutting down cisgender people in the LGBT+ who think trans identity is somehow invalid.

Ellis-Bextor's most committed fanbase is the LGBT+ community and in a recent interview with ‘The Guardian’ the singer paid tribute to them, stating: “My relationship with my gay fans is very precious to me – it’s shaped the career I have. After I had my first baby, I hadn’t performed for a while and I did my first gig back at [the London LGBTQ+ venue] G-A-Y ... I honestly feel like that night was pivotal for me. It was like a wall had come down and I felt my inhibitions go. Since then, I feel like I’ve been a different kind of performer.”

But when asked about the “recent culture war over gender and transgender rights” the singer “sits up in her chair”.

She said “I think we’re now so much better at understanding the spectrum of gender and how people choose to identify and what feels right,” she says. “Of course, that’s so logical. Why on earth should someone say: ‘I need to adhere to that list of gender specifics’?

“Once people feel like they can define themselves the way they want to, then we can have a debate about nuance,” she says. “What works for one transgender individual is not the same for another. We’ve got to get to a point where we can have their voices heard. But the main point is about just making sure that, socially and economically, [trans people] are supported in the right way.”

She is concerned about how gender roles are still imposed on children through consumer culture. “If you look at kids’ toys, it’s very much girls’ toys and boys’ toys, maybe even more than I remember when I was small. I don’t know if it’s some weird fear that, if you give kids lots of choice and let them interpret themselves as they are, then you’re going to encourage some sort of craziness. I think a lot of people feel very uncomfortable about it and I don’t really know why.”

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