Take That Gets the TERF Island Treatment

The Rainbow Mafia has sent another innocent victim to TERF Island, this time in the form of Howard Donald of the now-middle-aged boy band Take That. The veteran pop star has been found guilty of liking a tweet which said—fainting couch at the ready—"No woman has a penis. No man has a vagina." The 55-year-old was charged with trivialising gender ideology and for asserting the timeless reality of biological sex, and for this crime has been ceremoniously banned from the Nottingham Pride Festival in July.

Contrary to what some journalists think, cancel culture is not a right-wing conspiracy. While opinion-makers like to gaslight readers by denying its existence, what happened to Donald proves just how pervasive and vengeful cancel culture has become. He's part of one of Britain's most family-friendly bands, but here he is humiliated and dragged to the court of public opinion, not for what he said, but for tacitly endorsing the ideas of others. This is tyranny disguised as activism. Trying to destroy someone's career just because you dare to like their opinion is inherently evil. Donald's story highlights the illiberalism and authoritarianism of cancel culture.

Further proof of this insanity comes from a statement from the organiser of the event, Groovebox. They praised the public for "alerting [them] to the situation." In other words, there was an influx of PC babies complaining about the singer's 'like crimes'. Groovebox reassured everyone that it was treating it as a "matter of urgency." Urgency? You would think someone had been killed!

Gender ideology enjoys institutional dominance. Schools and universities have been captured, leading people to believe that gender takes precedence over sex. Womanhood has been reduced from an objective biological reality to something resembling radical subjectivity. To gender ideologues, being a woman is as easy as wearing a dress and adopting a new set of pronouns. Dare to criticise this movement when it is backed by every Western government and reinforced by the police, and expect a hate crime to be recorded against you—or in Donald's case, lose vital work. One critic, transwoman India Willoughby, shared one of his liked Twitter posts, writing: "Deeply disappointing to see Take That's Howard Donald liking transphobic and homophobic tweets while playing Pride festivals. The LGBT community made that band."

And there it is. This ever-expanding acronym ties LGB to T (and now QIAP+). The former is based on sexual orientation and has nothing to do with gender. When it comes to sexual preferences, biological sex is decisive. 

Still, the irony that a member of a gay-friendly band was branded homophobic by a trans activist is striking. Despite being a tolerance-based movement, it has become increasingly intolerant of gay people.

During her investigation of the Tavistock children's gender identity clinic, the journalist Hannah Barnes found that 80 to 90 per cent of adolescents referred to the clinic in 2012 were attracted to the same sex. Research has long confirmed that gender nonconformity in adolescence is strongly correlated with homosexuality later in life. In her book, Time to Think, Barnes recounts a dark joke shared by staff that soon "there will be no gay people left."

It couldn't have come at a worse possible time for Donald. The secular priests of the new religion of intersectionality have declared June to be Pride Month. The flag adorns every shop window and hovers over every financial institution in the country. Obedience to this multicoloured monster is mandatory. Donald has committed the mortal sin of blasphemy during the LGBTQ holy month. Now he must repent. 

“I am deeply sorry,” the veteran singer told his Instagram followers. “I clearly have a lot to learn,” and deeply regret his “uneducated actions.” On the surface, it sounds like a carefully scripted public relations response for Donald. But beneath the surface lurks something more disturbing, reminiscent of China. A month in a re-education camp will correct his wrong-likes. Perhaps he will appear in a video in a similar manner to John Cena apologising for saying Taiwan is a country. Maybe Donald will learn Chinese? 

Just kidding. But this is not funny. It is a sad indication of the direction we are headed. The guy basically admits he's not intelligent enough to “like” the right things—I repeat, like, not agree with. With its stranglehold over the economy, artists have little choice but to embrace progressive ideologies. It must be difficult to make a living when thousands of people can scrutinise every awakening thought or opinion. I wish he hadn't apologised. Where has the rebellious rock and roll spirit gone? Refusal to accept social norms was once considered punk rock. With their safe middle-of-the-road pop music, Take That is not Poison Idea or The Sex Pistols, but the rest of the band should support him. 

Something tells me they won't. I think there will be two members of Take That on the next reunion tour.