Helen Zille draws ire after lashing out at Dylan Mulvaney in transphobic tweets
Cape Town - DA leader Helen Zille has upset the LGBQTIA+ community by asking whether gay people had to be transgender for them to be regarded as “woke”.
Zille, who finds woke culture a pet peeve, was weighing in on the controversy surrounding social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
She retweeted a post that misgendered Mulvaney.
Mulvaney is at the centre of a sexuality and gender politics storm after appearing in an advert for a popular US beer, Bud Light.
This enraged homophobic right-wing quarters in the US.
“Is it now considered insufficiently ‘woke’ to be merely gay?” Zille, who was recently re-elected DA federal council chairperson, asked on Twitter.
“Must you be transgender to gain access to the inner sanctum of the ‘tribe’? And must you, in the process, trash and stereotype all women, eradicating the progress they have made to achieve equality over half a century?”
When Twitter users called her out, Zille doubled down.
“I will (keep quiet) when Dylan Mulvaney does. I am sick of people like her undermining the dignity and rights that women have fought for over decades. That is where the outrage should be directed. Read in context.”
Zille’s phone rang unanswered and she had not responded to a WhatsApp request for comment at the time of writing.
The GOOD party said Zille’s “colonial” views on trans people came as no surprise.
“What’s surprising is that she is not restrained by the political party she leads which has been courting the LGBTQIA+ community in South Africa for years,” said GOOD party MP and secretary-general Brett Herron.
“The post that she retweeted aggressively misgenders and demeans by drawing attention to Mulvaney’s genitals.
“Zille has a large Twitter following. What she is doing is vomiting on the LGBTQIA+ community, spewing hatred and driving division. She is undermining the fundamental concept of equal rights in our Constitution.
“Her adoption of the rhetoric of the US right, highlighted by a sustained attack on the notion of being ‘woke’ has degenerated into the polarisation sewer fuelled by the likes of the similarly despicable Donald Trump.”
Herron said Zille had a right to express an opinion, but this shouldn’t infringe on the rights of others or incite hatred and violence, or spread misinformation.
“Zille must keep her obsessions with trans persons’ hormones and genitals to herself. If the DA doesn’t agree with her, it must censure her for inciting hatred and infringing the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community to safety and dignity.”
Herron said he wouldn’t hold his breath for a censure as the DA opposed the recently approved Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill in Parliament.
“Section 4 of this bill deals with hate speech like this and makes it a criminal offence,” Herron said.
He implored the DA to speak out on Zille’s views.
DA spokespersons Werner Horn and Solly Malatsi’s phones went straight to voicemail yesterday.
LGBTQIA+ lobby group OUT’s spokesperson Luiz De Barros said they were concerned about Zille’s tweet, which they said appeared to be an attack on the LGBTQIA+ community.
“Our interpretation of this statement suggests that Zille lacks an understanding of the difference between sexuality and gender identity.
“(She) appears to believe that individuals who identify as gay or transgender do so to appear ‘woke’.”
soyiso.maliti@inl.co.za