Social media sites should have a clear code of conduct to tackle transphobic hate, the culture minister has said.

Ed Vaizey, the Conservative MP for Wantage, told senior MPs during a parliamentary inquiry into transgender equality on Tuesday that hate attacks online were “a massive concern” and that straightforward legal action was not enough.

“Twitter trolling and the kind of abuse people see online is shocking,” he said, adding that although the police and legal action dealt with complaints, this alone was not adequate.

“Social media companies have not been forthcoming with a clear code of conduct,” said Vaizey, who added that they had also failed to outline a clear process for victims of online hate to complain, and a process for potential arbitration.

He said social media executives had acknowledged and spoken about how they had not taken action against hate speech fast enough.

Jay Stewart, the director of Gendered Intelligence, a transgender youth group, agreed that more needed to be done about transphobic abuse online.

“There needs to be more regulation. If people behaved like that in a school or at work it would be dealt with. Why is it that people can say such horrific things online and we have to accept it?” he told the Guardian.

“Importantly though what is at the heart of the abuse is the fundamental lack of understanding around trans people. There is a conflation with gender and sexuality.

“People also think that being trans has something to do with child abuse or they obsess over gender reassignment surgery. All of this comes down to an educational issue and the government can do more here,” Stewart said.

As well as discussing the issue of transphobic online content and hate speech, MPs at the inquiry questioned Vaizey about media policy on transgender equality. He said it was the duty of broadcasters to see transgender representation on screens not as “something exotic, but completely mainstream”. Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, should have an updated code of conduct next spring, Vaizey revealed.



Criticism of the mainstream media’s sensationalisation of trans issues was valid, Vaizey said, as it focused only on the process of coming out and never the day to day.

“I would rather see someone cast as a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, an MP, and who happens to be trans,” Vaizey said. “Too few broadcasters reflect diversity of society.

“I think that any people who are transgender live with a great deal of discrimination, bullying and victimisation. The last thing we’d want people to feel is they can’t raise legitimate criticism with broadcasters,” he said.

On the issue of trans people being excluded from sporting activities, Vaizey said: “It’s obviously incumbent for sporting authorities to call this practice out when it happens.”

Vaziey said although the Equality Act allowed an exception for single-sex sports to exclude other sexes, “based on strength and stamina reasons”, he added that: “Clearly there are many, many sports where both sexes can compete on level terms.”

He said he expected bodies such as Sport England and other national bodies for sport to call out “arbitrary exclusion”.

Vaizey said he would write to the inquiry committee specifically on the issue of changing rooms, and said it was possible for organisations and lottery funds to help secure appropriate facilities to cater for people of different sexes playing team games together.

Tuesday’s hearing was the final evidence session in the landmark parliamentary inquiry into transgender equality in the UK, which was launched in the summer to assess levels of transphobia, access to NHS services and issues affecting trans youth.



More than 230 submissions have been sent to the women and equalities select committee, including much personal or sensitive information. The findings will be published in stages, the committee said.

