Sonny Bill Williams has ignited a storm of controversy on social media and been labelled “transphobic” for backing a comment from a woman who “thanked God” her parents wouldn’t let her get a sex change when she was 12.
Williams, who retired from a glittering career in rugby and rugby league in 2021, today shared a tweet from well-known anti-transgender and anti-vaccination advocate, Doctor Anastasia Maria Loupis.
The Danish doctor’s social media feed is littered with comments about stamping out gay and transgender rights, anti-vaccination sentiments and Donald Trump fan fiction.
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Williams re-tweeted a post, 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 words were a picture of a young red-headed girl padded up as an American football player, side-by-side of a glamorous shot of a red-headed woman on a boat 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 more than 936,000 Twitter followers, who were divided over the controversial view – though the vast majority were “disappointed” and “angry” with his backing of the controversial comments.
NZME columnist Alice Soper condemned the remarks, and Williams’ support of them, countering that “you are who you are, and the world is better for it”.
Others implored him to use his enormous social media platform to avoid spreading such ‘anti-trans’ views that have the potential to harm transgender individuals.
A study from LGBTIQ+ Health Australia said that 48.1 per cent of transgender and gender-diverse people aged 14 to 25 reported that they had attempted suicide in their lifetime, compared to 10 per cent of the general population.
“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 user 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 another.
“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 number of people applauded Williams for his stance, supporting his right to disagree with transgender rights and sex changes.
“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 originally appeared on the NZ Herald and was reproduced with permission.
