Sweet Briar College, a private liberal arts college for women based in Virginia, United States just introduced a new policy of its admissions, and that is not to allow transgender women to join on campus for this new academic year, according to New York Post. By this decision Sweet Briar College has joined the few remaining women’s colleges in the United States that have taken similar stances.

As per the news outlet, college officials said the policy reflects the will of its founder, Indiana Fletcher Williams, who died in 1900. Officials explained that Williams’s will mandates the institution to serve “girls and young women,” and they assert that these terms must be understood according to the meaning they held at the time the will was written.

In a letter to the college community, Sweet Briar President Mary Pope Hutson and the chair of the board announced that the new policy requires applicants to affirm that they were assigned female at birth and constantly live and identify as women.

President Hutson made it clear that single-sex education was both a tradition and a singular cultural resource for the college. But the policy has outraged students and faculty, who said it could discourage prospective students-both transgender and not-from applying to the college at a time when many women’s colleges are closing, merging, or going co-ed. Sweet Briar itself almost closed in 2015.

Critics have also cited the originalist interpretation of the will – which at one point explicitly excluded non-white students from the college – by the board as something that is very problematic. The college did not begin to admit Black students until a federal judge gave approval after the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The reasoning behind the transgender policy was “absurd,” said John Gregory Brown, chair of the faculty senate and an English professor.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has sparked a social media debate with his recent comments on transgender people. During his closing speech at the 2023 Conservative Party conference on October 4, he shared his stance on gender debate and said, “A man is a man and a woman is a woman”. 

Addressing the conference, he noted, “We shouldn’t get bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be – they can’t. A man is a man and a woman is a woman. That’s just common sense.”

”We are going to change this country and that means, life means life. That shouldn’t be a controversial position. The vast majority of hard-working people agree with it. It also shouldn’t be controversial for parents to know what their children are learning in school about relationships. Patients should know when hospitals are talking about men or women,” he added. 

Couldn’t believe it when I heard these words coming out his mouth

“We shouldn’t be bullied into thinking anyone can be any sex that they want to be. A man is a man and a woman is a woman, that is just common sense.”

Transphobic much? #trans#RishiSunak#PoliticsLivepic.twitter.com/sv3butBaad

— Julia M (@Julia_Milligan1) October 4, 2023

Though some supported his views, many were angry for making ”disrespectful” comments towards the transgender community. Some mocked him saying that his remarks are far away from ”common sense.”

One user said, ”The persistent attacks on not only one of the smallest but most at-risk communities are vile. Absolutely disgusting party through and through including anyone who supports them.”

Another commented, ”I’m so fed up with Sunak talking up the importance of maths, yet his biology knowledge is so poor. Biological sex is so complicated and interesting and not at all “common sense”. This is before getting involved in the gender argument that affects the trans debate.”

A third said, ”Sunak does not seem to grasp the difference between sex and gender. The Tory party is getting more and more radical by the minute, it’s scary.” A fourth agreed with him saying, ”That’s about as much truth as someone in government has spoken in a long time.”

Notably, his comments come after Health Secretary Steve Barclay on October 3 proposed a plan to ban transgender women from being treated in female hospital wards in England. The health secretary also confirmed sex-specific language would be used when dealing with women’s health, as per Sky News.  The proposal sparked a backlash from moderate Tory MPs, who fear LGBTQ+ people are being targeted.

Mr Sunak’s stance on transgender rights was clear when he said in April that ”women do not have penises.”  In an interview with ConservativeHome, Mr Sunak was asked about his thoughts on a statement claiming “99.9 percent of women, of course, do not have penises”.

“What percentage would you put it at?” Mr Sunak was asked. The UK PM laughed at the question, however, when grilled about whether he thought the figure was actually 100 percent, Mr Sunak replied, “Yeah, of course.”

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has sparked a social media debate with his recent comments on transgender people. During his closing speech at the 2023 Conservative Party conference on October 4, he shared his stance on gender debate and said, “A man is a man and a woman is a woman”. 

Addressing the conference, he noted, “We shouldn’t get bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be – they can’t. A man is a man and a woman is a woman. That’s just common sense.”

”We are going to change this country and that means, life means life. That shouldn’t be a controversial position. The vast majority of hard-working people agree with it. It also shouldn’t be controversial for parents to know what their children are learning in school about relationships. Patients should know when hospitals are talking about men or women,” he added. 

Couldn’t believe it when I heard these words coming out his mouth

“We shouldn’t be bullied into thinking anyone can be any sex that they want to be. A man is a man and a woman is a woman, that is just common sense.”

Transphobic much? #trans#RishiSunak#PoliticsLivepic.twitter.com/sv3butBaad

— Julia M (@Julia_Milligan1) October 4, 2023

Though some supported his views, many were angry for making ”disrespectful” comments towards the transgender community. Some mocked him saying that his remarks are far away from ”common sense.”

One user said, ”The persistent attacks on not only one of the smallest but most at-risk communities are vile. Absolutely disgusting party through and through including anyone who supports them.”

Another commented, ”I’m so fed up with Sunak talking up the importance of maths, yet his biology knowledge is so poor. Biological sex is so complicated and interesting and not at all “common sense”. This is before getting involved in the gender argument that affects the trans debate.”

A third said, ”Sunak does not seem to grasp the difference between sex and gender. The Tory party is getting more and more radical by the minute, it’s scary.” A fourth agreed with him saying, ”That’s about as much truth as someone in government has spoken in a long time.”

Notably, his comments come after Health Secretary Steve Barclay on October 3 proposed a plan to ban transgender women from being treated in female hospital wards in England. The health secretary also confirmed sex-specific language would be used when dealing with women’s health, as per Sky News.  The proposal sparked a backlash from moderate Tory MPs, who fear LGBTQ+ people are being targeted.

Mr Sunak’s stance on transgender rights was clear when he said in April that ”women do not have penises.”  In an interview with ConservativeHome, Mr Sunak was asked about his thoughts on a statement claiming “99.9 percent of women, of course, do not have penises”.

“What percentage would you put it at?” Mr Sunak was asked. The UK PM laughed at the question, however, when grilled about whether he thought the figure was actually 100 percent, Mr Sunak replied, “Yeah, of course.”