British journalist cheered on BBC for blasting politicians who have 'given up' on belief that 'sex is real'

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British journalist and author Ella Whelan blasted politicians in the United Kingdom who she said had "given up" on the belief that "sex is real" during a recent episode of "BBC Question Time."

Whelan and her fellow panelists were tasked with answering the question, "Should safeguarding for women's only spaces be reviewed?" on the BBC show, which is a spinoff of the BBC Radio show "Any Questions?"

"It’s remarkable to me that politicians in this country – in Scotland, in Wales, and in England – seem to have given up on the belief in reality, that sex is real and that it’s irrefutable," Whelan said, to some audience applause.

"It's very important," she continued. "Because it isn't just about those intense places, like a prison, or like a rape crisis center where it's vital… You can beg the question, ‘Why can’t men budge up and let someone enter in solitary confinement… but the point is, if politicians in a government cannot deal in reality and in truth and deal with facts that are based on the things that we all understand, then why would you have any belief in anything they say?" 

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"Why would you have any belief in the justice system?" she added. "Because the one group that we haven't mentioned so far, is women! And it's women who are being made to pay for this."

People outside the main entrance to the BBC's Broadcasting House building in central London. (iStock)

Whelan expanded on her on-air commentary for Fox News Digital, suggesting none of the UK's major political parties have gotten it right on the issue of sex and gender.

"The problem with the trans debate is there is a clear disconnect with what politicians are doing and what the public thinks should happen," she said. "Every single mainstream politician party in the UK has given in to the idea that sex is something that you can change, legally or otherwise. While the Scottish Nationalist Party are getting stick at the moment for their Gender Recognition Reform Bill, it was the Tories that introduced the idea of making the process of Self ID more easily accessible, and the Labour Party infamously has no idea what a woman is."

"But the vast majority of people understand that sex is binary and irrefutable – we don’t need scientists to tell us that there is a reason why women and men’s blood tests are interpreted differently, why we compete in sport separately or why we might find it awkward to change in front of each other when we are teenagers," she continued. "There is nothing bigoted about this basic fact." 

Several politicians and activists cheered Whelan's "common sense" comments.

"Well said, Ella," Russian-British satirist and podcast host Konstantin Kisin wrote on Twitter of Whelan's BBC appearance.

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Multiple toilets at SOMArts Cultural Center have all gender restroom access in San Francisco, California, on Jan. 8, 2015. (Liz Hafalia/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

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"Brilliant," Belinda de Lucy, a former Brexit Party Member of the European Parliament, said.

"Instead of trying to pretend that sex is changeable – or that there is nothing wrong with changing a legal document like a birth certificate to say a boy was born instead of a girl – we should focus on making society accepting of difference," Whelan told Fox News Digital.

But not everyone was a fan. 

"My heart goes out to trans people who are being continuously maligned at the moment," one Twitter user wrote, slamming Whelan's remarks. Another was shocked the BBC show allowed the panelist to "spew hate."

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The debate over gender has been a common theme in the United States as well, with parents voicing concerns in recent years over the apparent expanding definitions of sex. 

In March 2021, for instance, President Biden signed an executive order outlining plans to review Title IX regulations related to gender identity. The administration's reforms included rolling back some due process protections put in place by the Trump administration, and changing the definition of "sex" to include "gender identity." Several parent groups spoke out against the proposals, predicting it would have consequences such as "blurring and in effect erasing women."

Demonstrators listen to the speaking program during an "Our Bodies, Our Sports" rally for the 50th anniversary of Title IX at Freedom Plaza on June 23, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Some said the changes would be particularly unfair to young women in sports.

"Title IX under Obama, and now under Biden, is being twisted and used as a weapon against girls and women, that Title IX was actually written to protect us,' Elicia Brand, Army of Parents president and co-founder, told Fox News Digital. "And we will suffer the most, particularly our girls who are in sports." 

"We don’t want this to be weaponized under Biden while his executive order doesn’t carry the full weight of the law as Trump’s did," she continued. "It is still very dangerous because it gives the Department of Education the ability to bring lawsuits against schools and in that way they have to comply because they can’t lose the money. So the people that will be suffering will be girls and women."