‘I’m sure of it’: Eddie Izzard says trans people will get through ‘tough times’

Eddie Izzard has said that she is “sure” transgender people will make it through this period of “tough times”.

The comedian, who recently announced that she also goes by the name Suzy, spoke out against the notion that there is a real “culture war” taking place over trans issues.

Appearing on Lorraine on Thursday (23 March), Izzard said that “the tough time that trans people are going through” was reflective of the struggles that gay people went through in previous decades.

Back then, she said, trans identity wasn’t discussed as “we were non-people, we were toxic people, we were other”.

“This idea of culture wars, I think it’s the right-wing just stirring things up,” she told host Lorraine Kelly. “I think 95 per cent of the country, maybe the world, are saying ‘live and let live’.

“This is just the time we have to go through to get to the best time, I’m sure of it,” she added.

Izzard’s comments come amid a wave of anti-trans rhetoric in the media and a spread of anti-trans legislation in the US.

In October, a Home Office report found that hate crimes against trans people had more than doubled in a year to reach record highs.

Almost 156,000 offences were recorded by police in 2021-22, with the year seeing the biggest annual jump since Brexit.

In December 2020, Izzard announced that she was using she/her pronouns. She then shared in March 2023 that she would also be going by Suzy, a name she’d wanted to use since she was 10.

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“I’m Eddie. There’s another name I’m going to add in as well, which is Suzy, which is what I wanted to be since I was 10,” she said. “I’m going to be Suzy Eddie Izzard.”

On Lorraine, Izzard said that she didn’t mind which name was used, just as she preferred she/her pronouns but was fine with he/him.

“No one can make a mistake with me unless they call me Gregory or Sabrina,” she joked.