I’m a soap expert – Coronation Street changed the world with Hayley Cropper and here’s why we need her again
CORONATION Street made history with Hayley Cropper in 1998 - and we need her again.
Soaps have the power to demystify subjects, to shine a light of sections of society who would otherwise be hidden and shunned.
In 1998 they did that for trans people - with the iconic Hayley making her debut.
The way things are going now for the trans community, you’d think she never existed.
Let’s be really clear here - in a recent survey, just seven per cent of Tory voters thought that trans people should be something the Government prioritised.
There is a cost of living crisis, an energy bill time bomb waiting to go off, our NHS is under-funded and buckling under pressure - but we’ve got politicians falling over themselves to prove how ‘anti-woke’ they are.
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The current ‘anti-woke’ flavour of the week roughly translates to ‘who will be the meanest to trans people’. It’s a losing formula and here’s why.
Trans people have friends, families, neighbours - and a community that won’t back down, no matter what vile slurs at thrown their way.
Businesses that embrace diversity - of both ideas and identities - do not suffer because of it, no matter what the ‘go woke and go broke’ delusionals cry.
In fact it’s usually those companies and individuals that turn being anti-woke into their whole personality that struggle to keep people interested.
Frankly they need to calm down and watch a bit of 90s Corrie.
Watch as Hayley arrives on the cobbles and gets a job, builds a community and falls in love with Roy Cropper.
Watch as bigots and bullies attack her and try to stop her from existing as Hayley - and heaven forbid - using the ladies’ loo.
And then watch as the decent people on the street stand up for her, support her and care for her for the rest of her life.
That’s the reality of it - Corrie might be a soap, but it nailed why trans people, just like gay people in the 90s, will not disappear the more you’re mean to them.
Frankly it doesn't matter what the billionaires in their castles or millionaires in their television studios would have you believe.
“You can’t answer what a woman is,” they cry to people who answer the question, but aren’t listened to.
Even the England lionesses had their incredible, historic success at the Euros sullied by the trans-obsessed screaming about how they’re all women.
We all know. Women are women - that includes trans women. It’s not a difficult concept to wrap your head around. Most people find it remarkably easy.
Ask any Corrie fan what a woman is and they’ll look at you like you’re off your rocker. As frankly they should.
Let’s be clear - the question isn’t a honest one. The people who ask it aren’t wanting an answer - they want a 'gotcha' moment that makes trans people feel excluded.
But if you were to ask Corrie fans if Hayley Cropper is a woman - they know she is.
Hayley is a Corrie icon - a woman, a trans woman, a first-class knicker stitcher and a legend in a red raincoat and sensible shoes.
She'll always belong to a long line of strong Corrie women. In the same way that Bet Lynch was different to Annie Walker, who is different to Gail Platt, who is different to Deirdre Barlow - you get the picture.
Actress Julie Hesmondhalgh is not trans, but because of her, millions of people fell in love with a trans woman over decades in Coronation Street.
Hayley is part of the DNA of this country, of our culture and she has had more impact than the billionaires tweeting behind their castle walls could ever hope to.
Trans people aren’t hiding around the corner waiting to destroy the nation by daring to *checks notes* live their lives like the rest of us.
They aren’t evil monsters conspiring to dismantle biological sex or ban words from existing.
Like Hayley, they just want to live a happy life as who they are - just like we all do.
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Coronation Street proved it - and maybe it needs to prove it again with another groundbreaking trans character…
Or bring her back - death isn’t forever in soaps.
