Graham Linehan, co-writer of Father Ted and IT Crowd, has been given a verbal warning byWest Yorkshire Police for alleged harassment following a row on Twitter with Stephanie Hayden, a trans woman.
Hayden reported the writer for referring to her as a ‘he’, and for dead-naming her, tweeting the name she was given at birth. In turn, she revealed Linehan’s address. Hayden is suing Linehan – who told the BBC he may also take action against her. Hayden tweeted: “This has been a difficult week for me. Transphobia in any form is unacceptable. Now the police matter has been resolved anything else is between the parties. Thank you to the transgender community (and beyond) for your continued support.”
Hayden told the BBC: “I spoke to the police for 45 minutes about how I wanted to go forward.
“I didn’t think he was a physical threat, but thought if the police spoke to him and advised him with a warning, he would possibly realise the hurt he had caused.
“The point I want to get across is this isn’t about free speech, this is about harassment.
“He is perfectly entitled to say his subjective opinions, but he is not allowed to publish details about me.”
Linehan has shared what many people consider to be offensive posts regarding trans rights. Many will be surprised to learn that the writer, who considers the term TERF a slur, stated: “I will call all of my trans friends ‘she’. I think of them as women, they are respectful and are not misogynists. But I refuse to respect the pronouns of misogynists.”
