Stephen Fry Disappoints Fans After Withdrawing Support For Stonewall

Gay author and actor Stephen Fry has come under fire after saying he has “no interest” in supporting their current policies as they fight for the rights of trans people in the United Kingdom.

The 67-year-old Fry appeared on the “free speech” podcast Triggernometry, where host Konstantin Kisin read a question from ex-Stonewall employee Levi Pay about how he could support the charity. 

Responding to the question, he said: “Do I? I’m not sure I do. I supported them when Ian McKellen was a spokesperson there… I supported Stonewall [for marriage equality and age of consent], but I have no interest or support for this current wave of nonsensical… it’s shameful and sad.”

“I was thrilled with a lot of the work Stonewall did in those days, but I do think it has got stuck in a terrible, terrible quagmire.” 

Stonewall ‘has got stuck in a terrible quagmire,’ Stephen Fry tells Triggernometry.

‘I have no interest or support of this current wave of nonsensical… It’s shameful and sad.’

Great to hear my question asked in the subscribers-only section of @Triggerpod (clipped here). Fry’s… pic.twitter.com/qBBNgZYwAe

— Levi Pay (@soppystern) December 18, 2024

Stephen Fry has had a tumultuous relationship with the trans community, having previously said in 2022 that he wouldn’t condemn JK Rowling despite her increasingly vitriolic views about trans people, asking both sides to retreat. 

Fry’s new comments denouncing the work of Stonewall, named after New York’s Stonewall riots and with a legacy of resistance, is thus disappointing to trans people and their allies.

A Reddit thread in r/transgenderUK called Fry “Another celeb disappointment,” saying they previously looked up to him but now felt let down. Others in the thread called Fry a ladder-puller, with many feeling let down but few surprised. 

“Well that’s fucking shit. God damn it,” said one user. “I never especially cared about him either way, but this is slimy and disgusting,” added another, while a third said that he managed to “piss everyone off recently by trying to sit on the fence. The TERFs are up in arms about him too.”