THE UK Government’s decision to issue a Section 35 order and block gender reform legislation in Scotland made headlines around the world.
However, the intensity of the spotlight has also drawn in figures from the extreme end of the political spectrum.
Underneath ITV journalist Peter Smith’s recent interview with Nicola Sturgeon, in which he quizzed the First Minister on whether she believed “all trans women were women”, American journalist Andy Ngo commented: “Great interview, Peter.”
Smith replied thanking Ngo before deleting his response some time later.
Ngo retweeted Smith's video with the comment: "Scotland’s head of government Nicola Sturgeon believes #trans women are women.
"She is then asked why then did her government decide to suspend sending trans sex offenders to female prisons."
Great interview, Peter.
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) January 30, 2023
Ngo has been described as a “far-right Twitter star” and has more than a million followers on the platform.
He gained prominence after being attacked during a far-right rally in Portland, Oregon.
Masked counter-protesters were filmed beating up Ngo and throwing a milkshake over him, which he later alleged contained concrete.
Since then he has become a poster boy for the right-wing in America and has repeatedly been accused of having connections to white supremacist groups such as Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys (which he regularly denies).
His book, Unmasked, posits that left-wing groups across the world are seeking to “destroy the nation-state, America in particular”.
A reviewer for the Los Angeles Times said it was a “supremely dishonest” book, which would be used as “a cudgel for Trumpists to swing whenever they need to obscure their own complicity in events like the Capitol riot".
Indeed, when the former banjoist for folk rock band Mumford & Sons took to Twitter to praise the book he was forced to issue an apology (he later recanted the apology and left the band permanently).
Smith’s video also attracted the attention of Canadian podcaster and self-proclaimed "traditionalist" author Jordan Peterson.
Re-tweeting the video Peterson said: “And the game ends here: Delusion 0 Reality 1”
Last year, in reaction to the transgender actor Eliot Page having top surgery, Peterson said that Page had his "breasts removed by a criminal physician".
He also claimed that transgender identity was a "viciously harmful fad" and said gender-affirming medical care was "Auschwitz and Gulag-level wrong".
