(LifeSiteNews) — On September 4, comedian Graham Linehan showed up at the Westminster courthouse for his hearing with a sandwich board sign featuring the slogan, “There is no such thing as a transgender child” emblazoned across the front. The back read: “Keep men out of women’s sports”; another slogan was “Gender ideology does not belong in schools.” A crowd of supporters cheered him on as he entered the courthouse.
This is how Graham Linehan turned up to court today after being arrested for gender critical tweets 👏
What an absolute trooper 🫡 pic.twitter.com/wBemn0hgVT
— BRITAIN IS BROKEN (@BROKENBRITAIN0) September 4, 2025
READ: Trump’s return to sane gender policies sparks ludicrous wave of ‘trans refugees’
Linehan, the famous creator of several TV shows, was arrested at Heathrow Airport on Monday by five armed police officers, who took him to jail and interrogated him over a number of tweets mocking or opposing transgender ideology. His arrest has sparked a backlash across the country from politicians and journalists alike.
Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Mark Crowley defended the arresting officers, but called for either a clarification or a revision of the law. “I don’t believe we should be policing toxic culture war debates and officers are currently in an impossible position,” he stated. The U.K.’s Labour government also made a show of opposing Linehan’s arrest, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer telling the House of Commons that the police should “focus on the most serious issues.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting added that the government needed to re-examine the legislation that led to the arrest because the government wants “the police to focus on policing streets rather than tweets.” Condemnation of Linehan’s arrest from parliamentarians was nearly unanimous; only the new Green Party leader, Zack Polanski, told BBC Newsnight that Linehan’s tweets were “totally unacceptable” and that his arrest seemed “proportionate.”
Linehan told the Westminster Magistrates’ Court today that “Trans activists have spent the last 10 years demonizing anyone who stands up to them,” while the prosecution alleged that Linehan “relentlessly” posted abusive comments about 18-year-old trans activist Sophia Brooks on social media last year, and at one point threw his phone into a road when Brooks aggressively confronted him in public.
Linehan, who has pleaded “not guilty” to charges of criminal damage and harassment, stated that the trial is “just the latest attempt to punish me by process.” Linehan’s comments about Brooks on social media stem from the trans activist’s participation in the targeting of an LGBT Alliance Conference on October 11, 2024, when trans activists released thousands of live crickets to derail the “transphobic” event.
“Anyone can select themselves into that [transgender] group … predatory men are doing that, and police are doing their bidding … the police believe them at their every word,” Linehan stated. “I heard about how certain people who were being targeted by him [Sophia Brooks]. I’m in a group of eight people now who have suffered various forms of harassment. I felt he was able to get away with a lot of his activities because he was almost like a Twitter avatar floating around with no real connection to the earth.”
READ: Australian woman faces $200k penalty for saying men don’t belong in women’s sports
Sophia Brooks is a male who identifies as female. At one point, District Judge Briony Clark noted that the prosecution was referring to Brooks according to his “affirmed gender name,” while Linehan and the defense held that “the complainant is male.” In social media posts, Linehan referred to Brooks as a “domestic terrorist” and a “deeply disturbed sociopath” as well as a “scumbag, grooming, homophobic sadist.”
When asked why, Linehan replied: “Because the things he was involved in caused great misery to other people. I don’t think there’s anything lower than a man who bullies a woman.” Linehan stated that the eight years of harassment he has endured for opposing gender ideology is why he chose to leave the U.K. six months ago for Arizona. Linehan did say that grabbing the trans activist’s phone, which had been thrust in his face, was “a mistake” he made in the heat of the moment.
Linehan’s trial – which is separate from Monday’s arrest and which saw him released on bail pending another investigation – is ongoing.
