Life

Philip Normal resigns as Labour councillor over racist, transphobic and Islamophobic tweets

By Conor Clark

13th January 2022

Philip Normal has resigned as the Labour councillor for Oval ward, Lambeth after racist, transphobic and Islamophobic tweets of his resurfaced.

A series of posts spanning from 2009 to 2014 expose an array of problematic views from Normal, who is best known for creating the ‘La’ t-shirts inspired by It’s a Sin.

These included the repeated use of a derogatory term used to describe transgender people, as well as comparing Muslim women to “penguins”.

Some of his tweets even appeared to acknowledge the offensive nature of his words, as in May 2014 he wrote about his frustration over not being able to say what he wants on certain social media platforms.

“You can’t say T****Y on Facebook anymore but you can on twitter. #T****Y,” he explained.

Responding to someone who questioned what he means, he said: “They’re removing posts apparently with the word T****Y.”

“T****Y is our word,” Normal added in a follow up tweet on the same day. “We’ve used it in London for years.”

Following fierce backlash for the posts after they first reemerged on 11 January, Normal took to Twitter two days later to confirm that he had resigned from his post in Lambeth.

“I have today resigned as a Lambeth councillor and a Lambeth Labour candidate for Oval ward,” he wrote. “I want to apologise again to everyone who I have caused deep hurt and pain to due to my past social media posts.”

In a follow up tweet, he expressed how “proud” he is to have “been a ward councillor”.

He added: “I’m proud to have been a ward councillor for Oval and Mayor of Lambeth and I am sorry that my past actions from before I was elected have undermined the positive work that Lambeth Labour councillors do to advance equality in our diverse communities.”

Following the success of It’s a Sin, Normal partnered with Terrence Higgins Trust to create a ‘La’ t-shirt that allowed people to “join the gang from the Pink Palace”.

Councillor Normal was first elected in May 2018 to serve Oval ward – four years after some of his latest problematic remarks were made.

In April 2020, he was elected Mayor of Lambeth – a position he held for the Municipal year.

He did not respond to GAY TIMES’ request for comment on 12 January.