LGBTQ+ advocate Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) has slammed U.K. police for arresting an anti-trans comedian over a series of threatening posts on X.Khanna called the arrest of Graham Linehan an offense to anyone who supports free speech. Related Sitting Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is now just calling trans people Satan I guess UK has not learned from the time prosecutors read passages of The Picture of Dorian Gray to convict Oscar Wilde, he added. Linehan was arrested as he stepped off a plane in London on Monday on suspicion of inciting anti-trans violence via social media. Among three messages posted to X was one encouraging people to punch trans women in the balls. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today In a piece for The Spectator wrought with wildly anti-trans insults, Linehan detailed the experience: I was arrested at an airport like a terrorist, locked in a cell like a criminal, taken to hospital because the stress nearly killed me, and banned from speaking onlineall because I made jokes that upset some psychotic crossdressers, he wrote. To me, this proves one thing beyond doubt: the UK has become a country that is hostile to freedom of speech, hostile to women, and far too accommodating to the demands of violent, entitled, abusive men who have turned the police into their personal goon squad. Despite Linehans claims about trans women being violent, entitled, [and] abusive, the vast number of attacks on trans and non-trans people are carried out by cisgender men.In 2023, Khanna spoke with LGBTQ Nation about his staunch LGBTQ+ allyship, including his spearheading of a 2020 bill to add a third gender to U.S. passports.I think when you have someone who is straight or cisgender talk about these things and say, Look, this is about recognizing peoples identity and respecting that. This is about making sure that people can have dignity and self-worth in who they are, then people say, yeah, thats just common sense. You know, thats being a kind human being. Thats why its crucial to have a lot of allies making these points. Khanna has also been a vocal defender of trans Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE), once telling anti-trans Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), on the issue of transgender rights, we just have a profound disagreement I think Rep. McBride deserves dignity.Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the officers who arrested Linehan had reasonable grounds to believe an offence had been committed and that reasonable people would agree that genuine threats of physical violence against an identified person or group should be acted upon by officers.Such actions can and do have serious and violent real-world implications, he said.But when it comes to lesser cases, where there is ambiguity in terms of intent and harm, policing has been left between a rock and a hard place by successive governments, who have given officers no choice but to record such incidents as crimes when theyre reported. Then they are obliged to follow all lines of inquiry and take action as appropriate.I dont believe we should be policing toxic culture wars debates and officers are currently in an impossible position.In his post detailing the arrest, Linehan called the baiting post a serious point made with a joke.The punch was a bit about the height difference between men and women, Linehan said, while admitting the joke fell flat. Linehan produced widely popular work for decades in the U.K. before taking up the mantle of anti-trans activism and suffering the backlash.Linehans anti-trans views first came to light ina screed in his BritcomThe IT Crowdin 2008. More public pronouncements earned bans on Twitter and a public alliance with Rowling as her own anti-trans activism obscured her once-favorable reputation for writing the belovedHarry Potterbook series.Linehans comedy career in the U.K. dried up in the ensuing years, and hes admitted his activism became an obsession, overtaking his professional and personal life. His wife divorced him in 2020.In December 2024, Linehan announced plans tomove to Arizonato work on a sitcom and create a production companywith fellow anti-trans activist and comedian Rob Schneider and gay Irish Brexiter activist Andrew Doyle. Linehan was on his way back from Phoenix when he was detained at Londons Heathrow airport.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.