The "comedy" concludes with Douglas learning the truth and the titular "Fight" plays out. For the rest of the episode we see her fulfil numerous male stereotypes such as enjoying action movies and drinking pints of beer which leads Douglas to believe that he has found the perfect woman. Early on in the episode, she informs him that she is trans, but he mishears her, leading her to wrongly conclude that he accepts her for who she is. In 2009 he penned a particularly transphobic episode of the IT Crowd called "Fight" in which the character of Douglas Reynholm starts dating a woman. It has been suggested (including by the Irish Times ) that this antipathy to trans people flared from a somewhat transphobic 2008 episode of sitcom The IT Crowd, which attracted criticism and led to Linehan becoming interested in the subject of trans people. He claims to oppose "privileged white people saying you must accept anyone who says they are a woman", although evidently it's ok if a privileged white man lectures on who is and isn't a woman. While he sympathises with trans people and believes that they need medical care (something many of them would disagree with), he has a problem with the idea that trans women are women.
According to the Irish Times, Glinner accepts that gender dysphoria is real but "has a problem with widening the definition of transgender" and opposes self-identification (where people get to decide they are transgender without needing a doctor to diagnose it as a clinical condition) and "early diagnosis" of trans or gender non-conforming children. On he got involved in a row over a National Geographic cover story about trans people, which seems to have been when the shit really hit the fan. In recent years the focus of his internet outrage has moved on from people disagreeing with celebrities to anything involving trans rights and the idea that trans women are women. There was some self-awareness of his unpopularity in his use of the name "Beloved Internet Personality" on Twitter. Now, it frequently seems to mean 'anyone with the chutzpah to publicly disagree with a celebrity or media figure.'" This accounts for the devaluing of the term 'troll' in the wider media – the phrase was originally coined to refer to people who post inflammatory messages in order to sidetrack discussion, and generate negative attention. Neil C&B said, "it now seems that many celebrities – like afore-mentioned Twitter policeman Graham Linehan – simply place themselves above any kind of criticism. Cookd and Bombd popularised the epithet "Twitter policeman" for Linehan, referring to his desire to lay down standards of right and wrong. The editor of British comedy website Cook'd and Bomb'd (C&B) has criticised celebrities including Glinner and Ricky Gervais for aggressive behaviour on social media. When tiresome right-wing journalist Giles Coren responded to a mild criticism by a Twitter user with the message "Go fuck yourself, you barren old hag", Glinner defended Coren's misogynistic response. However he also took the point of view that being a famous internet celebrity means you should defend other internet celebrities facing criticism. Linehan was prominent in the early 2010s on Twitter and was actively involved in campaigns on progressive issues, opposing Brexit and the misogynistic trolls of GamerGate.
On March 9, 2021, he announced that his anti-trans activism had caused "such a strain that my wife and I finally agreed to separate". On June 27 2020, Graham Linehan was permanently banned from Twitter, due to violating several of their hateful conduct policies. He opposed the trans charity Mermaids in a rather transphobic post on Mumsnet (a parenting website known for rabid transphobia), and was called out for this by hbomberguy in the latter's famous marathon charity livestream to raise money for Mermaids, in which he raised over $340,000. He had also been a very active and prolific tweeter on popular micro-blogging website Twitter, and in recent years had focussed on attacking trans people and being a general TERF. Father Ted in particular, which he co-wrote with Arthur Mathews, is hailed as one of the highlights of Irish or British comedy (it was made for British company Channel 4 predominantly by Irish talent). As a comedy writer he is co-responsible for the sitcoms Father Ted (1995-98), Black Books (2000-2004), and The IT Crowd (2006-2013), as well as writing sketches and routines for other shows. Graham Linehan (1968–) ( Glinner on Twitter and other social media) is an Irish comedy writer, self-styled feminist, and transphobic bigot.