Star Wars trans clone trooper becomes the latest character to trigger the ‘anti-woke’ brigade

The inclusion of a trans stormtrooper in a new Star Wars book has angered the “anti-woke” brigade.

The Secrets of the Clone Troopers was published on Tuesday (8 October), and included a transgender character called Sister.

Alongside an illustration of the trooper, whose armour features the white, pink and blue colours of the trans flag, a quote shared on X/Twitter reads: “When one of our kind expressed her gender identity differently than her fellow troopers, she figured she’d have to hide who she truly was inside. Fortunately, her brothers in the 7th Sky Corps gave her the name Sister as a constant reminder that she belonged.”

Sister is not actually a new character, having appeared in the 2022 novel Queen’s Hope, by E K Johnston, where she meets pivotal figure Anakin Skywalker, who tells her: “The Jedi are all about transcending things… I don’t think we can complain if you’ve transcended gender.”

Despite this, several social media users lashed out at the character, with some saying her inclusion was “virtue-signalling”, and one describing it as “pandering to the gender cult”.

However, other Star Wars fans have welcomed Sister, describing her as awesome.

“It’s very clear just from my feed that the addition of Sister into canon means a lot to some people. To see themselves a part of Star Wars, now they have representation… more representation is better,” one person wrote on X.

Another poked fun at those up-in-arms over Sister’s inclusion, saying: “Nah, what p***es me off is y’all believe in space magic, planet-killer space stations, and cloning, but y’all draw the line at someone changing genders.”

Sister isn’t the first trans Star Wars character. The universe, which features films, comic books, novels and video games, has plenty of LGBTQ+ characters, with the first trans and non-binary Jedi introduced in 2021. Terec and Ceret featured on the cover of Star Wars: The High Republic, with the official Star Wars Instagram account saying they “support trans lives, and are passionate and committed to broadening our representation in a galaxy far far away.”

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