Leeds WPUK cancelled

What alexpolistigers said.

I am aghast. This is an assault on democracy. Whichever side of the debate you stand on, you should have the right to discuss proposed legislation. That is democracy in action.

And yet elected officials have not allowed discussion. They have directly impeded democracy. Not only have they failed to uphold the right to free speech, they have actively prevented it. This has far-reaching implications.

I would not have banned a church group from meeting to discuss the then proposed law on same-sex marriage, whatever my thoughts on their opinions. Because it is their democratic right to hold those views and discuss them.

Dear Leeds Council, 1984 was not written with the intention of becoming a handbook.

Lucy Bannerman at The Times is on the case...hopping mad too, by the sound of it

twitter.com/TimesLucy/status/1045755917814435841

She's been pretty vociferous in her condemnation of the GG decisions too

twitter.com/TimesLucy/status/1045591374937182208

If the big sillies had let all these meetings / billboards pass without a fuss this issue would be dead in the water.

They show the world what's been obvious to us for ages. They are bullies.

They would have been better going to the meetings and respectfully debating.

And presumably didn't find out the venue til late in the day, at which point the councillors were able to swoop in using elected powers.

Before holding a suffragette celebration on Monday.

Can private eye pick this up please.

So apparently what happened was:

1. WPUK made the booking
2. Some bloke, aiming to disrupt, booked a ticket, and as such was given the location of the event
3. Bloke contacted the organised protest group that he was a member of, which included elected Labour Leeds City Councillors
4. Said Councillors got the event cancelled on about five minutes notice

And the other councillor, Hannah Bithell is a guiding leader

Reading the stuff on @Girlguiding's trans policy... 99% of rapists are male... 87% of victims are female... So men shouldn't be allowed in... LUCKILY... 100% of trans girls are girls so phew people can calm down and stop being transphobes now right #GirlGuidingForAllGirls

I'm trying to remember my pre mumsnet thinking.

I think I'd bought the transition or die, surgery is the only way they can be themselves, let's not make the gay discrimination mistake again, thinking.

But it was pretty theoretical, and I didn't have children in my care who might be affected. Nor a very public platform.

I do feel sorry for women like Hannah, who are woke-blind to the actual effects of what they're saying and doing.

This seems to be the councillor who was in the WPUK protest planning group, and who asked for the event to be canned. Jessica Lennox, who is standing for Labour in a safe seat in Leeds next month, was reported after tweets she posted in 2015 and 2016 emerged in which she dismissed complaints about anti-Semitism as political opportunism and described the press as "zionist".
www.buzzfeed.com/amphtml/hannahalothman/two-more-local-labour-politicians-have-been-reported-over?__twitter_impression=true

Taken from this good thread:
twitter.com/JammersMinde/status/1045814302094094337?s=19

Really glad the meeting went ahead anyway and hope it generates more publicity for the cause.

www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/politics/leeds-feminist-event-cancelled-at-11th-hour-by-council-after-transphobic-claims-1-9372513

A piece by Aisha Iqbal for the yep has just popped up on my feed. My battery goi

The energy these men put into harassing and haranguing women is phenomenal. It seems that some of them (talking to you Doctor Fisherprice) spend every waking hour stuck in narcissistic rage that women even exist.

Despite their utter belief in being right and on the right side of history (my arse - thank you Leeds Spinners) , it's like negotiating with toddlers. Thing is that toddlers are mostly operating with a reptilian brain so you can get that and help them calm down. By about the age of 7 most children start to function with reason and empathy.

These men are stuck in a terrified, reptilian infant school level of development. I'd pity them if I didn't find them so pathetic.

Perhaps if we could wire their anger up to the national grid we could end our dependency on fossil fuels, they could get involved with the Green Party for instance and do something good and helpful

Just saying!

So glad to have made it there. Inspiring and sobering speeches from women who I was honoured to be in the same room as! Made some new friends and generally felt it was a massive success. Hats off to all the protestors who inadvertently gave us lots of lovely publicity

*Not all men

Lovely Michael Conroy, among others, tweeting about this.

Hated by misogynist men.

Lots of people tweeting them, me among them

The odd tweet calling them a hate group - shut down fairly easily, because....WPUK is not a hate group.

Hated, yes. By men. And transactivists. And women who call themselves inclusive feminists who have no business doing that.

But def not a hate group ffs.

I was there. Such a very moving meeting.

Please, please everyone tweet/email/whatever the hell out of Leeds City Council.

It’s outrageous.

Also available for interview will be the leader of Leeds City Council, Councillor Judith Blake and the Lord Mayor.

I think I'd present Judith Blake with an award.
To prevent me from being banned I won't say what.

Ironically, on Monday morning the Leeds city Council holds an elaborate ceremony to celebrate suffragettes:
news.leeds.gov.uk/iconic-emblem-of-womens-right-to-vote-to-receive-civic-welcome-in-leeds/

Women - yes local press is very important. I've written about this before on here - but I have a friend who was a journalist on local papers for years, even believe it not, in W Yorks - plus Midlands, Herts, before doing a stint on the Daily Mail.

She could cry over what has happened to local journalism. She used to have a job where she would go into the courts on a daily basis, and knew all the local coppers, who would tip her off off on the best cases to cover.

Same with council meetings.Always used to be local journos there keeping them on their toes, holding them to account.

Hardly happens now - without that - these things are not reported, not scrutinised. Unless it makes the nationals. And they all copy each other, half the time.

Some areas are better than others obviously.
Bring back local news coverage. Strong, independent, local new coverage is what's needed. It used to be a thing.

Oh so it was the Green Party.

FFS

Safeguarding anyone ?

So the councillor who cancelled it was also in the group organising a protest against it? Seems like it was all done in a fair and impartial manner then....

Local politics stinks. There are some truly disgusting people involved in it. They are even worse than MPs.

This is what happens when local press dies and voter turnout/engagement is so low. We need to get people engaged at all levels of politics again. Council is not unimportant.

Those twitter comments posted by Anlaf (and thanks for those) show that some Leeds councillors have no clue about what it all means for women. It's bad enough when men silence women, we're used to that. But here it's women silencing women. I feel very bitter about that.

Naive question perhaps: but I wonder what other groups would be unacceptable to Leeds CC to book a room in the Civic Hall.

Also, I wonder if it's possible to find out, maybe through a Freedom of Information request, what other groups have been allowed.

Excellent