Cancellation of WRN NI event at Féile festival.

A business denying service based on political opinion:

https://x.com/JohnJamesNI/status/2080781263942680614?s=20

https://nitter.net/JohnJamesNI/status/2080781263942680614?s=20

NEW: West Belfast tattoo shop BANS
@jk_rowling tattoos 🤣 I’m really gutted Jo, I was all set to get your face tattooed on my forehead this weekend.. that’s my plans ruined! 😂

😂 christofacists is a new one, I've not been one of those before.

How unhinged do they have to get before we can officially call them insane. They're a bunch of drooling at the mouth fruit loops. 🤪

And WRN are being slated for having failed to make any statements in Palestine?!?!?

The solidarity of 'victim hood', or the enemy of my enemy is my friend mentality. Plus the Pally Brigade have taken a lot of attention off the 'trans' so they're trying to regain the spotlight by 'allying' themselves to the Pally cause.

It's a bit like when someone is recording an interview in the street and people jump into the background and make silly signs. 😂

This is such a ridiculous stance for a business to take. If someone wanted a tattoo that was associated with an artist, author or director who has committed sexual assault, for example, would she say no to that? Or does she only draw the line at JKR, who uses her wealth to fund a rape crisis centre and to help women, many of whom are vulnerable, protect their rights? So someone wanting a Hedwig tattoo is beyond the pale?

It just shows how performative the JKR hate is.

I went to see whether it has been discussed on Slugger, and it has, up to a point, but it's mostly the sort of faux-naive ploppers we get on here, with a sprinkling of people telling political porkies, and I don't think I have the stamina to read it all.

sluggerotoole.com/2026/07/24/reconciling-competing-rights/

It was quite hard going and plop-heavy. Really dispiriting. And still with the “both sides extremists” rhetoric.

Thanks for the link, DeanElderberry.

I agree, the writer clearly didn't bother to investigate who WRN are, and whether or not they are in any way anti-trans, [spoiler alert....😏] so saying they shouldn't be censored even if they are saying 'unacceptable' things cos that's free speech, is not actually doing WRN any favours.

It leaves the uninformed reader with the impression that WRN are indeed baddies, but we should be tolerant of them..

The comments are interesting and varied. The first one suggests exactly what I wrote above: how about finding out what WRN actually says about transpeople, whereas later ones suggest that WRN is some kind of fit up group established to cause trouble for An Fhéile, or something underhand like that..

Sadly, I'm not surprised.

Was that the poster named Am Ghobsmacht? Particularly good username that, I thought.

I'm saddened but not surprised to hear that WRN (Nora) has received death threats that they've had to report to the PSNI.

Does anyone know what time WRN will be in court today?

Discussion now on bbc radio Ulster.

I think it’s Wednesday. I just caught it on the radio.

Ok, thanks. Genspect said on X it's today:

🇬🇧Did Feile an Phobail community festival really think women would put up and shut up?

Trans activists complained loudly about women speaking so a publicly funded community festival decided to silence them.
Do we look surprised?

Tomorrow, Mon 27th July, a Judge will rule on whether a Belfast based festival capitulating to trans activists calling for women to be cancelled was a legally correct course of action.

This is what happened:
Ireland’s biggest community arts festival, Feile an Phobail, cancelled a planned Women’s Rights Network Ireland (WRN) panel at very short notice.

Tues 21st July 11.45 am
Feile receive an email from WRN Ireland saying they were “really looking forward” to their panel discussion on August 4th.

2.06pm (less than 3 hours later)
Feile cancel the WRN panel event.
The reason, set out in documents now lodged with the High Court, was not safety.

Friday 24 July
Feile and WRN Ireland meet for discussion
Agreement is not reached and WRN file legal papers. An @ni_wrn spokesperson says; "This is all about women's rights, all about women's bodies, all about women's spaces, all about women's experiences."

Feile Community Festival festival attracts 120,000 visitors each year and receives around £800,000 a year in public money.

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland awarded Feile £121,122 this year.

Dublin’s Department of Foreign Affairs granted Feile €178,000, over three years.

Belfast city council, whose grant runs to 2028, said the money it gives to @Kevgamblefeile @FeileBelfast “must comply with statutory equality provisions.”

If the court rules the in @wrn_irl favour, attendees can look forward to listening to eloquent and knowledgeable women discussing "Respect, Rights and Reality."

If the panel does go ahead, will placards be present?
The graphic below, translates to:
Women Will Not Be Silenced

https://x.com/i/status/2081300826203607553

I've just been out for a walk on my lunch break, and I listened to the Radio Ulster show. What a frustrating listen. Who is this Robin prick?

And every person I have heard speaking about this that supports Féile' position really, really leans into the narrative that the WRN are aligned with the far-right and other nefarious movements. If Andrew Tate believes that sex is real and so do the WRN, therefore the WRN are aligned with Andrew Tate 🙄🙄🙄

It is such abysmally lazy logic. Surely any decent journalist can look into whether the far right are actually pulling the WRN's strings, or could it possibly be the case that these intelligent women have been able to think about this issue themselves and have reached their own conclusions?

Sorry should’ve said it was postponed to Wednesday apparently to give Feile more time to consider.

Allison Morris, journalist for the Belfast Telegraph, wrote an article in which she hit every ridiculous and lazy TRA bingo-card stereotype you can imagine. It appears she did fuck all proper research before writing.

She claimed WRN are not being silenced because they are invited to do media interviews about the cancellation, she claimed they are politically similar to Marine LePen, Trump, Elon Musk, Tommy Robinson etc but don't want to admit it, and she claimed that they're part of a movement funded by Right wing billionaires.

She's now all over TwiX claiming that she's taking any flak for the article as a way of protecting minorities 🙄

https://x.com/iseult/status/2081686515558576146?s=20
https://nitter.net/iseult/status/2081686515558576146?s=20

Link to the article:
http://archive.today/oQ2Cs

Thanks for the link

Far from being silenced, anti-trans views are currently among the most disproportionately platformed — shared by the world’s most powerful men

The fact that she's calling the views of women who are standing up for themselves 'anti-trans' says it all really, a whole load of genderwang guff.

What planet does she live on? 🤯

She very much lives on planet middle-class right side of history 🙄

Her opinion that WRN can't complain about this cancellation until they've solved every other social problem negatively affecting women in Northern Ireland was particularly ridiculous.