If you want to add your voice to this, the next meeting, following on from speakers corner, has been arranged in Brighton.
"PRESS RELEASE FOR BRIGHTON. PLEASE DM US FOR TIME AND DATE OF DABATE NOW IF YOU NEED TO ARRANGE CHILDCARE ETC. (WE ARENT RELEASING IT TO THE PUBLIC JUST YET) AND PLEASE SPREAD THIS FAR AND WIDE TO JOURNOS ETC
Debate Not Hate: We Need To Talk About Gender
New GRA Discussion planned to coincide with Labour Party Conference and Momentum World Transformed in Brighton
A recent event discussing the proposed changes to the 2004 Gender Recognition Act became newsworthy after it was violently opposed by trans activists. The incident was reported in several major online and hard copy publications including The Times, The New Statesman, The Mail on Sunday, The Mirror and The Sun. Liberal broadsheets have yet to publish any articles or commentary on this assault to free speech.
The original event, titled ‘What is Gender? The GRA and Beyond’, was scheduled to take place at New Cross Learning, a community-run library in South-East London. It was set up by a small group of local women to address concerns around how the legislation affects the rights of women and girls. Specifically that the proposed changes would:
- enable anyone to self-ID their gender, and change their legal status and official documentation without medical checks and without necessarily “transitioning” in any other way
- lower the age of consent for legally changing gender from 18 to 16
- conflate the legal definitions of “sex” and “gender” and therefore render “sex” meaningless, creating serious implications for the rights of women and girls.
- remove or diminish exemptions in the Equality Act designed to protect single-sex spaces, services and genuine occupational requirements.
Dr Julia Long, a feminist academic, and Miranda Yardley, a gender critical transexual, were booked to speak in opposition to the proposed changes. Two representatives from LGBT charity Stonewall, Bex Stinson and a colleague, were confirmed to speak in favour, but both pulled out at at late notice citing “personal reasons”. Invitations were offered to around 20 other trans activists and public figures to defend the proposals, but all declined.
The organisers decided to go ahead with the event, but were forced to re-advertise it as a discussion rather than a debate. Trans activists then began calling publicly for the venue to refuse to host to the event, as well telephoning, emailing and visiting the library in person to demand they cancel. The venue eventually capitulated to this pressure the day before the event, due to “safety concerns”. A new central London venue was hastily found but it was decided not to release details publicly, in order to avoid further harassment by trans activists. Instead, organisers announced they would meet at Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park before going on to the new venue.
A group of trans activists then protested at Speaker’s Corner, and three of them violently assaulted a 60-year woman who was there to attend the talk. After the attackers fled and police had been informed, the new venue address was secretly disseminated in an attempt to avoid further violence or harassment, but the trans activists followed women in small groups to the new venue and tried to force their way in. When they were prevented by staff, they continued to protest outside, chanting loudly until police were called and local residents complained. As a result, the venue were forced to cut the discussion short with no time for a Q&A as planned.
Footage of the attack at Speakers' Corner - which is now under investigation by police - soon circulated online. Rather than outright condemn the violence, many individual trans activists and even trans and LGBT organisations, refused to do so, with a significant number justifying it and even calling for more violence towards women, using the misogynist slur “TERF”. Trans activism has a long history of suppressing debate and no-platforming speakers who are gender-critical, but the violence at Speakers’ Corner and the subsequent online outpouring of violent and hateful rhetoric towards women marks a watershed moment.
In response, the women involved in this event have formed a campaign group called Mayday to urgently address the need for open debate about the rights of women and girls. They have received many messages of support and offers of help from women and men across the country, and around the world - particularly from the US, Canada and Ireland where the conflict between trans activism and free speech is already a serious issue.
In a refusal to be silenced by the anti-democratic tactics of trans activists, they have scheduled another event in Brighton to debate the GRA, which will take place to coincide with the Labour Party Conference. We will publicly announce the exact date and location of the debate on Saturday 23rd September. They wish to issue an open invitation to trans activists, LGBT organisations, politicians or anyone else who is willing to defend the proposed changes. Anyone interested in doing so should contact
[email protected] or contact @GraDiscussion.
Debate Not Hate: We Need To Talk About Gender.
Brighton
Date and Venue TBA"