We’re Still Here Conference 8th September: A report from the inside

[TheHarpySings]

Hi all

First off, I’m a regular poster, have been here for years under various usernames, it I’m posting here on a name change as I don’t want this traced to me.

On 8th September there was a conference held in London a Bloomsbury Baptist Church which was called We’re Still Here, which featured a variety of panels and workshops and was attended by many prominent people in the pro-GRA reform camp.

I decided to attend to find out what was being said as it was clear that they did not want anyone to attend that wasn’t a TRA or an ally.

What follows are my notes from the day. But first a few notes on attendance:

There were probably 80-100 people in attendance. Overwhelmingly white. Mainly older transwomen. A couple of transmen. Some Mermaids delegates. Some fellow travellers/ allies. And me.

Okay. So here’s my notes

1. Health Panel:
   Chair was Dr Ben Vincent of GIRES.
   
   Part of the discussion on this panel was around GPs reluctance to prescribe “bridging hormones”. GPs are reluctant/afraid to prescribe them for liability reasons. Apparently a brand of T-Gel was withdrawn and GPs are reluctant to switch brands.
   
   There was then a bit of chatter about whether a person’s sex was relevant for healthcare stats.
   
   Then there was discussion about trans children. Dr Vincent was very scathing about GIDS-said there was disgusting and unethical practices. BV spoke about dispelling the myths about desistance and the myths of ROGD- BV called this “concern trolling, malicious and ethically bankrupt”. BV would like a review of the whole system.
   
   Then Dr Vincent said that they’d received a review copy of “Born in your own body” edited by Heather Brunskell-Evans and Michele Moore. BV is reviewing it for some Royal College and said “I will tear it a new arsehole”
   
   Also (and they didn't want this tweeted) BV is also planning a book called Terf Wars which will be a “rigorous takedown of terf arguments” which is getting serialised as articled in some peer reviewed journal- I’m sorry but I couldn’t catch which one.
   
   Dr Stuart Lorimer, of the Tavistock and Portman who was also a panellist- said that ROGD is “evidence free”.
   
   There was a great deal of discussion as to the health risks for transwomen taking certain brands of hormones- one person said they knew three other people who’d died taking them, and they’d nearly died as well.

[Datun]

harpy. So well done to you. That must have been exhausting and distressing.

Rank misogynists who bully women off Twitter and are being looked at by their superiors. Middle-aged transitioning men who are lifelong proponents of extreme pornography and have campaigned to lower the age of the participants. Bullies who persecute women through the courts.

And the almost criminally self evident agendas.

I'm so glad this is now in the public domain.

What a shower.

[Ereshkigal]

Dawn Butler is a joke. Oh no sorry, I meant to say "Dawn Butler is woke". So very woke indeed.

[jgrobinson]

So, not gaming the system at all, then?

I have some sympathy for Rees who ploughed a lonely furrow; this was the 1980s IIRC. As far as I can tell Rees didn't find a long-term romantic relationship. A lonely figure.

(This is from the volume Trans Britain, ed. Christine Burns.)

[BeetrootBonanza]

Thank you Harpy for your strength in attending this and reporting back.
Shedding some much needed light on the self interest and entirely unconcerned attitudes to the vulnerability and risk to women and children reveals the agendas behind this.

[CuriousaboutSamphire]

Jesus H. Christ

I logged in on my bloody work phone to respond to this. I thought the OP was a pack of lies, an elaborate GC nightmare, a precis of recent events, a troll, in need of a Public Announcement, a sham, a parody, an evil all of its own.

Then I realised that it is equally likely to be nothing but the bloody truth.


Gaaargh!

And thanks, OP. I hope some journo picks it up and runs with it... Where's the Fail when you need it??

[KittyKlawsReturns]

I'm very grateful to you TheHarpySings for attending this and reporting back although it has made me feel quite upset to read some of it. Far from feeling like the trans lobby are more harmless than GC people think - this has reinforced for me how dangerous they are and how little they give a shit about women and children. What is worse are the 'lip service' tactics they are employing to make it seem like they do. So very disingenuous of them.

[TheHarpySings]

CuriousaboutSamphire

I honestly WISH I was trolling. I know this doesn’t count for much as I need to remain anonymous for my safety and that of my family, but I swear that everything I have written is absolutely true. There are regular posters on here who have been privy to this information before now and can verify that I’m for real.

I went to that conference hoping to be proved that I am a bigot who has been living in a transphobic echo chamber. Instead all my worst fears were confirmed.

It is scandalous that people who want to drive a train through safeguarding have been allowed such influence over policy.

[GiantKitten]

I’m very appreciative of your efforts on our behalf, @TheHarpySings, but also very worried for you.

Was it ticketed? Pre-booked? With only 80-100 people there might they be able to identify you?

[TigerDrankAllTheWaterInTheTap]

Blimey.

[tobee]

Well done op.

Its not surprising. It also reaffirms the belief that even if, by some amazing good fortune, the plans for self ID don't go through this time, they will not go away.

[GatheringHerBrows]

Wow, we're in this for the long haul 💪🏻.

[BettyDuMonde]

I knew about this before it was posted on Mumsnet and will happily verify that OP is a respected regular poster on this board.

[QueenSock]

Thanks for posting, Harpy.
Interesting times, indeed.

[WomanAndProud]

Thanks for going, sitting through this, writing it up and sharing it. Confirmation, horrible confirmation of what we knew. I feel sick.

[BoreOfWhabylon]

Thank you harpy

Chilling.

[Verify2Terrify]

I can verify the OP is genuine, and this information has been known by a few of us for a while, thanks to OP's excellent undercover work. This is only scratching the surface too - there's more but it's up to OP to decide how much more she'll reveal.

But, she is a total SHERO!✊🏻

[birdbandit]

Well as a trans widow I can assure you all that my "immersion therapy" was very much what brought me to the GC side.

They might not want to talk about the grim, but ignoring the Kare Whites won't make them disappear.

People can only be manipulated so far.

[birdbandit]

I assume the next logical move would be to consider it "babying" our kids by not being cool with their rights to a sex life? After all some cultures do allow kids to have sex, fight in wars, and take drugs/have surgery to sterilise themselves.

[ohyesiknowwhatyoumean]

i can also testify for the truthfulness of the OP.

[fidgetspinner555]

"He said the TRAs need to build allies in mainstream women and children’s organisations so it looks like they care about them."

This doesn't surprise me.

[fidgetspinner555]

NB: has anyone screen shot this in case it's taken down?

[GiantKitten]

Good idea, fidgetspinner - I have now.

[HedgehogPoo]

Wow, thank you Harpy, I am in complete awe! You are a total shero for doing this and flying under their radar.

The idiots will have to have me arrested too, as I've joined in the changing rooms fiasco and had photos taken by both DP and another activist on different occasions and in different cities, to show just how easy it is for a photo to be taken under or over the cubicle panels or through gaps in the curtains. They will also have to arrest all of the girls and women who take photos of each other trying on various outfits as a normal method of selecting clothes. Good luck with that, then! holds out hands for police handcuffs

[placemats]

Thank you for reporting on this.

This is what investigative journalism is all about.

Of course no one will do anything about this until the horse has clearly bolted.

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

The rather young and naive pro trans guest on Politics Live this morning, Maya something, said
'The trans lobby...is not some shadowy organisation...'

And then we read this.