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 Apparently a brand of T-Gel was withdrawn and GPs are reluctant to switch brands.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.

Grooming, on an industrial scale.

This.

Thank you for doing this Harpy 💐
Hope it does get traction with the journalists.

Plenty oh oh oh instead of woah woah woah there.

Presumably this is the public face of meetings as a conference, and showing their public presentation (although a select public) so one would expect there to be other non 'public' meetings?

I’d assume so, yeah.

Wonderful work. I much admire you for this under cover reporting. Very valuable insight. Thanks.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg-M6HOcr_k

Oops, I meant to add that the above YouTube video is of Dawn Butler's speech at the Still Here conference.

Listening to this and laughing my tits off.

Is this what passes for politics now?

‘When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out
This is brave, this is proof
This is who I'm meant to be, this is me
Look out 'cause here I come (look out 'cause here I come)
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum (marching on, marching, marching on)
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me’

I prefer this drum, it’s a different drum:

I didn't think I could loathe The Greatest Showman more, but every day is a fresh surprise.

This is very chilling.

Bloody hell OP -well done. That's chilling stuff.

Really hope journalists shine a dirty great spotlight on this shit show -and it will have to be big to make an impact as too many people still have no clue.

They know it’s wrong deep down don’t they? Otherwise they’d be totally open instead of all these underhand infiltration techniques and trying to push things through without people noticing.

Exactly nononsene -it's the reason they've got this far.
We need sunlight and a tanker of disinfectant poured over this.

Quite. They know that when a spotlight is shone on these issues that they don’t have the general public onside. I guess they would say that’s due to transphobia (which it ain’t) rather than the fact that none of it is logical, it’s anti science and relies on expecting everyone to deny reality.

All of this reminds me of a meme that my aunt tagged me in once which was something like “a worried mum does better research than the FBI”. They’ve underestimated mothers, they should never have come after children.

Harpy, just to let you know you are all over twitter, Glinner etc retweeting. excellent stuff.

It's worrying that LBG diversity units, HR departments, allies and 'champions' are seen as the infrastructure for infiltrating public and private sector organisations by stealth.

It's almost as if they are afraid to make a case on its merits and of being open and transparent.

The parallels with the Paedophile Information Exchange are too stark to ignore - more so when they seem so focussed on recruiting children.

Jane Fae (organiser of the conference)
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3374614-John-Ozimek-now-Jane-Fae-on-women-feminists-and-victims-of-pornographers

Dr Adrian Harrop:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3354331-Dr-Adrian-Harrop-thread-the-third-yes-weve-edited-the-title

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3248676-dr-adrian-harrop-dr-misogyny-is-pursuing-another-woman

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3244781-dr-adrian-harrop-who-the-funk-does-he-think-he-is

Unfortunately this is legit. But Harpy is even more amazing than you imagine, and we're lucky she's fighting with us!

I also snuck into the Lib Dem conference fringe meeting on Trans & Intersex people and the media this year. I’ve posted the notes for that on this thread about Sarah Brown and her friends as it’s relevant to the discussion there:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3399104-Times-Lib-Dem-trans-activists-hounded-abuse-victim-Natalie-Bird-Article-refers-to-Zoe-OConnell-Sarah-Brown?pg=5

Oh, and everyone who has kindly enquired about my safety: thank you, it means a lot! I know it was a risky move but we really needed to know what they were saying behind closed doors.

I'm so grateful for your courage, TheHarpySings. Take good care of yourself. It's chilling stuff. I hope the media become aware of this shit.

There was a transwoman (or someone who said they were) on Reddit a couple of years back who was inviting teens whose family weren't sympathetic to her home so she could help them get hormones.. Not like that could be dodgy, eh?

What a bunch of slimy, duplicitous fucks. Its sickening. They are the definition of creepy.

The forces behind this 'movement' are even more frightening than I imagined. Sneaky bastards.

You are a brave woman, Harpy. Thank you on behalf of women everywhere.

Apparently small acts like helping to campaign about period poverty or retweeting the local branch of Women’s Aid will make a difference and result in some reciprocation. They want to make it look like they care about Women's issues so they don’t appear threatening

This is exactly what happened when I spoke at Liverpool City Council last month - the TW who spoke before me had a long word salad-y speech with a few sentences about period poverty tacked at the end.

Dear God, Dawn Butler is a bloody idiot.

Makes mental note to never vote Labour