Please can you complain - LEEDS CITY COUNCIL

[AverageAvenger]

The defamatory and completely unsubstantiated email from Cllr Jessica Lennox to Cllr Judith Blake, Leader of Leeds City Council is one of the most extreme and pernicious pieces of vitriol I’ve read by a person in public office. It would be so helpful to those at LCC who are still battling on behalf of WPUK and women if you’d consider complaining.

Link here: www.leeds.gov.uk/your-council/councillors-and-democracy/code-of-conduct

Email here:

“I’m writing to you with great urgency, as I have been made aware this morning that the Civic Hall has been booked for use this evening by a group called A Woman’s Place.
A Woman’s Place is a group dedicated to attacking the rights and freedoms of trans women to define themselves as such, and live and interact as women in public spaces. They claim that the existence of trans women in public spaces puts women at risk of harm and discrimination. They claim to speak the “truth”, but in reality practice nothing more than hate speech against an extremely marginalised and vulnerable group. Most disgustingly, they regularly accuse trans women of being perpetrators of rape and sexual assault, when plentiful evidence shows that trans women are disproportionately at risk of violence themselves.
Please see the email below. Not only has this group been allowed to book a room at the Civic Hall for their hate rally, they have seemingly also secured security protection and special treatment.
This year, Leeds Pride was led by Trans Leeds as a show of solidarity and resistance against the growing hate, discrimination and violence that trans women experience. The LGBT community and its allies from across Leeds united in a display of visible, unwavering support for the Trans community, and it was the biggest and most euphoric Pride I remember since moving to our city.
How then, can we sanction a group which seeks to harm and dehumanise the trans community in such insidious and malevolent ways, by allowing them to use the civic heart of our city to promote their hatred?
My colleagues and I request that immediate action is taken to establish how this booking was made, to cancel it immediately, and to ensure that Leeds’ integrity as an ally and a supporter of the Trans community is not sullied and embarrassed by giving a platform for a small number of bigots who hold completely unacceptable views.
Yours Faithfully
Cllr Jessica Lennox”

Thank you.

What an astonishing email. How has it been made public?

I will write tomorrow.

What an astonishing email. How has it been made public?

From a Freedom of Infomation request

Relevant thread discussing it here:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3411325-Women-s-Place-cancelled-Leeds-meeting?pg=1&order=

That’s appalling. I’ll get on it tomorrow.

I notice she says she and her colleagues, yet she’s the only signatory. Was this the only objection?

Thank you, Beupstanding
I am gobsmacked by that email, and will make a complaint tomorrow too.

Will complain tomorrow too.

Thank you everyone. According to FOI disclosure the email was then backed up by Cllr Hannah Bithell, who is lead member for LGBT and transwomen. She fully supported the claims in another email.

FOI would not reveal any of the 32 emails LCC says it received on the day, objecting to the meeting.

Regarding the emails they received objecting to the meeting, they say:

In total 32 emails were received from concerned parties about the event being held in the Civic Hall. To note, these emails are not included in the attached pack, however, as the Council is of the view that they constitute the personal information of the individuals who wrote them, and that they were sent in confidence.

Is there any reason why they couldn't release the content of these emails with the personal data redacted?

It's worth stating that this took place during a public consultation on this issue and Woman's Place UK's "unacceptable" views are to want to maintain the existing laws.

How can we have a public consultation when part of the government (at local level) is preventing one of the affected groups from meeting to discuss the issues? And how can the current law be so "unacceptable" that people shouldn't be allowed to meet to discuss its merits?

The Organisers need to consider complaining to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, after having received an unsatisfactory response from Leeds Council

www.lgo.org.uk/

Total misrepresentation. Nobody has a problem with transpeople in public spaces, ffs.

I read through the emails about the cancellation. After learning that the meeting was cancelled, Jessica Lennox subsequently wrote:

Subject: Re: URGENT Fwd: Message to attendees of A'Woman's Place is Speaking the Truth

Thanks so much for taking action and updating us on it Judith, I think by LCC taking this decision a lot of hurt and harm has been avoided.

Very best wishes
Cllr Jessica Lennox

'Hurt and harm.' Really.

Is there any reason why they couldn't release the content of these emails with the personal data redacted?

Yes, why can't they? Can it be because they're full of unsubstantiated lies.

Unsubstantiated lies maybe, but the cynic in me is wondering if they contained threats. It was said to have been cancelled due to safety concerns, so they presumably had some information that led them to this conclusion. I wonder if the emails detailed specific threats. Now LCC responded by cancelling the booking, but if specific threats were made these should have been passed to the police not that that would do much . If the emails reveal this to be the case then difficult questions would need to be asked.

Or going back to the start there is no substance to the emails.

I wouldn't place a bet either way tbh.

Yes, why can't they? Can it be because they're full of unsubstantiated lies

Or that some of them were in support of the event - I note that they don't say they were all against it...

Reading through the email exchange they first went for 'hateful speech' or whatever, then 'false pretences' and only after that were safety concerns introduced.

From Donna Cox at 15:11:

Colin’s now spoken to Sarah and since she’s explained that the booking was turned down on safety grounds, we think it’d be better to keep the comment in line with that, as that’s the issue on which we would expect a chal enge to be based.

My interpretation is Sarah told WPUK they were cancelling on safety grounds so they decided to stick with that.

It's obvious from the whole email exchange that was not the reason they cancelled, it looks like that's just the excuse Sarah gave WPUK.

They cancelled because they took Cllr Jessica Lennox's defamatory and unsubstantiated slurs against WPUK at face value.

Colin’s now spoken to Sarah and since she’s explained that the booking was turned down on safety grounds

Weaselly use of the term "turned down" i.e. rejected at the outset allowing WPUK to find another venue in good time, rather than pulling the rug out from under them at the last minute as they actually did.

Yes, what were the 'safety grounds'?

Threats from TRAs?

Or TRAs saying they felt unsafe and scared because of women meeting?

Either way, it needs nailing down.

I'm not sure they'd cancel a meeting of disadvantaged members of other protected characteristics on "safety grounds".

Jessica Lennox is on record as knowing about the meeting well in advance. She was part of the protest group. See the tweet by Richard Firth in this article.

I'm not sure they'd cancel a meeting of disadvantaged members of other protected characteristics on "safety grounds".

If a group of Asian women had booked a room for a meeting, and Britain First had emailed the venue threatening protests and violence, would they have cancelled the booking? Or would they have called the police about the threats?

I thought it was cancelled because of ISIS?