WPUK and Lyra McKee

[Tartie]

Namechanger...

WPUK are currently under attack for posting about Lyra McKee as part of their "Women Icons" series. Lyra is the journalist that was shot dead a few days ago. She was gay and supported trans rights. Thus, a lot of people are angry with WPUK for doing this.

I must admit, I'm on the fence here. I think it's nice for WPUK to post a tribute, but I also think that it may be too soon...

In contrast to that, this is what WPUK has written

Lyra McKee features as part of our women icons series which honours the achievements of amazing women. Our tweet was a genuine homage to a remarkable woman. We have shared the stories of 100s of women, many unknown or unrecognised.
We accept that Lyra held different views to ours on trans activism. That we include her in our women of the day is acknowledgment that it is possible to honour those with whom you have differences.
Her letter to her 14-year-old-self spoke directly to the experiences of many of our lesbian followers. She was a brave investigative journalist who will be sorely missed.

These people are control freaks who are drunk on the power they think they've won.

Like trousering said - best ignored. Otherwise they'll just thrive on the outrage.

Anyone is free to post a tribute to someone they respect. Whether that person respected those making the tribute in return is besides the point. It is extremely common to see tributes to adversaries, especially in politics, but also in other spheres of life, for instance with artists, writers, campaigners and so on. That we can respect and show respect to those who disagree with us is not an insult to them but a necessity of peacefully co-existing despite our differences.

Those criticising WPUK are showing themselves up in the worst way possible.

It'll be a desperately sad world where we are not allowed to acknowledge the untimely passing of another human being and to honour her memory just because she disagreed with us on one issue. Not a world I wish to inhabit.

I saw a comment about her that basically made her into nothing more than a gay trans supporting person. All her professional accomplishments were diminished (vanished) and it was just gay pro trans woman doing gay pro trans things for gayness and pro trans.

I can't think of anyone who'd want their sexuality (only in conjunction with a minor political POV) to be the defining characteristic of their entire life's being.

I think that WPUK tribute sounds measured and respectful. If other people can't appreciate that, that's their problem.

Agree with that.

It is extremely common to see tributes to adversaries, especially in politics, but also in other spheres of life, for instance with artists, writers, campaigners and so on. That we can respect and show respect to those who disagree with us is not an insult to them but a necessity of peacefully co-existing despite our differences.

This. Many of the complaints have been ridiculous.

The person who orchestrated that pile-on is your regular funded to the hilt fulltime TRA who spends their entire time travelling the world on junkets organised by the global single-issue network. I wouldn't expect anything else frankly. I don't see anyone piling on the DUP funnily enough.

Also bizarre to see the trolls attacking WP UK as bigots who should stay away from the memory of a proud lesbian - half their speakers are lesbians ffs!

After the Hillsborough disaster, I remember the Manchester United manager and players attending funerals, even though there was intense rivalry between the two clubs.

When Margaret Thatcher died, the Labour Party leader, Ed Milliband paid tribute: "we can disagree and also greatly respect her political achievements and her personal strength".

If they could manage to see the bigger picture than I think anyone can.

Nor can I think of any other walk of life where paying tribute to a dead opponent would be seen as a cause for outrage.

I think that WPUK tribute sounds measured and respectful. If other people can't appreciate that, that's their problem

Yep

Nor can I think of any other walk of life where paying tribute to a dead opponent would be seen as a cause for outrage

No, neither can i

TRAs have always had difficulty recognising the difference between disagreement and wishing someone was dead.

Indeed.

She was a lot more than a person who believed TWAW.

And the situation (a journalist murdered) goes beyond individual tragedy. It can be taken as a symbolic attack on the freedom of the press.

Given that , it's ironic that TRAs would try to silence WPUK.

Lyra McKee wrote one of the most moving accounts of recent years of the experience of being a lesbian at school, in a conservative guilt-inducing culture. If you haven't already read this account, or watched its translation into film, you really should

www.thepensivequill.com/2014/08/letter-to-my-14-year-old-self.html?m=0

As well as being a very eloquent writer on her own experience, Lyra was an incredible young investigative journalist working on several projects just coming to fruition: on children who went missing during 'the troubles' www.janklowandnesbit.co.uk/lyra-mckee and the IRA killing of Robert Bradford MP. Her article on the rise of suicide in the ceasefire generation is an example of the quality of her work. www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/01/conflict-mental-health-northern-ireland-suicide/424683/

WPUK posts daily about admirable women, and Lyra McKee is certainly that.

There's no doubt that she saw herself as part of a larger LGBT community, being pictured holding a sign in support of local trans youth charity GenderJam - an image which has been reposted 100s of times as if to chide WPUK. That's a stance typical (though by no means universal) of many younger lesbians, and also not at all surprising in a context in which the voices of feminists seeking to uphold women's sex-based rights and protections while supporting human rights for everyone, including trans people, are drowned out by the prohibitions and condemnatory proclamations of religious conservatives. However, she also very much stated her belief in dialogue between people who disagree with each other

Her letter to her fourteen-year-old self spoke particularly to a lesbian constituency of WPUK. Her bravery as a journalist spoke to those concerned for press freedom. If there are differences over how to balance women's rights and trans rights, lets talk about them, but not by forbidding WPUK to express admiration for an admirable woman.

The TRAs and Labour left would love to see the end of WPUK.

It is no coincidence that WPUK has faced the the most protests from TRAs.
It is no coincidence that Leeds City Council (Labour) cancelled a WPUK event in a council building rather than countenance that a left wing organisation was critical of the stealthy erosion of women's rights by the likes of Leeds City Council.

WPUK has its roots in Labour and the Trades Union, not the Right. They are funded by ordinary women (average donation £22) not the evangelicals of the right, as the left would like us to believe. Being of the Left and supported by women who would normally vote for the left - they are seen as dangerous.

They are a contradiction of what the left stands for and says about itself.

Attempts to whip up a frenzy of pearl-clutching just because they praised an opponent won't work on me. I applaud them and will keep sending money to ensure that they continue.

Iwouldn't expect anything else frankly. I don't see anyone piling on the DUP funnily enough.

This from pachyderm 💯%. Arlene Foster and Mary Lou McDonald (Sinn Fein) both attended a vigil for her. This was despite the DUP opposition to equal marriage and abortion. When everyone comes together to mourn the death of someone who was clearly so talented, that unity sends a powerful message to all paramilitary groups and dissidents trying to prevent peace in N Ireland.

She clearly supported trans rights but she was also concerned with other aspects that do fit in with WPUK's work.

That is the difference between the feminist left and the trans movement.
Feminists can pay a respectful tribute to someone they disagree with. TRAs attempt to silence people they disagree with, and frequently tell them to die.

They can't even let other women pay tribute to murdered woman without posting about trans rights. Because nothing and I mean, nothing, is more important.

Okay, I am clearly in the minority with this issue then.

Just to clarify, I am gender critical. Also, I'm not 100% saying that WPUK shouldn't have don this. I just think it is too soon. Tensions are obviously high and her loved ones will already be upset. So to do something that may wind them up a little bit is ill-advised. I think they could have waited a few months.

For example, I am very pro-abortion. So if I died and an anti-abortion charity posted a tribute to me soon after, I think my loved ones would see that as an insult.

Why have you namechanged?

Why is it just WPUK who are attracting the vitriol then? There’s only one group using this for cynical point scoring and it isn’t them.

I'd be surprised if many of those tweeting at WPUK had ever heard of Lyra before she died. The WPUK tweet and this tragedy is being used and as an opportunity to shame and silence an organisation they hate.

Oh obviously it’s too soon. It’s proper etiquette to wait a few years before paying tribute to a murder victim, isn’t it? 🙄

Tensions are obviously high and her loved ones will already be upset.

Have her ‘loved ones’ actually commented or are you appropriating their grief?