Brighton TRAs bullying female small business owner

[SapphosRock]

Urgh. This is happening in my home town and it’s shit.

Happy Maki is a small, vegan cafe and takeaway. It’s a very ethical business. All about sustainability and green energy. They plant a tree and feed a child for each wrap made. It’s a gift economy and the food is free with a suggested donation. All very hippy. You get the idea.

A FTM trans person approached the female owner of Happy Maki and asked for support in fundraising for their top surgery. I believe they wanted a poster in the window asking for money. The owner refused. When pressed the owner said it was against her religious beliefs - she is a follower of the Divine Truth which admittedly sounds a bit ‘out there’ but not entirely unexpected given the nature of her business.

Anyway the TRAs have really gone to town and are posting in every Brighton based Facebook group, Instagram and Twitter accusing the owner of Transphobia and calling for her to apologise:

twitter.com/makiunhappy/status/1314261939833446400?s=21

They seem to be getting a lot of support and gaining a lot of traction too with many saying they are now going to boycott the business.

I’m upset about this for a lot of reasons. Obviously the female owner being bullied and harassed in this way and them encouraging people to email her. The lovely takeaway losing business. It’s also pretty tone deaf to attack the hospitality sector in the midst of a global pandemic for not supporting one individual’s elective, life changing surgery.

Anyway, the reason I’m posting here is in solidarity with the owner Anna. And if any of you lovely lot are nearby then consider getting a Happy Maki takeaway. The food is delicious and I’m sure they could do with some support right now.

www.happymaki.co.uk

They always choose this type of business (vegan organic blah blah) because they know that they are easy to bully. Doubt they would waste their time trying to bully Hooters or Wetherspoons because Hooters or Wetherspoons would just tell them to fuck off.

Yes, I remember TRAs bullying a young single mother who ran a vegan catering service and bakery out of her kitchen, because she made a throwaway comment which indicated she didn't buy into transgender ideology. That was awful, but she got lots of support from women.

What terrible people.

I cannot emphasize enough how much this thought crosses my mind these days...

I wonder how they ‘asked’. So many businesses are swamped with requests for ‘good causes’ and these are usually considered - benefit to society/community, good PR, in line with the business Ethics/beliefs. On there weird times I’d imagine businesses being strapped for cash and there being more causes out there too.

So instead of using their energy to raise funds, they are focussing on one business that said no? I guess as a warning to others...

@Ereshkigalangcleg

Yes, I remember TRAs bullying a young single mother who ran a vegan catering service and bakery out of her kitchen, because she made a throwaway comment which indicated she didn't buy into transgender ideology. That was awful, but she got lots of support from women.

And wasn't there was a lesbian café of some description? Targeted because the sexual orientation of the women didn't include men.

What terrible people

Yet, if you cannot hear any voice outside your safe space, all they are hearing is 'how brave you are for taking a stand'. Or, in some poster's idyll, 'how brave you are for fighting that nasty capitalist profiting from your labour while having a religious belief that you don't agree with!'.

There is never the self reflection of 'are we the baddies?' ever. Only self righteousness.

Is there a crowdfunder for this business? I'd happily chuck some money their way. As I have done with FairPlayforWomen this week.

There is never the self reflection of 'are we the baddies?' ever. Only self righteousness.

That concept simply does not compute.

Eresh it would mean leaving their safe space. I have watched it being discussed with activists on twitter. I cannot believe they actually believe that there is no mental health issue with this type of logic....

Are there any planned events in Brighton that might need caterers (OK not at the moment). It sounds as if they might be the perfect people to be asked to quote to provide a buffet.

Facebook comments are more batshit than the Divine Truth system.

We've got someone declaring that café owner was denying trans people's existence. How? She was disagreeing with the origin and treatment of being trans, not denying a human being existed. I literally deny the existence of spirits on a regular basis. Do you think Anna cries about my opinion? Bet she doesn't.

There are people who believe that being trans is a legacy of past life memories and remembering the body you had in your previous life. There was a study investigating the idea. Seems of the same worth as the thing about spirits overlaying to me, but I'm guessing that it's not about the reasoning, but the conclusion for these people.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19317611.2018.1523266?journalCode=wijs20&needAccess=true

denying trans people's existence

This denying xx existence phrase is used constantly to shut down debate. Of course, anyone actually denying people's existence should be called out. But like the 'phobic' terms, this is so over used it is now ridiculous.

It is just lazy rhetoric and I have seen activist posters on these boards use it often enough. It usually indicates that they have little to offer by way of substantive information that can withstand discussion.

@keepwomensportforwomen

Is there a crowdfunder for this business? I'd happily chuck some money their way. As I have done with FairPlayforWomen this week.

I think a bunch of vocal anti-trans rights activists publicly getting behind this business is exactly what they need to help them win back the woke folk of Brighton. Get out there and teach them some basic biology!!

What rights are we missing here? You think it’s ok to try to fold someone’s business?

@PotholeParadies

The facebook page with the statement has been shared 155 times.

I checked Brighton vegan fb groups and yep, it's been posted in the ones I first checked.

The twitter version has been retweeted without comment 39 times.

They made the accounts to go viral and that's what it's doing.

You mean people are discussing this on a local facebook group? Vile. How did we get to the point where businesses can be terrorised like this. I expect the woke Brighton police are too busy on diversity training to do anything about it. They must hate women in Brighton.

I think I'm starting to really fit in here.

Strewth, that Facebook page. These people have totally departed from reality. Nasty, aggressive, hostile, self righteous bubble dwellers.

They seem to truly believe that disagreement is some form of violence! What on earth do they think is going to happen to them if someone disagrees with what they say? To the point where they want them to lose their livelihood?

And it feeds on itself. They know they will target someone in their bubble who disagrees with them, so they will also be targeted if they disagree with someone else.

Utterly self-destructive.

I think I'm starting to really fit in here

Youre really not pal

And how is it 'anti-trans' to support a business run by a female who used her right to choose not to put up a poster on her business' window? She suggested that a double mastectomy may not be best treatment for that person in a private email so she did not support that person's request for advertising their crowdfunder.

She did not 'deny their existence' and nor did she discriminate against their custom in her business. And do you believe that every transman's best treatment regime includes a double mastectomy of removing healthy breast tissue? Every single time?

jj, bit more than just "two posts on FB", isn't it?

Also, Unhappy Maki crew have literally posted more than two times. They've done two status updates, and commented lots underneath.

This one charms me rather. Remember the precipitating incident was in February. Can you think of anything that might have been on the café owner's mind in the last eight months?

If she'd had spare headspace for extra charitable fundraising, I wonder what she might have prioritised. Food banks? Hungry children in the UK affected by the loss of school dinners, as Marcus Rashford has been doing?

keepwomensportforwomen

Is there a crowdfunder for this business? I'd happily chuck some money their way. As I have done with FairPlayforWomen this week

Hopefully she'll start one.