Article by David Thompson (formerly of The Nolan Show investigation into Stonewall) in a local newspaper:
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/politics/jk-rowling-steps-in-after-feile-an-phobail-cancels-womens-rights-debate-stormont-minister-says-festival-capitulated-8816131
Stormont’s culture minister Gordon Lyons said Feile was happy to take public money “to platform ‘debate’, right up until the debate involves views they don’t like”.
“They accepted this event, then dropped it the moment an online mob kicked off. That’s not tolerance, but capitulation.
“Women discussing their own rights shouldn’t need to pass an ideological test to get a hearing. Féile has shown exactly whose voices it’s willing to protect and whose it’s willing to sacrifice.
TUV MLA Timothy Gaston said one of his proudest moments in Stormont was securing the opportunity for the NI Women’s Rights Network to give evidence before the TEO Committee.
“Their appearance marked a breakthrough against a Stormont establishment that, until then, had been totally captured by ideology.
“For the first time, the Committee heard from a group prepared to state the biological reality of what a woman is and to speak up for the protection of single-sex spaces.
…The News Letter asked Sinn Fein, the SDLP and Alliance if they support the right of WRN or any other gender critical feminists to speak at the West Belfast Festival - or any other publicly funded event. None of the parties responded.