At the Women's Place meeting in Manchester last night, the voices of the speakers were drowned out by a large crowd of noisy, aggressive and verbally violent transactivists. 2 of the guest speakers were Maggy Mono, an African asylum seeker who wanted to tell her experience of the horrors of FGM and forced abortions that were visited on her fellow women in the name of "culture". And why single sex 'safe space' is vital for those women. Another speaker was Judith Green, a female survivor of childhood sexual abuse. Their voices were drowned out by screams, chants and shouts of "GET THE TERFS OUT! YOU'RE A BUNCH OF WANKERS!"
All those women wanted to do was to hold a peaceful meeting, to discuss their experiences of the abuse and harm that has been done to them, and why they had been forced to flee their homes in order to save their lives. But they weren't allowed to do that. Because a significant number of transactivists decided to silence them, shut them down, cancel them out. Such was the sheer number and aggression of protesters, the police had to be called to protect the women inside and to provide them with a safe escort when they wanted to leave.
No doubt "someone" will trot along shortly to point out that "it's only a minority of trans who behave in this way; the majority just want to live their lives in peace". I have no doubt that is true. But women just want to live their lives in peace too; some of those women had fled half way around the world to find their peace. But they learnt last night that the transactivists lobby won't allow them to speak; they are not alliwed a voice, they cannot speak of their experiences as women. They won't allow any woman to speak. So, this morning, I'm so angry about it all that, quite frankly, I don't give a rats ass where they go to the toilets; that's the least of our worries. I'm far more worried that ordinary, and extraordinary women, are being told SHUT UP, MOVE OVER, MAKE ROOM. And worst of all "be **ing kind". 