Campaigners are calling for calm as a controversial anti-trans speaker is due to come to Brighton this weekend.
Kellie Jay Keen, aka Posie Parker, is due at Victoria Gardens on Sunday at 1pm as part of her Let Women Speak speaking tour.
Previous events in Bristol and Manchester have attracted vocal pro-trans activists and allegations of assault.
One local LGBT Twitter account, Reclaim Pride Brighton, was reported to police by Mrs Keen’s followers when it tweeted: “Fight Posie Parker by any means you see fit.”
Sussex Police said they were aware of the event, and plans for protest this weekend and had “robust” preparations in place.
Meanwhile, the Brighton Women’s Liberation Collective issued a statement calling for respectful dialogue.
The collective, which shares some of Mrs Keen’s gender critical views but has distanced itself from her right-wing stance on issues such as abortion, reproductive rights and Islam, fears the event may end in violence.
Dani Ahrens, a member of the group’s organising committee said: “We think the city of Brighton & Hove should be taking a lead in addressing these issues respectfully and democratically – if anywhere can do that, surely we can do it in a tolerant place like Brighton.
“Women speak at our gatherings about their lifelong experiences of being female in a sexist society – sharing often traumatic stories in a safe and welcoming space.
“We are an anti-racist, pro-diversity, feminist group, whose membership includes lesbians, mothers, younger and older women, survivors of rape and domestic abuse and migrant women. As citizens of Brighton & Hove, feminist women should have a voice alongside all the other strands of our richly diverse city.
“We call for our enshrined legal rights to be recognised, alongside space for inter-community dialogue. We don’t believe that sudden polarised confrontation will enhance this kind of discussion.”
A spokeswoman for Sussex Police said: “Robust preparations are in place, with engagement between the event organisers, demonstrators and community partners in order to facilitate a safe and peaceful protest while minimising disruption to the wider community.
“Brighton and Hove is a city with a rich history of peaceful protest and Sussex Police has vast experience in policing protests.
“We understand people have strongly-held views, and sometimes expect the police to intervene. We recognise and respect different communities, and want them to be safe and feel safe.
“However we have a duty to protect freedom of expression – including (in the words of the European Court of Human Rights) the right to express ideas ‘that offend, shock or disturb’ – as long as those expressing them stay within the law.”
She should be allowed to speak, free speech is the cornerstone of our democracy. If you disagree with the views then simply ignore her and don’t turn up. Trying to stop it makes you far worse then any potential vires she might hold.
Why is pro-women now automatically anti-trans ?
The question is other way round
Because trans activists are anti women. They are misogynists and they deeply resent women, so they project their own hatred of women onto women imagine that women hate them as much as they hate women.
I don’t think they do tbf, I think most women are indifferent to them, they just want transactivists to leave them alone and let them speak and meet without men, however those men identify..
What utter nonsense. Trans activists are pro all women; it’s the TERFs who are against Trans women. Trans rights are no threat to cis women and this absolute fact has been proved time and time again. This is no different to when Lesbians were called predatory and not welcome by some feminists or when some white racists say they are just protecting white people from being erased. The arguments and rhetoric are often recycled homophobia, such as calling people ‘groomers’. It’s pathetic that some people have adopted far right talking points in order to justify their bigotry; especially those whom the far right will turn around and attack when they’ve finished being the far right’s useful idiots and doing their job for them. As for you misgendering trans women, that trans women are really women is a fact of biology; transphobes just don’t know the decades of neuroscience and the scientific consensus accepted by pretty much all major medical organisations. There’s an unsurprising overlap between TERFs and anti-vaxxers (likely for just this reason). Most women in the UK support trans rights; people claiming to be bigots on their behalf are liars who are just talking over what women actually say.
If you’re going to mansplain, at least get your info right!
Yes – please, no violence at this opportunity for women to speak. There must not be a repeat of what happened to Maria MacLachlan in 2017 at Speaker’s Corner.
However you identify, never use violence. Using violence against others makes you a coward.
Not “anti-trans” so please stop winding people up. The concern is the lose of single sex spaces, sport and telling children who might well just be gay that they were instead “born in the wrong body”.
Umm, YES anti-trans. Single sex spaces have been used by trans people in the UK since 2010 and it has never been a problem and you never even thought about it until some bigot told you to be. Even self ID exists in some countries and has for a while now and the scaremongering has been proved to be nothing more. Trans women are real women; even if they did have an advantage (not proven to), we don’t ban swimmers or other sports players for having advantages if they’re cis. And gay people aren’t idiots; we know the difference between fancying people and feeling like a different gender. Don’t pretend you’re going us any favours by attacking our community.
Victoria Gardens? Another ruinous event.
KJK doesn’t have right wing views and I’ve never heard her mention any of those topics listed here. Whoever has claimed this is trying to stir up trouble. It’s just women speaking- nothing for anyone to get their knickers in a twist about
Shockingly shoddy journalism. Hundreds of women have attended events like this.
they are standing up for women’s sex based rights.
It has now been established in law that believing that women are biological females is not “anti trans”.
You make yourself look ridiculous in repeating the outright lies of trans activists.
Not forgetting that many genuinely trans people are not anti woman and are not threatened by women exrpessing their opinions.
Unfortunately the cause of trans identity has been hijacked by a loud mouthed minority who delight in threaten women and trying to undermine their rights.
Please learn to be a reporter and report. Anyone can just copy and paste the biased views of a press release. You make your paper look silly.
Hundreds of misinformed bigots being transphobic doesn’t mean they’re not bigots. They’re not standing up for anything except unwarranted prejudice based on propaganda started by actual misogynists like those at The Heritage Foundation. Trans people have used the right bathrooms and changing rooms for over a decade and none of you cared until the far right told you to. Trans rights are no threat to cis women’s rights; that’s the same, tired lie all flavour if bigots always use to justify themselves. Or do you think MRAs are not anti-woman, just standing up for their rights? lol.
And what are those ideas ‘that offend, shock or disturb’ the ‘trans’ community?
Is it that being a woman is a physical reality, not a costumed performance, and that we have and deserve rights in law?
Or is it that she’s also helping to expose the massive medical malpractice of ‘trans healthcare’ that leaves young people physically damaged and sterile?
Well, yes, it actually is that you deny the actual scientific consensus and deny that trans people are really whom they say. Because all the evidence proves you wrong and you’re noting but science deniers who are contributing to the rise on violence against trans people and their suicides. So yeah, people tend to be offended by child-killing, science denying bigots.
That’s so not true and you know it.
Giving women labels such as right wing and anti this and anti that is exactly what society does to try to shut women up. Deeply disappointing to see women doing this to another woman. Women gathering to speak, share and listen is important, fun and liberating. I would urge all women to come & join in.
Extraordinary that a pro-women event is described as anti-trans. Women have the right to gather and speak about matters that affect women, without balaclava-wearing young men trying to drown out their voices. Shame on your reporter for such biased and one-sided reporting.
Extraordinary that anti-trans bigots keep pretending they’re being pro-woman by oppressing a marginalised group that isn’t actually a threat to them or their rights at all. You sound like the old racists complaining whites will be a minority or the homophobes saying we’ll turn all the kids gay or the MRAs saying feminism is a threat to men. Same old nonsense from bigots trying to justify their prejudice. Most people see you for what you are.
Um, Women are a marginalized group. You are a white man. And you are literally marginalizing us with this statement. So truly, the same old nonsense.
Um, trans-women are a marginalized group. You are a cisgender. And you are literally marginalizing us with this statement. So truly, the same old nonsense.
Yes, it’s typical shoddy journalism, so common when women try to speak out at stand up for themselves.
Trans people have rights already. They don’t need to also trample on women’s rights.
These casual slurs are often used to discredit Kellie-Jay Keen, and are baseless. The fact that she is always accused of being “right-wing” in an attempt to undermine her views is a classic technique of the far left.
I’ve seen many lies spread about the rhetoric Kellie Jay uses. She is straight talking and calm. She is not hateful. She encourages Women to stand. To speak. To listen to each other. To discuss issues that upset/worry/concern or even celebrate Womanhood. At a time when womens roles and rights in society are being eradicated, and childrens safeguards and protections are being dangerously overlooked and trampled on, because of a lying belief system, Womens voices must to be heard.
Standing for Women is a women centred organisation, the event is an opportunity for women to talk about women’s experiences and why they think single sex spaces are important. Why is it when women talk about their rights the press use it as a hit piece and call it anti trans. With headlines like this you run the risk of provoking trouble – this is sloppy, lazy and irresponsible journalism.
The event is a well known bigot coming from outside the city, specifically holding the event in the city with the most LGBT households and highest trans population, to tell gullible, scared bigots that the thing that hasn’t been a problem for the past 12 years is suddenly going to become a problem. You’ve peed in the same bathroom as plenty of trans women and never knew any differently. Pretending trans rights are a threat to women is “sloppy, lazy and irresponsible” thinking.
Keep lashing out at women guy, you’re really helping your cause!
Your comments are all factually & scientifically wrong showing your own male prejudices against actual women’s rights. Males with the additional protected characteristic of gender reassignment are never anything other than males and have no rights to invade females’ spaces. We wish transsexuals (he tterm used in the GRA) no harm of course and we object to the self-declaration by any male who wants to “identify” as a woman. There are clinical records of psychologists rejecting candidates for gender reassignment who are paedophiliac; self-ID would do away with this level of prevention. Medicalising youngsters through dangerous medical & surgical procedures should be stopped. TRAs like you are dangerous.
Standing for whites is a white centred organisation, the event is an opportunity for whites to talk about whites’s experiences and why they think single race spaces are important. Why is it when whites talk about their rights the press use it as a hit piece and call it anti black. With headlines like this you run the risk of provoking trouble – this is sloppy, lazy and irresponsible journalism.
Same arguments, different minority.
It’s not “anti-trans” for women to speak about things that affect us. Women are concerned about losing our single-sex spaces and rights. That you don’t think this is important is rather telling.
So true!
The ‘right wing’ claim came about following comments about GROOMING GANGS.
Why are women being threatened and ostracised for talking about safety and rights?
Why so many men don’t want women to be allowed to speak, and who lie about those who won’t stay silent, is beyond me. Or maybe not. Twas ever thus. Best wishes to those women who attend this event. Let’s hope the police deal with the baying mobs that will inevitably try to stop it.
It’s a tale as old as time.
Telling women to shut up and let the men explain is hopefully on the way out.
Anti trans is actually untrue and provocative. Shame on you B and Hove News for using this phrase. And it make provoke violent demonstrations, so well done you. They are.
not anti trans at all – simply trying to stand up for women’s rights, single sex spaces and safety. Has feminism suddenly become a dirty word?
No, but bigotry still is. Just like it was bigotry when some feminists excluded lesbians and called them predatory. TERFs aren’t the only type of feminist. Most feminists are pro all women, not just cis women. Some have memories and a grasp of logic and critical thinking, the ability to look at evidence. Feminism isn’t a dirty word, but TERF is. TERFs feel justified and self-righteous every bit as much as all KKK members and incels do.
Ste. Dude. Stop speaking for women and stop speaking for feminists. You don’t get to decide what women should accept. Your misogyny is showing and it’s not pretty.
Sounding a bit misogynistic there mate. Maybe try listening when women are speaking.
Let Women Speak is anti-a hierarchy of civil rights, whereby biological women are seen as less important than transwomen – not anti-trans. The remarks in this article reflect trans activists’ efforts to discredit this grassroots feminist organisation. Biological women’s rights to safe single-sex spaces, set up to protect them when vulnerable (women’s prison cells, hospital wards, changing rooms, toilets) are disappearing. For example, the refuge for women and the rape survivors’ network in Brighton are now ‘inclusive’, so a man who self-identifies as a woman is eligible. Most transwomen still have male genitalia. If you care about women’s safety and protecting vulnerable young people from irreversible cross-sex hormones, please come along and show your support. See Sex Matters, Fair Play for Women and Transgender Trend for more information.
Posie Parker aka Kellie-Jay Keen is a massive hero that women of Brighton should be proud of. This great woman is campaigning for women’s rights and child safeguarding
Calling her Anti-Trans is incorrect and is a silly insulting slur against this great courageous woman. Many supporters across the globe are proud of Posie Parker and her courageous fight against people eroding the boundaries of women and children.
I Stand with Posie Parker and her fight for child safeguarding as any sane and decent person would!
LOL. You know we can click on your name and see you’re a giant transphobe yourself, right? Using lies, recycled homophobic tropes and rhetoric, and science denial to attack a marginalised group and increase suicide and violence is not courageous by any stretch. It’s cowardly and evil. It’s always a small group of obsessed bigots who bus around the various events though; because most women don’t support this transphobic bs.
Parker Posey believes that trans women are men, constantly infers that all trans women are predators, and that helping trans youth amounts to child abuse. She has stated that sexual orientation is a choice. She consorts with the far right and white supremacy. She has made Islamophobic comments. She is not worthy of respect and should not be platformed.
Transgender Pioneer Virginia Prince would have agreed with her saying trans-women are males. Prince declares that there is a distinct difference between sex and gender and that trans-genders were “usually married heterosexual males who have made a SOCIAL choice to adopt FEMININE personas on a 24 hour basis”. This was to differentiate them from trans-VESTITES who dabble from time to time and trans-SEXUALS who have made a BIOLOGICAL choice.
Simply because a bunch of rabid MRAs have conflated the two in order to enable males to colonise and trash female and lesbian spaces does not make their movement either correct or progressive. How can anybody take seriously a movement that does not distinguish between trans-SEXUALS and people who caper around in their daughters bikinis twice a week when it comes to accessing FEMALE spaces?
VP can say whatever they like, but it doesn’t actually come down to opinions. There’s a ton of actual science that shows gender identity is an emergent property of the brain (physical structure, not psychology) and not a choice, a fetish, or a delusion. Transphobes are just science denying bigots. And trans women have been using single sex spaces in the UK for at least 12 years and it hasn’t actually caused a problem. And don’t pretend you are speaking up for lesbians; most fully support trans rights. As do most women. It’s ironic that the groups of mostly men who speak over women and try to suppress the rights of a group of women are actually the TERFs.
Science and biology overwhelmingly shows that’s not the case.
Do some reading guy. You might learn something!
Have a good day.
None of that is true and even if it were she still has a right to express her views, notice you don’t mention the TRA cowards with their faces covered trying to silence women, women don’t do that when they get together to talk about their rights and issues.
Ohhh, look at all the men here telling women what we should and should not speak about!
Not sure how why the reporter calls her anti trans, because she clearly is not. Are we seeing some bias here?
The more I learn and the more people I meet the more am I feel morally obliged to withdraw my support from these trans activists. I mistakenly dismissed women like this because I thought it was bigotry. I can see now the opposite is true. They are not the bigots. I feel like a fool
lol. Fake comment. I’ve seen TERFs pretend to have their mind changed on camera and then found footage of them at multiple other TERF demos.
Trans rights are not a threat. TERFs are nothing but bigots. And the people of Brighton who attend these counter-protests are largely LGB people who actually live here, unlike the bigots who bus in all over the country. We will continue standing up for our community against fascists using recycled homophobia to attack part of our community.
It’s easy to get fooled when the media use slurs like anti trans all the time.
What does “anti trans” mean? The fact that no-one can change sex? The fact men can’t give birth? The fact women don’t have penises? Sounds like reality is “anti trans”.
Sounds like reality isn’t what you think it is. TERFs always think biology is on their side, but actually just don’t understand biology. Turns out it gets way more complicated than the high school class you slept through. There’s good reason most major medical organisations aren’t on your side.
How pathetic that you describe support for women’s single sex rights as: anti-trans! Women are entitled to spaces and services for biological females only: and that is the law of the land. I welcome the speaker to Brighton.
Kelly Jay Keen supports free, safe, legal abortion.
When did that become right wing?
She also supports the rights of muslims to worship and not to be discriminated against in day to day life.
Is that also right wing?
How times change, to be sure.
I don’t know who told you Kellie Jay Keen is was a right wing racist, I’ve never seen any evidence to support that.
She campaigns for the rights and dignity of women and girls .
Let’s hope the mob that forced Kathleen Stock out of her job at Sussex Uni don’t turn up to silence another woman speaking up for women’s rights.
This article is extremely provocative. Pro women is not anti trans.
Please stop trying to stir up trouble, you are endangering women.
Speaking about women’s rights is not ‘anti-trans.’
Posie Parker is a brilliant women’s rights activist who simply believes that the rights of women to speak, organise and retain our spaces for safety, dignity and privacy. are under the greatest threat for a hundred years. We are now people who get pregnant, chest feeders and menstuators and, quite frankly, we have had enough. We reclaim the word woman just for us as a sex class. We will peacefully gather together and speak and listen. We will not be intimidated by those who shout, scream and threaten violence against us. See you tomorrow!
Shock jocks using the language of feminism to lure in useful idiots.
What a repugnant headline. Shame on you Jo Wadsworth for describing Kellie-Jay Keen as “anti-trans”. Zero independent reporting here.
Please stop calling feminist advocacy “anti-trans.”
Please accept that womens rights are for women only, because of centuries of oppression that our society wants to eliminate.
Trans rights are human rights. We all have the right to declare our gender, and dress and present ourselves however we choose.
The question of how we best support trans people has evolved and will continue to evolve.
We are all protected by the Equality Act.
“Controversial anti-trans speaker”? How about “women’s rights campaigner”? I’m watching the live stream from the event and as far as I can see, there is a group of women holding a perfectly legal non-violent free speech event about women’s rights, and there is a group of people dressed in black masks who are shouting at the women and who want to stop women from speaking. Oh, and a trans right activist threw a smoke bomb at one of the women who was speaking.
What nonsense.
This woman is not anti trans she is pro women. Not the same thing at all. Trans activists are anti Posie Parker. Get it the righ way around.
They hate her because she can and does accurately define what a woman is.
Well….we can’t possibly tolerate that now can we?
If you go around telling people the lie that a woman can become a man or that a man can become a woman you are either very confused or a lying coward afraid of what people will say about you.
The title and wording in your article is so poor and so loaded. “Contavercial anti trans speaker” does not suggest that you’re fair, honest or balanced.
But that’s the standard and the tone of modern journalism.
Then you wonder why people don’t trust journalists.
You all live in a fantasy.
Pretending someone else’s rights are a threat to your own is still bigotry. It’s not supported by evidence. Except the fake studies TERFs try to do themselves. lol. Bigots have always pretended they’re just standing up for themselves. You can find pics of racists in 60s America holding up signs saying they’re protecting white people’s rights. Same old nonsense time and time again. She very much is anti-trans and her definition of woman is nothing short of science denialism, since decades of neuroscience show gender identity is down to brain structure and trans women very much are real women. Still, science denialism was at the core of a lot of racist, ableism, misogyny, and homophobia too.
Absolutely correct to call Posie Parker anti-trans. Why else would she always make sure she’s pictured with her ‘woman – adult human female’ anti-trans poster! She’s certainly not pro-women as she tries to deny trans-women are even women. Her views on other womens’ rights issues are simply a smokescreen to pretend she’s part of a mainstream movement; she isn’t.
Anti trans means you hate transexuals. This just seems to be something about not having men in woman’s changing rooms, sounds fare enough.
If you have a sausage downstairs unfortunately it doesn’t matter how your emotions are or what you feel, your a man. That’s basic biology not bigotry.
If you think that is wrong, I actually don’t care, go away it’s not a discussion it’s a fact.
So true!
I don’t know why people want to argue against sicence and biology.
I mean, I do know why. They want to advance their own causes and oppress others, but it seems like a tough war to fight, being on the wrong side of everything. I wouldn’t have the energy!
I’m going to go out on a limb and say a big portion of the commenters in these replies are like one or two people using multiple names.
The thing about the anti-trans movement is that they are tiiiiiny, and have to resort to inflating their image with twitter sockpuppet accounts. Hardly anyone comes to their rallies even when they bus them in from all over the country (and other countries).
They know the public don’t agree with them either, especially not women who they constantly claim to speak for (and speak over), so they try to infiltrate government bodies and sneakily erode rights for queer people.
They’re a joke and they know it. Wearing a mask of smugness but quaking like chihuahuas underneath.
x
May i say what utter codswallop is all of the above. You represent a tiiiiny percentage of the population and our politicians would do well to ignore all the above comments. {except the Green Party}. They will become even more confused.