Told by West Yorkshire police
I’ve mentioned a couple of times en passant that a couple of trans activists had managed to get The Police to go visit Graham Linehan to “caution” him about saying unapproved things on Twitter, but now in following the story of a woman who was actually arrested and held for seven hours, apparently also for saying unapproved things on Twitter, I’ve done a little more digging.
The Guardian, October 7 last year:
Graham Linehan, the co-writer of the sitcom Father Ted, has been given a verbal harassment warning by police after a complaint by a transgender activist.
Linehan was told by West Yorkshire police not to contact the activist Stephanie Hayden, after a row on Twitter.
Hayden reported him for transphobia after he referred to her as “he” and for “deadnaming” her by referring to her by names used before she transitioned.
Why the West Yorkshire police? When Linehan is in Norfolk? Nobody knows, apart from the fact that West Yorks seems to have nominated itself superintendent of all trans-related crimespeak.
But the real question is, why is it a police matter if one person calls another person “he” instead of “she” on Twitter? Even if you think it’s insulting and cruel, why is it a police matter? How and when did it become a police matter? What are the rules? What are the relevant laws? How does anyone know? How can people in the UK tell what they have to do to avoid a visit from the police that goes on their record?
And what happens when Stephanie Hayden phones the West Yorkshire police to “report” misgendering and deadnaming? How does the conversation go? Do misgendering and deadnaming have designated numbers in the big book of crimes by number?
The pair had been involved in a dispute on Twitter about gender identity, resulting in the writer retweeting a post to his 672,000 followers that gave Hayden’s previous names with pictures.
Linehan alleges that Hayden posted several addresses linked to his family in an attempt to “shut me up”.
Hayden, who is pursuing civil proceedings accusing Linehan of harassment, defamation and misuse of private information, said she spent five hours providing a statement and evidence to police after the exchange.
Five hours. That seems like a long time to report “misgendering.”
Posting on Twitter, Hayden said she had urged police to take “swift and proportionate action to make clear that transgender harassment was unacceptable”.
When the police have never, ever, ever, ever taken swift and proportionate action to make clear that misogynist harassment is unacceptable. The police have never taken any action of any kind to do that.
Hayden has previously accused Sussex University of being a “temple of transgender hate” and supported the campaign to oust female academics if they challenged transgender orthodoxy.
She was also among the activists who pressurised a billboard company to remove a poster in Liverpool, which said the dictionary definition of “woman” was an “adult human female” because it was offensive.
Hayden gloated at the time.
I spent 5 hours providing a statement and evidence in connection with the well publicised allegations made by me to the Police concerning #transphobia. Norfolk Constabulary then liaised with West Yorkshire Police to decide how best to deal with this matter (2) #transgender
— Stephanie Hayden (@flyinglawyer73) October 6, 2018
At 11:09 BST Saturday 6 October 2018 West Yorkshire Police advised me that a 50 year old male in the Norfolk area was given a verbal harassment warning and advised as to his future conduct on social media. A record of this warning has been made on Police systems (4) #transgender
— Stephanie Hayden (@flyinglawyer73) October 6, 2018
I wish to place on record my thanks to both Norfolk Constabulary and West Yorkshire Police for the swift and positive action taken by both forces. This has been a difficult week for me. #transphobia in any form is unacceptable. #transgender (6)
— Stephanie Hayden (@flyinglawyer73) October 6, 2018
Even if you agree that “transphobia in any form is unacceptable”, and that not believing men can become or be women counts as transphobia, it still doesn’t follow that putative transphobia is a police matter.
Having said that…if you live in the UK it’s probably wise to steer clear of Stephanie Hayden, lest you too hear that loud knock on the door.
Future prosecution? For saying “he” on social media? This may go beyond Orwellian.
Aren’t TRAs usually in favor of abolishing prisons and the police, and against “carceral feminism”? How does that square with cops getting involved with Twitter and acting as literal thought police? (Yes. And, it doesn’t.)
TDD, you are acting like people who support women (“cis”-women) are entitled to rights and freedom, just as if they’re really people. They are TERFs! And even people who say “don’t punch Nazis” are not so quick on “Don’t punch TERFs”.
So if I tell the West Yorkshire police about this guy who lives a few miles from our house who’s always spouting racism and misogyny and general idiocy on Twitter, will they come and arrest him? If it’ll help, he’s also voiced some transphobic views. He lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Oh, dear, did I just dox him?
Say what you want about Yankee American gun culture but I don’t think police here are going to be going to people’s homes to question them about thought crimes any time soon. Cops are often shot to death while serving warrants for real crimes and also attacked when they come to domestic abuse calls. I doubt the police unions here are going to be okey-dokey with more officers risking injury and death because some TIM is having sad jendafeels about uppity people refusing to cater to his fantasies online or IRL.
Guess people should be glad Mister Stephanie is just calling cops on people for their thought crimes. He did attack a man with a golf club in the past.
swnow,
Sadly, U.S. cops have gone to people’s houses to question them, as well as arrest them, search their homes, and seize their property, based on thought crimes, but usually it involves the specific thought crime of criticizing the police or the local mayor or other idiot with a shaky grasp of the Constitution. And there are remedies available for it.
I saw today that Jane Clare Jones was temporarily suspended from Twitter for using Miranda Yardley’s preferred pronouns of he/him. Thou shalt use a person’s preferred pronouns, unless TRAs don’t like those pronouns.
Pet peeve: the billboard company was not ‘pressurised’, it was ‘pressed’ or ‘pressured’.
Continue.
Come on, Holms, get with the agenda. Dictionary definitions are sooo last year.
Maybe the billboard company was being submerged to a great depth. Or heated in a pressure cooker. Either of those would make me change my course of action.
Come to think of it, I’m not crazy about the idea of being “pressed” either. It might improve the appearance of a pair of pants, but I don’t think it would help my looks any.
I saw what you did there.
I was thinking that’s one of those US – UK differences? Like oriented – orientated. No?
Ah, yes, the old ‘divided by a common language’.