Tomorrow’s Times:

(It is just barely tomorrow in London but only just.)

The health secretary has ordered NHS bodies to review their membership of Stonewall and stop hiring diversity officers.

Steve Barclay wrote to ten leading national health organisations, including NHS England, the UK Health Security Agency and the Care Quality Commission, asking them to question whether their “diversity and inclusion memberships” provided good value.

Good value for money, he goes on to say.

I don’t think that’s the best way to put it, because Stonewall’s ideas of “diversity and inclusion” are bad ideas, even if Stonewall gives them away for free. But governments do have to think about the money.

Several organisations and institutions such as the

… Read the rest

March 27 update: the LA Times reports more accurately:

WACO, Texas —  

Facing a potential indictment, former President Trump took a defiant stance at a rally Saturday in Waco, disparaging the prosecutors investigating him and predicting his vindication as he rallied supporters in a city made famous by deadly resistance against law enforcement.

With a hand over his heart, Trump stood at attention when his rally opened with a song called “Justice for All,” performed by a choir of people imprisoned for their roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Some video from the attack was shown on big screens displayed at the rally site as the choir sang the national anthem and a recording played of

… Read the rest

Is there any truth in what Billy Bragg said here?

https://twitter.com/GSpellchecker/status/1639706761320882176

Is it true that women’s rights were won at the expense of men? Is it true that a loss of rights for one set of people is what must happen for an excluded group to win their human rights?

I don’t think so.

There may be some truth in it in the case of women, because of the role of childbearing, which brings with it some physical needs (or lacks, if you want to put it that way) and some responsibilities that can’t be shared. There may be some truth in the claim that men have to give up or dial back some of their advantages and freedoms if … Read the rest

Former SNP Glasgow City Councillor has a wee laugh.

https://twitter.com/AustinRSheridan/status/1639971527486578690

Hur hur har har hahahaha it’s so funny when women get soup thrown over them and punched in the face and terrorized by a screaming mob.

https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1640036646929268736

But he has never condoned violence against women, he says. Giggled about it, yes, but condoned it, no. The two are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

I have never ever condoned violence against women or anyone for that matter. No matter what views people hold I expect everyone to observe the law and anyone who doesn’t observe the law should be punished in the appropriate manner.

I was saying it’s ridiculous that people can…

— Austin Sheridan (@AustinRSheridan) March 26, 2023

… Read the rest

NPR is pathetic.

World Athletics Council, the governing body for international track and field, will bar transgender women athletes from elite competitions for women.

The council’s policy, which will be in effect starting March 31, largely targets athletes who transitioned from male to female after going through puberty as a male. It will also tighten rules for athletes with disorders of sexual development, cutting in half the level of testosterone athletes can have in order to compete in women’s events.

The policy “targets” male athletes ffs – as if it were pure meaningless cruelty to keep men out of women’s sports. Also calling male athletes “athletes who transitioned from male to female” is ridiculous, because there is no such … Read the rest

There was violence.

Controversial pro-woman and anti-transgender campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull said she thought she was going to die after she was attacked with tomato sauce and mobbed, forcing to cut her planned rally short.

…

Footage shows the controversial activist struggling to get through the crowd to escape the crushing mob with her security.

The crowd quickly became violent with supporters and protesters pushing against each other, while a metal barrier was pushed down by screaming counter-protesters.

One of them punched a woman in the face.

This wasn’t just noise, this was physical violence.

Co-leader of the Green Party, James Shaw, issued a statement following the violent rally, saying the party stands with trans and non-binary whānau.

“Aotearoa should

… Read the rest

There it is. I saw mentions of it yesterday but not the action shot.

Here is a NZ TRA punching an older woman in the face. He had time to think, time to assess, and he still punched her in the face. https://t.co/sDlVzRJZRT

— Emma Hilton (@FondOfBeetles) March 26, 2023

pic.twitter.com/6u6u9gmFOb

— Richard (@Kearns_Richard_) March 26, 2023

… Read the rest

The visual of Trump’s insurrectiony fascist rally. Not the play-fascist kind the gender crazies rant about but the real thing – the actual murderous violent racist woman-hating wannabe Leader who had power once and could get it again. Trump’s insurrectiony fascist rally celebrating his attempted overthrow of the government.

As footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is displayed in the background, former President Donald Trump stands while a song, “Justice for All,” is played during a campaign rally at Waco Regional Airport, Saturday, March 25, 2023, in Waco, Texas. pic.twitter.com/j8y1XSfJD1

— Evan Vucci (@evanvucci) March 26, 2023

He plays footage of his attempted coup at his rally.

He is beyond dangerous.… Read the rest

Marginalized communities!!

“The only good Nazi is a dead one, so just go kill yourselves.”

https://twitter.com/NoShirleyNo/status/1639959826707931136… Read the rest

Trump hails the apocalypse in Waco.

Donald Trump, the former US president, continued to invoke retribution and violence on Saturday when he used the first rally of his 2024 election campaign to rail against prosecutors weighing a criminal charge against him.

Efforts by Trump’s team to steer a more conventional, disciplined candidacy have wilted in recent days as the 76-year-old unleashed words and images that – even by his provocative standards – are unusually dehumanising, menacing and dangerous.

He opened the rally by playing a song, “Justice for All”, that features a choir of men imprisoned for their role in the January 6 insurrection singing the national anthem intercut with Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Insurrectionists … Read the rest

Billy Bragg announces his pleasure at seeing mass violence against a woman.

I believe in freedom of expression and was pleased to see over 2000 Kiwis exercising their right to free expression by vocally opposing KJK in Auckland today.

— Billy Bragg (@billybragg) March 25, 2023

… Read the rest

Oh good, a man telling lesbians how to lesbian.

https://twitter.com/viabank/status/1639652018468913156

Who’s “we” Kemosabe?

And yet here you are dividing lesbians into the "good" ones and the "bad" ones. You pathetic prick.

— Clive Simpson (@QueensSpeechUK) March 25, 2023

This is a disgrace.

This homophobic activism challenging lesbians exercising the right to political assembly.

Thank you Stonewall. This is the world you have created for lesbians.

You ought to know them and gay men like me have had enough of this. https://t.co/tXYXHpMDoc

— Dennis Noel Kavanagh (@Jebadoo2) March 25, 2023

What is The Dyke Project?

Not a dyke project.

What do “trans lesbians” and “queers of all persuasions” have to do with a dyke project?… Read the rest

Well there’s one thing about the Auckland disgrace – Kellie-Jay’s goal is to show what trans activism is all about, and by god the “activists” helped her with that.

https://twitter.com/Nyathera2/status/1639571492781576192… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on In ugly scenes.

So KJK and JKR both dare to hold and express terrible views.

Funny how absolutely no-one ever spells out exactly what the views are which they find repugnant, nor can they even point to a tweet, or a video, in which either woman expresses any views which incite violence towards anyone.

If their views were so evil and so clearly expressed, trans activists would be able to quote them directly. They’d be retweeting videos of these genocidal statements 24/7. If they had this evidence, they wouldn’t fail to use it. But they don’t. They only have homeopathically diluted innuendo and alleged “dog whistles” , but mostly just … Read the rest

This clip is particularly horrible. The heaving churning sea of people trying to get at KJK, as if she were a mass murderer or something. It’s gruesome.

https://twitter.com/radionz/status/1639420703232643072

Who these people are:

Who they are not:

… Read the rest

Jo Bartosch has new (to me at least) information about the presence of Nazis at last Saturday’s Let Women Speak.

Politicians from across the spectrum have rushed to tar Keen, a women’s rights activist, as a ‘Nazi’. This is because a group of extreme right-wing thugs from the National Socialist Network were spotted near one of Keen’s rallies in Melbourne, Victoria last weekend. The black-clad men, who had no identifying insignia, were led by police to the steps of Melbourne’s Parliament House, where they proceeded to give a Nazi salute. These fascists had nothing to do with Keen’s rally. As Victoria Police have since made clear, the neo-Nazis were one of six groups to be holding protests at the same

… Read the rest

Steven Shaviro, a professor of English at Wayne State University, has a modest proposal.

So here is what I think about free speech on campus. Although I do not advocate violating federal and state criminal codes, I think it is far more admirable to kill a racist, homophobic, or transphobic speaker than it is to shout them down.

When right-wing groups invite such speakers to campus, it is precisely because they want to provoke an incident that discredits the left, and gives more publicity and validation to these reprehensible views than they could otherwise attain. The protesters get blamed instead of the bigoted speaker; the university administration finds a perfect excuse to side publicly with the racists or phobes;

… Read the rest

Meanwhile, at the Arts Council…

The Arts Council England created a “toxic” culture of “fear” for staff who dared to question transgender views, a senior grant officer has said as she accuses the charity of harassment and victimisation.

Denise Fahmy claims Britain’s biggest arts quango risked “closing down free speech” after a grant was withdrawn from a charity that campaigns exclusively for lesbian, gay and bisexual rights.

Ms Fahmy, 54, who has worked for 15 years as an Arts Council England (ACE) grant officer, says she was targeted after she questioned why £9,000 of funding was withdrawn from LGB Alliance.

That’s not just transgender views, it’s actions. Homophobic actions at that.

She’s quit but she’s taking them … Read the rest

Originally a comment by latsot on Not letting women speak.

I know some women who were there, I was seriously worried. They are safe, though! My friend spotted there was going to be violence and managed to take her group away from the crowd before it happened.

One of her friends was beaten, though. I found myself typing “thankfully it was not serious” and while I’m indeed thankful it’s not serious, it appals me that that’s the sort of thing I have to be thankful for.

She reports:

A 70 year old woman being punched in the face.

A child being pushed over so that a trans rights activist could scream more closely in another woman’s face

Two women … Read the rest

The Guardian reportage is predictably disgusting.

The anti-trans activist known as Posie Parker has cancelled further events and reportedly left New Zealand after chaotic and at times violent protests ended her planned appearance in Auckland.

The label “anti-trans” is of course intended to make readers think she’s a big meanie to trans people. She’s not “anti-trans”; she’s opposed to the ideology that says men are women if they say they are, and she’s in favor of women’s rights. She defends women’s rights against the hostility and usurpation of trans ideology.

Keen-Minshull’s appearance in New Zealand had been highly controversial before her arrival. An earlier appearance in Australia had been attended and supported by white supremacist groups, who marched

… Read the rest