A Week in the War on Women: Monday 18th March - Sunday 24th March

Monday 18th March - Witch Burning In Watford

THE TIMES: A female artist was reported to police and had access to her own exhibition restricted after expressing her views on ‘transing’ children.

Based in Hertfordshire, Victoria Culf is an artist, art tutor and the mother of two children. Using sustainable and recycled materials and often inspired by the natural world, she creates wall hangings, sculptures and art for public spaces.

Last June, Watford Museum hosted an exhibition of Victoria Culf’s work. While setting up this exhibition, Victoria was chatting informally with a Watford Borough Council employee when the subject of gender ideology was raised. Victoria expressed her opinion - very politely - that gender distressed children should not be medicalised.

Victoria says that, following this conversation, she received a phone call from Watford Borough Council informing her that she had been accused of harassment and telling her that she could not attend her own exhibition without giving 24 hours’ notice. She was also allegedly told that the police were investigating her for a ‘hate crime’.

IMAGE CREDIT: Instagram

Watford Borough Council denied that Victoria had been reported to the police. However, Hertfordshire Police confirmed that they had assessed a complaint made against her. (Thankfully, the police judged that no crime had been committed and that the conversation did not meet the criteria of a ‘non-crime hate incident’ either.)

When Victoria lodged a formal subject access request, she says that the council failed to share documents, correspondence and WhatsApp messages that would have revealed the decision-making process behind its actions against her. Watford Borough Council maintains it fully complied with the data request.

Victoria is now taking legal action against Watford Borough Council on the grounds of breach of contract, discrimination and harassment. The action also alleges misfeasance in public office, negligence, intimidation, defamation, conspiracy and malicious falsehood. “It was just complete madness to me”, she said. “The conversation I had was calm and considered… We are now living in a culture where just expressing opposition to transgender ideology, even politely, can lead to you being reported to the police.”

Also Today - Within These Walls

REDUXX: A trans-identified male who groomed and sexually abused a teenage girl is suing the Washington Department of Corrections.

Brett David Sonia is serving a prison sentence for the grooming and repeated sexual abuse of a young girl who was just 13 years old. His first contact with the child was in Strafford County, New Hampshire, where he began sexually abusing her and photographing this abuse. He later transported his victim across state lines to Los Angeles County in California where he continued to sexually abuse and exploit her.

In 2005 in California he was convicted of 20 combined counts of committing a lewd act upon a child and possessing child pornography. In 2006 in New Hampshire he was convicted of repeatedly raping the young girl and photographing the assaults.

In 2016 Sonia was transferred to the prison service in Washington and a year later he began to identify as transgender, calling himself Brooke Lyn. He was moved between multiple male facilities and complained constantly about inadequate access to ‘gender affirming care’, such as women’s underwear and depilatory treatments. In July 2020 Sonia filed a grievance claiming he was at risk of ‘male aggression’ and he requested a transfer to the female estate.

In 2022 Sonia’s demand was met and he was transferred to the Washington Correctional Centre for Women (WCCW). A close relative of one of the women who is incarcerated there spoke to Reduxx at the time He said that he was ‘deeply concerned’ for the safety and privacy of the terrified female inmates, especially after Sonia told them that he ‘sometimes identifies as a man’.

Now Sonia has brought a lawsuit against ten staff members of the Washington Department of Corrections (WDOC) citing ‘cruel and unusual punishment’. In a legal complaint obtained by Reduxx, Sonia alleges that the defendants denied him “Adequate medical care with deliberate indifference” and caused him “Severe emotional anguish” as a consequence.

According to the complaint, Sonia claims that in 2020 he entered into an agreement with the WDOC in which he was promised facial hair removal and breast augmentation. He alleges that the delay in these procedures has caused him severe and debilitating anxiety, depression, weight problems and (very worryingly for the female inmates of WCCW) anger issues. He is seeking £400,000 compensation.

Attorney General Robert Ferguson, who is representing the defendants, confirmed that an agreement had been made between Sonia and correctional officials regarding the provision of ‘gender affirming care’. However, Ferguson denied the validity of Sonia’s various claims. The case seems likely to be heard by a jury trial.

Tuesday 19th March - Leave Them Kids Alone

THE TELEGRAPH: Schools in Wales are allowing children to ‘change gender’ without the knowledge or even consent of their parents, according to a new report.

Merched Cymru is “A grassroots organisation of women in Wales working to protect and promote the rights of women and girls”. It recently sent Freedom of Information requests to the 68 schools in Wales to ascertain their policies on gender ideology. When questioned about pupils ‘changing their gender’, only 28% of the schools which responded said that they would inform the child’s parents. 38% said they would not automatically inform parents and a further 29% said they would only inform parents of a ‘gender change’ with the child’s permission. 76% per cent of schools instruct or encourage children to use the preferred pronouns of trans-identified pupils.

Furthermore, the Merched Cymru report reveals that 70% of Welsh schools offer a unisex option for toilets or have all unisex toilets. Over half of the schools in Wales allow children to compete in sport according their ‘gender identity’ and 22% permit children to use toilets in accordance with their ‘gender identity’ rather than sex.

Teachers have told Merched Cymru that schools have ‘no policies’ for dealing with the increasing number of children with gender issues. “No-one wants to take responsibility”, said one teacher. “We’re being hung out to dry.” Another teacher commented, “The one thing you’re not allowed to do is sit these kids down and ask ‘Why’, because that makes you transphobic. Anything but ‘Yes, that’s great’ is assumed to be just like homophobia.”

Also Today - This Never Happens #1

REDUXX: A trans-identified male rap performer has been accused of physically assaulting and threatening his female neighbour who now fears for her safety.

Trans-identified male, Quayana ‘Quay’ Dash, is an American rapper and hip-hop musician who currently lives in New York City. In 2017 he lived briefly in the United Kingdom, releasing an album called ‘Transphobic’ which was very sympathetically reviewed in The Guardian.

Dash has been accused of physically assaulting a young woman in NYC, inflicting serious injuries, as well as threatening and intimidating her.

Several weeks ago Aspen Burrell was at home with one of her friends when they heard a woman’s cry for help from an adjacent building. They rushed outside and found a distressed woman on the pavement. She explained that she was Quay Dash’s roommate and that he had assaulted her then locked her out of their flat. Burrell and her friend waited with the woman until the police arrived and Dash was arrested.

On the evening of 16th March, Burrell was walking home when she realised Dash was following her. Burrell says he threatened her and screamed, “I’ll beat the fuck out of you! You called the cops on me.” She says that Dash assaulted her, hitting her, dragging her by the hair, pulling her down to the ground and inflicting a deep bite wound to her buttock.

IMAGE CREDIT: X

Burrell posted photographs on social media depicting injuries that included several abrasions and lacerations, a badly swollen lip and a blood-soaked dressing on her buttock. Burrell provided Reduxx with a copy of her medical records, showing she was treated for several serious injuries on her face, hand, thigh and neck and required vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis.

Having received numerous calls from concerned residents in the neighbourhood, police arrived on the scene. However, they did not arrest Dash but simply told Burrell to remain in her home to avoid him. Since then, Burrell says Dash has appeared outside her residence, ‘waving and yelling’, and neighbours have told her that they witnessed him standing at her door shouting “Come out, bitch!”

NYPD officers have not apprehended Dash and Burrell is terrified for her own safety. She is now raising funds in order to take legal action against Dash and finance an immediate change of address so that she doesn’t have to live next door to him.

Wednesday 20th March - Witch Burning in the Civil Service

THE DAILY MAIL: A DEFRA lawyer is being sued by a fellow Civil Service worker over the expression of her ‘gender critical’ (ie fact-based) views.

Elspeth Duemmer Wrigley is a lawyer who works for a body affiliated to the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA). She is also the chair of a governmental department Sex Equality and Equity Network (SEEN) which represents those employees who are sex realists / gender critical in her workplace.

An employee from another DEFRA adjacent body is taking legal action against Elspeth, the government department where she works and their own employer. The anonymous claimant is suing Elspeth’s employer for allowing the departmental SEEN network to exist on the basis that it creates for them “An intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating and/or offensive environment”.

The action taken against Elspeth relates to various posts and comments she has made in the workplace:

• A statement that ‘only women menstruate’ made during a seminar on Women and Autism.  

• A post accurately listing the nine protected characteristics of the Equality Act after staff training erroneously listed gender expression and/or gender identity.

• Sharing a link to ‘My Body is Me’ by Rachel Rooney.

• Sharing a link to a SEEN website involving an interview with detransitioner and fellow civil servant, Ritchie Herron.

• Sharing a link to a SEEN website involving an article written by a young lesbian colleague discussing her Jamaican heritage and her experience of being a lesbian in the civil service.

• A statement made in July 2022 on an internal work forum in which Elspeth explained why she is gender critical.

The claimant is seeking financial compensation from Elspeth and from government the department at which she works. The claimant is also demanding a disbanding of the departmental SEEN network and, potentially, the cross-governmental SEEN network. Furthermore, the claimant demands disciplinary action be taken against Elspeth and others and wants an ‘unequivocal written apology’.

Writing on the Crowdjustice page she has set up to fund her legal fees, Elspeth says:

“If the claim succeeds, it’s likely that any gender critical statements… are likely to be difficult if not impossible to make within the Civil Service and its related bodies. The remedies the claimant is seeking (if implemented) would effectively preclude any public gender critical discourse in the workplace… The case goes to the heart of whether and to what extent lawful freedom of speech generally and gender critical views specifically can be expressed in the Civil Service and its supporting bodies.”

The case has its first hearing on the 25th March.

Thursday 21st February - Witch Burning in Scotland

THE TELEGRAPH: Scottish Police have been accused of disparaging JK Rowling and likening gender critical people to Nazis at an event it held last month.

In February, Police Scotland hosted a hate crime ‘youth engagement’ event to coincide with LGBT History Month. It was organised in conjunction with the Scottish LGBTI Police Association and a group called Time for Inclusive Education (TIE)

Attendees were asked to consider a fictional scenario involving a character called ‘Jo’ who is described as an ‘online influencer’ and ‘very active’ on social media. In the situation put to the audience, Jo ‘travels around university campuses’ to ‘debate her beliefs about the LGBTI community’. The scenario concludes by stating “Jo posted her most recent video with the caption ‘they all belong in the gas chambers’”. Attendees were then asked to discuss whether Jo had committed a hate crime and what action they thought the police should take.

Kath Murray, of the policy analysis group, Murray Blackburn Mackenzie, said the materials added weight to “Existing concerns about the undue influence of activist groups within Police Scotland”. She added, “Material jointly presented by the LGBT Staff Association and TIE is, at points, misleading and puerile. It suggests a cross-over between gender critical views and Nazism”.

Earlier in the week, The Herald published details of Police Scotland training, suggesting that the performing arts could be targeted under the new hate crime law - Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) - about to come into force.

The Herald has obtained a slide from a training module which covers “How might threatening and or abusive material be communicated.” It states that material regarded as ‘threatening and abusive’ under the forthcoming legislation can be communicated ‘through public performance of a play’.

“The different ways in which a person may communicate material to another person are by: displaying, publishing or distributing the material, for example on a sign, on the internet through websites, blogs, podcasts, social media etc… giving, sending, showing or playing the material to another person… through online streaming, by email, playing a video, through public performance of a play.”

Police Scotland has admitted that ‘stakeholders’ have been involved in creating the formal training materials for the hate crime legislation, but it failed to clarify who these ‘stakeholders’ are.

Also Today - I Hate To Say I Told You So…

EL MUNDO: Violent and predatory males in Spain are using the ‘trans law’ to legally change their sex in order to reduce their convictions and access female-only spaces.

A couple of weeks ago we wrote about the men taking advantage of Spain’s ‘la ley trans’ (the trans law) - legislation which allows anyone aged sixteen and over to legally change their sex with a simple bit of paperwork - for financial advantage.

This week El Mundo has reported on the men using ‘la ley trans’ to change their sex for very sinister purposes. In Madrid, at least six men have changed their legal sex in order to avoid the consequences of Spain’s ‘gender violence law’, legislation which refers specifically to male violence against women.

This issue has been highlighted by Ana Dávila, Madrid’s Regional Minister of Family, Youth and Social Affairs, in a letter to the Ministry of Equality. She detailed three cases in which men convicted of violence against women have now changed their legal sex and are trying to gain access to the very centres where their victims have sought help. Dávila also wrote about a woman who was assaulted by her partner and, when filing a complaint with the police, she was informed that her assailant had already changed his registered sex to female, so her case would not be considered under the ‘gender violence law’. Dávila described ‘la ley trans’ as putting “The entire protection system for women at risk”.

Friday 22nd March - This Never Happens #2

THE DAILY MAIL: A trans-identified male teenager has pleaded guilty to the brutal murder of a 12-year-old girl.

In November 2022, Joshua Cooper murdered a 12-year-old girl, Morgan Connors, at his home in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. He was sixteen years old.

According to court documents, Morgan Connors was found laying face down with a gunshot to her back, her underwear around her ankles. Joshua Cooper called a female friend via Instagram video to tell her of his crime. Police say that he showed the girl Connor’s body before asking her to help him dispose of it.

It appears that the girl’s mother then called the police and they attended the scene. Police say they found evidence that someone had tried to clean up the crime scene and it is alleged that Cooper told law enforcement officers he’d had ‘a sexual relationship’ with his 12-year-old victim. No motive for the murder was discovered.

During the investigation it was revealed that Cooper had been convicted of sexual assault in juvenile court in an earlier and unrelated case.

Following his arrest for the murder of Morgan Connors, Joshua Cooper began ‘identifying as a woman’ and using the name Ash. At his trial, Cooper’s lawyer asked that he be referred to by his female name in court.

He was sentenced this week and will spend at least 15 years in prison.

Also Today - First Do No Harm

THE TELEGRAPH: The new NHS youth gender services will prescribe cross-sex hormones to teenagers as young as sixteen.

Only a week after announcing an immediate ban on prescribing puberty blockers for children, NHS England (NHSE) has issued new guidance for its soon to be opened Children and Young People Gender Service. In what seems like a huge backwards step, this guidance allows cross-sex hormones to be prescribed to young people from the age of sixteen.

The treatment, known as ‘gender-affirming hormones (GAH)’, will be available for “Young people with continuing gender incongruence [or] gender dysphoria from around their 16th birthday”, as long as they meet certain eligibility criteria.

As Hannah Barnes, author of Time to Think, comments in this social media thread, the NHS England guide “Goes further than GIDS ever did”.

In issuing this new guidance, NHSE says that it considered whether or not ‘scientific research has shown the treatment to be of benefit to patients’. However, the three documents which informed the policy date from 2013, 2016 and 2018 and two of them are applicable only to adults, not 16-year-old adolescents.

Furthermore, NHSE does not appear to have taken into consideration NICE’s 2020 systematic evidence review which found “Any potential benefits of gender-affirming hormones must be weighed against the largely unknown long-term safety profile of these treatments in children and adolescents with gender dysphoria”.

With the recommendations of the independent Cass Review due to be published in a few weeks, a government source commented that this new NHSE guidance “Is an attempt to strangle the Cass review at birth.”

Also Today - Witch Burning In Wales

Women’s rights campaign group, FiLiA, has been banned from the Plaid Cymru conference with less than two days notice.

FiLiA is a female-led volunteer organisation which works to promote and defend women’s rights and well-being. A few weeks ago, FiLiA co-founder and CEO, Lisa-Marie Taylor, won the Special Award at the 25th annual Emma Humphreys Memorial Prize awards for her dedication to amplifying the voices of women's and defending women and girls’ human rights.

Of course, FiLiA’s events have often been targeted by trans activists because of its pro-female ethos.

FiLiA had booked a stand at the Plaid Cymru Conference, hoping to speak to delegates and politicians about a range of campaigns they support. But with less than 48 hours to go, the charity was told that they would not be welcome, and their stall booking was revoked.

Plaid Cymru made the following statement on excluding FiLiA from its conference:

“While there are many issues and campaigns on which I expect we would agree, it has come to my attention that some of FiLiA’s positions are potentially contrary to the party’s values – for instance on trans rights. We welcome robust debate, but must balance this with the need for our delegates from all backgrounds to feel as though the party conference is a safe space for them to express their identity comfortably.”

FiLiA is now seeking legal advice. CEO Lisa-Marie Taylor commented, “It is unclear how a women’s charity such as ours could possibly contravene the ‘values’ of the party… We will be pressing for proper answers to the questions we’ve raised. And we are consulting our lawyers, as we believe that this ban may be unlawful. It is certainly unfair and unjust.”

Saturday 23rd March - This Never Happens #3

DAILY MAIL US: A trans-identified male who murdered his own parents has been discovered having sex with a younger female inmate in a women’s prison.

In December 2006 Brian Kim murdered his parents at their home in Mount Spokane, Washington. He stabbed his father and bludgeoned and strangled his mother. He then hid their dead bodies in an outbuilding before heading out on a spending spree, withdrawing $1000 with his dead father’s debit card. He was eighteen years old at the time. In 2008 Kim was convicted of two counts of aggravated first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Brian Kim during his trial, aged 18

Kim was originally housed in a men’s prison where he began ‘identifying as a woman’ and calling himself Amber FayeFox Kim. He was subsequently moved to the Washington Corrections Centre for Women (WCCW) in 2021.

In November last year, Kim, now 35 years old, was the subject of a sympathetic article in The Huffington Post bemoaning the lack of ‘gender affirming healthcare’ for men in prison. It describes how Kim wore his sisters clothes as a teenager and suggests that he murdered his parents because they would not accept his cross-dressing.

Last week a prison officer at the Washington Corrections Centre for Women discovered 35-year-old Bryan Kim having sex with a 25-year-old female inmate.

According to an incident report obtained by National Review, the officer looked into a cell during a routine late afternoon check and saw Kim “Laying on the floor completely nude from the waist down with their cellmate… on top of them also nude from the waist down actively having sex”.

Sunday 24th March - “Both Sides”

THE TELEGRAPH: A medical conference discussing the clinical care of children with gender issues was ambushed by aggressive trans activists who attacked attendees and tried to storm the venue.

The Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender (CAN-SG) is an organisation made up of doctors and psychiatrists who campaign for science-based dialogue on gender issues. On Saturday, it hosted an event at the conference space belonging to the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) in Euston Square in central London. The event, called First Do No Harm, aimed to explore “Current controversies in the care of children and young people with gender-related distress”.

The conference was besieged by violent trans activists, many of them masked, who tried to prevent it from going ahead. They threw smoke bombs, tried to intimidate and assault attendees and then attempted to storm the venue. Dozens of police officers were required to prevent the thugs from forcing their way into the building.

IMAGE CREDIT: Charlotte Gill / Daily Mail

IMAGE CREDIT: @JaneSymons1

Video footage from inside the conference venue shows trans rights activists trying to break down the doors.

An article in The Daily Mail suggests that one of those leading the protest against a clinical conference on child healthcare is a presenter from CBBC (the BBC’s station aimed specifically at children).

Dr Ronx Ikharia, who describes herself as ‘trans and non-binary’, presents the popular CBBC programme, Operation Ouch! She used a loud hailer to make a speech outside the venue, claiming that the conference is ‘doing harm’. Stephanie Davies-Arai of Transgender Trend, said “A CBBC presenter should not be involved in protests against evidence-based medical care for children”.

Speakers at the conference included a number of experienced clinicians, such as Dr Anna Hutchinson, education lead for the new NHS gender services for children, as well as social worker, Sonia Appleby, the former safeguarding lead at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, and de-transitioner, Ritchie Herron, who spoke about undergoing the very hormone treatment and surgery under discussion.

‘The right side of history’ does not demonstrate against scientific fact and clinical integrity, nor does it try to silence those with expertise and experience.

Jane Symons, vice-chair of the Medical Journalists’ Association, said of the event, “It’s the first time I have ever attended a medical conference requiring police protection. Healthcare should be driven by evidence not ideology.”

See you next week.