A Week in the War on Women: Monday 5th June - Sunday 11th June
Monday 5th June - A Level Playing Field
THE TELEGRAPH: Three sportswomen described the devastating effect on their sport of including trans-identified males.
48-year-old Maggie played in a women’s football league for over a decade but in 2021 a trans-identified male joined her team. During their first competitive match, Maggie realised how unfair his inclusion was.
“We beat the team we were playing 6-2, and the trans woman [sic] scored all six goals. They were banging in goals from parts of the pitch I couldn’t have even attempted and the imbalance in power became so obvious to me when I saw them plough through players with no awareness of their physical advantage. I felt ashamed in front of the other team… There are also a number of young Muslim women in the league who may have had to overcome cultural barriers to join – and we shouldn’t forget about them.”
With her team having such an obvious unfair advantage, Maggie just couldn’t face competing against other women. She quit the squad and no longer plays competitive football.
50-year-old Julia began cycling as a teenager and now competes in masters races. She has personal experience of being beaten into third place by a trans-identified male. She didn’t realise until the day of the race that he was taking part and she felt his inclusion was extremely unfair, not least because none of the documentation from the event mentioned that the person who beat her was not female.
She also spoke about the ‘cult of silence’ surrounding the issue. “I know one woman who kept losing to the same trans rider and so eventually quit and many others who have been seriously demoralised – and yet so few speak out for fear of being labelled a bigot. One trans cyclist in Cheshire was winning virtually every woman’s race in the region – but when I went to the all-male board, they did nothing, in case it was transphobic”.
Julia oversees a junior cycling club for girls. She says that she asked race event organisers about the safeguarding issues arising from trans-identified males using the female changing rooms alongside her young charges. Nobody knew what to say. “In all these situations, it’s volunteers or local people having to make decisions that should be coming from the Government.”
49-year-old Lisa told The Telegraph about what happened when trans-identified males joined her running club. “There was one particular trans athlete in the over-45 age group that was impossible to beat. They were so fast that I eventually chose to move to a younger race category. Competing against women 10 years my junior felt a lot fairer than against a man. At the same time, I started watching younger women lose their motivation as they realised there was no possibility of winning races against people with so much more testosterone and muscle mass than them.”
Also Today - Leave Them Kids Alone #1
Thanks to LGB Alliance USA for drawing our attention to some deeply concerning legislation making its way through the California Assembly.
Assembly Bill 223 - Change of gender and sex identifier
This bill would seal the records of a minor’s true sex and former name if requested by one parent, thus concealing their trans status from all other adults.Assembly Bill 957 - Family law: gender identity
This bill would give courts complete authority to remove children from their family if their parent/s will not affirm their gender. This means a parent could lose custody of a child for trying to protect it from unnecessary medicalisation.Assembly Bill 665 - Minors: consent to mental health services
This bill would allows children aged twelve and over to check into a shelter without parental consent, even in a situation where there is no abuse, making it easier for clinicians to push children into medical transition without parental consent.
Senator Scott Wiener was the principal co-author of two of these bills and the co-author of the third. He is also advancing a bill that would require foster parents to ‘affirm’ the gender identity of the children in their care. Furthermore, Wiener has previously championed legislation to override the laws in other states where the medicalisation of gender confused minors is illegal. So concerned is he that gender non-conforming children should be rushed into puberty blockers and surgical procedures etc, he even wants to facilitate the medicalisation of those outside his jurisdiction by bringing them to California.
Tuesday 6th June - These Are Not Our Crimes
REDUXX: A trans-identified male charged with the brutal murder of his own father has been listed as ‘female’ in police records.
68-year-old Dr. Abbey Horwitz, a dentist and respected member of his local community, was stabbed to death at his home in Virginia Beach. Although still alive when emergency services arrived, attempts to stabilize him were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead soon after.
His 34-year-old son, Michael Aaron Horwitz, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and stabbing in the commission of a felony. Michael ‘identifies as a woman’ and calls himself Norah. (He used to perform as a drag artist using the stage name, ‘Menorah Horwitz’.)
Virginia Beach Police recorded him as ‘female’ when charging him and then used female pronouns with which to refer to him in their press release.
Local media outlet, WTKR News 3, described Michael Horwitz as a woman, referred to him as ‘Norah’ and used female pronouns for him throughout their article.
Similarly, The Virginian Pilot referred to Michael as Dr Horwitz’s ‘daughter’ when reporting this story on Twitter.
Michael Horwitz is not a woman and he’s not a daughter. He’s a man accused of a brutally violent crime and his sex should be recorded accurately.
Wednesday 7th May - Witch Burning In Holyrood
THE SCOTSMAN: A Scottish Labour MP has been forced to renege on an event featuring gender-critical speakers following a formal complaint to the party.
Pauline McNeill is the Labour MSP for Glasgow and the Party Spokesperson on Justice. She was an opponent of the SNP’s gender self-ID bill on which she refrained from voting.
Together with Ash Regan, McNeill was due to host an event called ‘The Meaning of Sex Under the Equality Act 2010’ in Holyrood next week. This event will feature gender-critical campaigners and writers, Maya Forstater, Naomi Cunningham, Helen Joyce and Michael Foran. It will debate the clarification of the category of sex in the Equality Act 2010.
McNeill will no longer be able to host or even attend this event following a formal complaint - seen by The Scotsman - made to Scottish Labour. The complaint states that the timing of the event and its invitations, sent to MSPs on the first day of Pride Month, “Appears to be a deliberate attack on trans people and their allies”.
A source within Scottish Labour said that it was appropriate for McNeill to step away from the event, adding, “Pauline should never have organised it in the first place and I hope she apologises publicly for it.”
Writing in The Spectator, Stephen Daisley commented, “To be clear: an MSP has been prevented from meeting with lawyers and women’s rights campaigners at the Scottish parliament to discuss legislation passed by the Scottish parliament. Have you ever heard anything so sinister or absurd?”
Also Today - Leave Them Kids Alone #2
GLASGOW TIMES: Schools in Glasgow are to socially transition ‘transgender pupils’ based on training provided by Stonewall.
Glasgow’s school psychologists have attended training delivered by Stonewall on how to ‘create trans-inclusive schools’. They are now drawing up training and instruction plans for teachers based on Stonewall’s advice.
Teachers at King's Park Secondary School have already received training through the council’s psychology team on how to ‘support’ a pupil wishing to change their name and pronouns etc.
The Cass Review Interim Report, which was published over a year ago, highlights significant concerns about allowing children with gender issues to alter such details. Social transition, it says, ‘is not a neutral act’ and can significantly impact a child’s ‘psychological functioning’.
In England and Wales, the Department for Education is poised to issue a warning to schools that allowing pupils to use the names and pronouns of the opposite sex can negatively impact their health and wellbeing. Yet Glasgow’s educators are choosing to ignore all of the ever-burgeoning evidence and expert advice that social transition is harmful and, instead, do Stonewall’s bidding.
Thursday 8th June - A Room Of One’s Own
REDUXX: A court in Seattle has deemed that a female-only spa in which patrons are naked cannot bar trans-identified males.
The family-owned Olympus Spa has two sites in Washington State. It is modelled on the traditional Korean jjimjilbang health and wellness bathhouses, meaning that clients are required to be naked in certain areas. Consequently, the spa is women-only.
A man who calls himself Haven Wilvich alleges that he tried to take out a membership for the Olympus Spa in January 2020.
Despite being possessed of fully intact male genitals, Wilvich describes himself as “A nonbinary, transgender, queer woman”. According to a post on the Seattle Non-Binary Collective Facebook page, in May 2018, Wilvich was called Caleb and describing himself as “A tall bearded transfemme”.
In May 2020, Wilvich submitted a complaint to the Washington State Human Rights Commission (WSHRC) alleging he had been discriminated against on the basis of his ‘gender identity’ (which, to say the least, seems subject to change!). He alleges that, when his application was rejected, spa staff told him that “Transgender women without surgery are not welcome because it could make other customers and staff uncomfortable”.
In March of 2021, the WSHRC served the spa with a Notice of Complaint of Discrimination, asking the owners to respond to the allegation that they had acted in a discriminatory manner. The spa’s president, Sun Lee, drafted a statement upholding their women-only rule. He detailed the jjimjilbang principles on which the spa is based and explained that nudity is required in certain areas of the facility.
Nevertheless, the WSHRC ruled that the spa had violated Washington’s anti-discrimination law, stating that its female-only policy “Denies services to transgender women who have not had surgery… because their physical appearance is not ‘consistent’ with the traditional understanding of biological women”.
At the time, Wilvich gloated over his victory on social media, boasting about having access to the ‘naked lady spa’.
The spa challenged Wilvich’s claims, stating that they had no documentation to uphold his assertion that he tried to take out membership and that no staff member could remembered interacting with him. The WSHRC, however, upheld their ruling, and offered the spa a settlement to avoid prosecution. This settlement required the spa to remove all references to ‘biological women’ on its website and to and provide staff with ‘inclusivity’ training.
In March of 2022, Olympus Spa took legal action against the executive director of the WSHRC, claiming that the ruling against them violated their First Amendment rights to the free exercise of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of association.
This week a Washington District Court has dismissed their lawsuit, upholding the ruling by the WSHRC and affirming that the measures taken to prevent the spa from having a female-only policy were lawful.
Wilvich is now free to join and get naked in the Olympus women-only spa.
Has the WSHRC forgotten that, not too long ago, a convicted sex offender exposed himself to women and little girls at a Korean spa in Los Angeles under the exact circumstances they have just facilitated in Washington? Or do they not care?
Friday 9th June - Taking The Hypocritical Oath
THE TELEGRAPH: The NHS Confederation has published guidance which prioritises the validation of staff ‘gender identities’ over patients’ rights.
The NHS Confederation is, according to its own website, “The membership organisation that brings together, supports and speaks for the whole healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland”.
It has just published a 97-page ‘resource’ about supporting trans and ‘non-binary’ staff. It upholds gender identity as sacrosanct, erases the rights and dignity of patients and dictates that “The comfort of the staff member should be prioritised”.
Amongst the various edicts contained in this guidance, of most concern are the following:
“The patient has no right to be told that the person treating them is trans or non-binary.” This means, of course, that patients may be misled about their true sex of the person treating them, bathing them, dressing them, taking them to the toilet etc.
“It would likely be discriminatory for the patient to refuse to be treated or cared for by a trans person, unless clear and evidenced clinical harm may result to the patient.” Requests for a staff member of the same sex can only be made in very limited circumstances, such as if the patient has suffered sexual violence or if the procedure is ‘intimate’.
Conversely, trans and non-binary staff can refuse to treat a patient who has requested a same-sex medic. They, “Should not be forced to deliver care if this would cause undue distress or invalidate their lived experience of gender”.
Patients with dementia “Should still be challenged” if they ‘express discriminatory views’ about NHS staff with a trans identity. (‘Discriminatory views’ could easily refer to the use of correctly sexed pronouns or titles.) Furthermore, their relatives may be ‘removed from the premises’ for similar transgressions.
The guide also contains an extensive list of recommendations to make hospitals and clinics more ‘inclusive’. These include flying pride flags in offices, making staff wear rainbow badges and celebrating ‘diversity’ dates. A section on language claims the phrase ‘biologically male’ is offensive or derogatory and outlaws the phrase ‘identifies as’ because it implies that gender identity is a choice “Rather than an inherent reality”.
With regard to staff recruitment, HR managers are instructed to list their pronouns in job adverts, offer applicants private changing facilities prior to interviews and to lower employment experience requirements in case trans people are discouraged from applying.
Appearing on Talk TV, Helen Joyce explained how this guidance is in direct contravention of the law and erases the rights and boundaries of patients.
“This guidance is downright evil… It’s calling people prejudiced against trans people when actually what they’re doing is stating their own boundaries which depend on them being able to say whether another person is male or female… The NHS Confederation is presenting something that is legally illiterate and arguably is telling NHS foundations to tell their trans identified staff to commit sexual assault to validate their identities.”
The NHS Confederation produced this guidance in consultation with lobby group, the LGBT Foundation.
That’s the LGBT Foundation which produced a film claiming that men can be women.
The LGBT Foundation which severed its ties with the EHRC because the EHRC promised to defend women’s rights.
The LGBT Foundation which hosted an event involving a performer who called for the murder of ‘transphobes’.
Last year the LGBT Foundation organised Queer Joy and Radical Acts: Greater Manchester LGBTQ+ Arts and Culture Network Conference 2022.
One of the acts on the bill was trans-identified male, Jova Bagioli Reyes, a poet and musician who describes himself as ‘unapologetically latine, queer and political’ and is a ‘radical LGBT+ rights activist’. At the close of his performance, Reyes shouted at the audience, “Because that’s what we’re about! Kill transphobes 2022!” For this performance he received a fee from the LGBT Foundation of around £2,250.
This is the organisation that the publicly-funded NHS Confederation has trusted to draw up guidelines on the treatment and care of patients.
Also Today - “Both Sides”
REDUXX: A trans-identified male with previous convictions involving offensive weapons has been arrested over death threats against women’s rights campaigners.
Layla Le Fey is a trans-identified male who has previously been known as Adam Hodgson and Marcus Smith. According to the Daily Mail, Le Fey has previous convictions for over 50 offences, including three for brandishing a bladed article in public. In February 2020 he admitted common assault and possession of an offensive weapon having threatened a convenience store employee with a claw hammer while trying to steal wine from a Brighton shop.
He originally received a custodial sentence but this was overturned due to confusion over his trans status. He was unable to produce a gender recognition certificate to prove that he has undergone sex reassignment surgery and court staff, quite rightly, refused to carry out a genital inspection. Consequently, Judge Stephen Mooney gave Le Fey a six month suspended sentence, saying it would be unfair to incarcerate him in the male estate.
Now it seems that Le Fey is threatening leading gender critical women with extreme violence. For example, last year, a Twitter account bearing his photograph and using the handle @Laylalefey told Helen Joyce, “God how I would love to just rip your eyes out, chop your hands off, and carve your face up really badly”.
In recent months this account has made numerous social media posts, threatening the life of Standing For Women’s Kellie-Jay Keen (aka Posie Parker).
One post said they’d be happy to “Brutally and horrifically kill” her.
Another post expressed a desire to set fire to Kellie-Jay’s house with her inside.
Le Fey has now been arrested over these social media threats. In making a statement to this effect, Sussex Police described him as a woman and used female pronouns with which to refer to him. “A 43-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of making threats to cause criminal damage and malicious communications”, they said. “She remains in custody at this time.”
Similarly, The Argus, the area’s local paper, reported this story describing Le Fey as a woman and referring to him with female pronouns.
He is not a woman and the crimes of which he’s convicted and suspected should not be reported as having been committed by one.
Also Today - The Clocks Were Striking 13 At Springer
WALL ST JOURNAL: An academic publishing giant has retracted an article about rapid onset gender dysphoria after pressure from trans activists.
Last month, academic publishing giant, Springer, published an article by Michael Bailey, a well-respected and much-published scientist, and Suzanna Diaz (a pseudonym), whose daughter suffers from gender dysphoria.
Their paper was based on survey responses from over 1,600 parents whose children, previously comfortable with their bodies, suddenly declared a trans identity after extensive exposure to social media and peer influence.
As Leor Sapir and Colin Wright point out, “Gender activists hate any suggestion that transgender identities are anything but innate and immutable. Even mentioning the possibility that trans identity is socially influenced or a phase threatens their claims that children can know early in life they have a permanent transgender identity”.
Within days of the Springer article’s publication, a group of trans activists wrote a public letter condemning it and demanding the journal’s editor be sacked. One of the signatories is Marci Bowers, a trans-identified male well-known ‘sex-reassignment’ surgeon who, as the WPATH president, advocates for surgical interventions for dysphoric minors.
Although nearly 2,000 researchers and academics signed a counter letter supporting the article, Springer decided to retract, claiming there were irregularities around participant consent ie that while the respondents consented to the publication of results, they didn’t specifically agree to publication in a scholarly or peer-reviewed journal. This seems like a poor excuse, given that Springer and many other publishers have published thousands of survey papers without this type of consent.
“Anyone familiar with the controversy over transgender medicine knows what is going on. Activists put pressure on Springer to retract an article with conclusions they didn’t like, and Springer caved in. We’ve become accustomed to seeing these capitulations in academia, media and the corporate world, but it is especially disturbing to see in a respected medical journal.”
Also Today - This Never Happens
TORONTO SUN: A convicted pedophile charged with sexually assaulting a woman in a shelter has been released and is again trying to gain access to women’s spaces.
Shane Jacob Green, described as a ‘hulking six foot two 230-pounder’, is a convicted sex offender. In 2018 he was found guilty of sexually assault. He dragged a 15-year-old girl into a toilet stall at a fast food restaurant where he attacked her. A year later, while still on probation, Green was convicted of harassing a pair of 13-year-old girls.
In August 2022, Green arrived at a female-only shelter in Parry Sound looking for a place to stay and claiming to ‘identify as a woman’. The staff gave him a room. Two days later he harassed and sexually abused one of the female residents there.
At the time, an anonymous police source told The Toronto Sun, “Green is very familiar with policies at women’s shelters and will make comments about his gender identity as a way to intimidate their staff. Green tries the same stunts with law enforcement.”
Now Green has been released from prison and, calling himself Stephanie Green and Kelsey Adams, is seeking access to female-only spaces yet again. A shelter in Southwestern Ontario issued a warning to other similar facilities; “In the past two weeks this person has contacted REDACTED and REDACTED requesting space. They presented as a transwoman, recently victimized by intimate partner violence”.
A sexually violent male claiming to ‘identify as a woman’ in order to access female-only spaces? Something we’re constantly told would never happen.
Saturday 10th June - Leave Them Kids Alone #2
THE TELEGRAPH: A foster mother almost lost custody of the children in her care after challenging their school’s gender identity lessons.
A foster mother questioned the relationship lesson provided to the children in her care. The lesson apparently involved a video lecture by a so-called ‘non-binary’ 12-year-old child, claiming that gender is ‘dynamic’ and that toilets are “Just another way to categorise people”. It also seems that pupils were taught using the much-derided ‘genderbread person’ diagram which claims that sex is both a spectrum and also ‘assigned at birth’.
The foster mother emailed the school to criticise the lesson, arguing that it is teaching gender ideology as fact and should be balanced with gender critical material.
The school’s deputy head teacher is then alleged to have contacted local social services about the foster mother’s so-called ‘exceptionally bigoted’ views. In an email seen by The Telegraph she stated, “I am very concerned about the environment these girls are growing up in… Do we want children in care who are already traumatised to expound similar bigoted viewpoints?”
It is reported that a meeting then took place between social services and members of school staff to discuss the woman’s suitability as a foster mother.
The woman was extremely shocked and believes she could easily have lost the children had it not been for the several ‘exemplary years’ she’s spent as a carer. She told The Telegraph, “It’s not OK for her to judge or police my tone or thinking. That’s overstretching her remit, and compelled speech is one of the first steps to fascism.”
Also Today - An Unsporting Chance
REDUXX: Trans-identified male cyclist, Austin Killips, has stolen first place at yet another elite women’s cycling race.
Cycling’s governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), currently allows trans-identified males to participate in women’s races if their testosterone levels have been below 2.5 nanomoles per litre for at least 24 months. This policy is at odds with all of the scientific evidence which demonstrates that, even after reducing testosterone levels, males retain numerous physical and physiological advantages over women and any loss of muscle mass and strength is negligible.
Last month we reported on 27-year-old Austin Killips who took first prize in the women’s division at the Tour of the Gila, the premier road cycling race in New Mexico. He finished 89 seconds clear of second-placed Marcela Prieto, also claiming the ‘Queen of the Mountains’ jersey, increasing his share of the $35,000 prize pot.
Killips became the subject of controversy in December when he finished third in the women’s race at the US’s National Cyclocross Championships, stealing a podium place from former champion, Hannah Arensman. He was also accused of repeatedly and deliberately trying to shove Arensman off the course during the race. A few months later, Arensman retired from competitive cycling aged just 24. She cited the inclusion of trans-identified males in women’s cycling as the cause.
Now Killips has stolen first place at yet another women’s race; the Belgian Waffle Ride in North Carolina.
Sunday 11th June - A Room Of One’s Own
THE TELEGRAPH: A women who has survived male violence was horrified to find that a ‘man dressed as a woman’ was allowed access to a female-only hostel dorm.
55-year-old Sue Boardman travelled to London on 28th May to attend a Let Women Speak event. She had booked a room in a female-only dormitory at the Astor Victoria Hostel in Pimlico. Following the SFW event, Sue returned to the hostel at around 10pm and was just about to go to bed when one of the other guests told her that ‘a man dressed as a woman’ was also staying in the dorm. She had discovered this man sprawled half-naked on his bed, his male genitalia on display.
Although the man was not currently on the premises, his belongings were still in evidence and Sue feared that he would return to the dorm when she was asleep. She told The Telegraph, “Having suffered 23 years of horrendous domestic abuse, the whole point of me booking a women-only room was for safety and security from any men”. At great expense, she was forced to seek alternative accommodation.
A spokesman for Astor Hostels said that allowing a male to check in to a female-only dorm was “Due to an error at reception” and that the guest in question had been moved to a mixed-sex dormitory. “Our policy for female-only dormitories is that only those that are legally recognised as female are permitted to stay in them”.
Astor Hotels might believe their response to be mollifying but the phrase ‘legally recognised to be female’ means another woman could easily find a man in her room.
Also Today - “Both Sides”
A Standing For Women event in Geneva had to be curtailed after police in riot gear failed to protect a group of women from a rampage by violent trans activists.
Kellie-Jay Keen held a Standing For Women event in the Place des Nations in Geneva on Sunday. Even prior to the event trans activists were organising to derail it, the usual thinly veiled threats very much in evidence.
Activists were instructed “Come with something to annoy them, prevent them from speaking, listening and staying.” And, the even more sinister, “Let’s burn the TERFs”.
Journalist, Róisín Michaux, live-tweeted the horrendous situation as it unfolded, detailing how a handful of brave women, many with voices shaking, tried to talk about their sex-based rights while a mob of ‘hedge fund babies’ descended on them, drowning them out with a cacophony and screaming abuse and insults at them.
Despite a heavy police presence, the baying mob of trans activists were able to surround the women in attendance and posed such a threat that the rally had to be curtailed early.
Róisín Michaux reported, “They’re really emboldened and closing in. We’re trying to find a way to escape, everyone is scared”.
The police were required to help the assembled women escape the violent trans activists.
Kellie-Jay Keen had to be rushed away from the scene in a van.
Women bullied, intimidated, threatened and ultimately hounded out by thugs for speaking up for their rights.
A masked man intimidating women by miming a gun pointed at their heads… it’s the perfect metaphor for trans activism.
See you next week.
I found this update particularly grim and infuriating, I have to admit. But as ever, I thank you JL, for your continued efforts in reporting all of this dangerous, irrational garbage that assaults our sense and our senses almost daily.
I have no idea how you manage to keep sane... (assuming you do, of course)
Lots to get incensed and despairing about as usual. What happened to Posie was appalling but entirely predictable. We know there are a lot of men who don't like women and they look for ways to oppress, control and generally disadvantage us. What is it going to take for people to acknowledge that these supposed trans rights activists, are just a bunch of despicable cunts who despise women. This is like a gift to them, they get to scream at women, to intimidate and threaten women with violence, and they're cheered on by people who would a million times fuck over their friends and loved ones rather than be seen as transphobic.
These people really have to be made to stop, like that idiot senator surrounded by by drag queens, arseholes who make a living or get off on depicting women as grotesque caricatures. This guy and others like him will be relentless in their desperation to facilitate the oppression and abuse of women and children. Give these bastards an inch and they don't want a mile, they want it all, the entire landscape.