Here's to solidarity

Aaron Terrell is a natal woman who has transitioned and is now, to use the parlance of the day, “living as a man”. Here’s Aaron’s pin-sharp analysis of gender dysphoria as “the very definition of a first-world problem.”

Coming from Aaron, especially, it is an observation full of the kind of nuanced, deep understanding we’re told trans people possess despite our rarely being presented with any evidence to that end. Grace Lavery is a professor of wanking, India Willoughby thinks Kathleen Stock wants to kill her, Shon Fae wants to disband the police, and yet these lunatics are the ones who get book deals and telly appearances. It’s the very definition of male privilege.

But that’s not the reason I write.

The reason I write is that I’ve noticed that while gender critical feminism (or to give it it’s proper title, ‘feminism’) has been making great strides revently, these victories have also marked a phase whereby the most toxic elements of our side have been ramping up their attacks of people like Aaron and Debbie Hayton. Aaron and Debbie bear this with grace. It’s entirely understandable—even to them—that some women distrust them, and refuse their support. Yet, they remain resolute allies to women, and bring important insight to the urgent problems of dysphoria and autogynephilia.

I don’t want to minimise the significant justified anger underlying some of this hostility. After all, the current all-out assault on women’s rights has been done under the banner of ‘trans rights’. Julia Long has her boundaries, so has Posie Parker, so does every woman, with the line being drawn at different points for all. That is a matter for those women and those women alone.

But there is another group, much smaller, but louder, and scarier, who are simply sadists. They are sadists in much the same way the majority of trans rights activists are sadists. There’s only a handful of these kinds of voices, but their hijacking of conversations with bad faith accusations and appalling, TRA-style abuse is becoming an increasing problem.

We need the quieter voices. Debbie Hayton’s contribution on Talk Radio, coming the day after Posie Parker’s triumphant performance against the same interviewer, was an extremely effective two-step. When Hayton made the exact same points Posie had made the day before, James Max’s obsequious response told its own story. Debbie knows this and puts himself forward to make that very point.

An undiagnosed DSD led to gender confusion and Aaron Kimberly’s transition.

Scott Newgent’s writings and interviews about medical transition provide much detail about the long-lasting physical problems that often accompany sex-related medical interventions. Scott has often felt forced out of this movement by attacks from our own side.

Stella O’Malley founded both the Gender Dysphoria Support Network and Genspect and has helped thousands of parents and their families. Her work in this field is well-known and yet she has also been subject to weird, bad faith attacks where our own side are using fabricated accusations against her that were first dreamed up by - of all people - Aidan Comerford, the Christian Brother born too late.

Watching Genspect being attacked has been particularly disorientating as the main aim of this organisation is to help parents whose lives and families have been ruined by gender ideology. What a target! Knowing the work they do, I have no doubt there is a story behind Keira Bell tweeting in solidarity.

Keira Bell @KLBfax

@stellaomalley3 and @genspect have been life savers, especially recently. Grateful 🙏🏼 go check em out! Blessings to everyone for this new year ahead ❤️

But again, in a shocking demonstration of self-sabotage, a small number of determined individuals are trying to silence these important voices. And it’s not just their voices, a secondary group, the quieter allies, also feel scared to publicly support victims of harassment and bad faith attacks.

As you know, I am currently being told that the Father Ted musical, which I’ve been working on for the last seven years of my life, may not be able to receive financing if my name is attached to it. Just as they have done to JK Rowling, trans rights activists have devoted a lot of time to making people believe that I’m toxic. But I have said nothing wrong, I am just one of the first male slebs who was saying it: sex is real, women exist, their rights are important.

But even more important: vulnerable children are being irreversibly damaged by gender identity ideology.

For that, I’ve been the subject of 75+ attack pieces by Pink News, I’ve been contacted by Stonewall’s police force three times, I’ve lost my marriage and, just like Rosie Kay, Jess De Wahls, Nina Paley, and, yes, Kathleen Stock, my colleagues feel forced to disown me.

But I have to continue because it’s the right thing to do, and if I didn’t do it, I’d go insane with guilt. I don’t want what happened to Jazz Jennings and Keira Bell to happen to a single other child. That’s a crucial fight in which we all deserve a voice. I won’t be driven out of it by people who enjoy causing chaos and pain because they’re unhappy.

I’m slightly protected by anti-anxiety medication (as I would imagine are many in this fight) so you can’t shut me up, for better or for worse. But most understandably want a quieter life. If, as a result, we lose these important, nuanced, compassionate voices–like those of Fionne, Stella, Arty, Debbie, and anyone out there like them who haven’t yet spoken out because the gatekeepers keep the price of admission to this conversation so very high– then we will will yet lose, even if we win. I hope this year we can all work together to undo the damage trans rights activists have done to all of us, and find a little more solidarity.

(UPDATE: Hilariously, I’ve had to disable the comments section, the state of which was proving my point. Thanks to those who took the time to make their comments respectfully.)