The road to an outrage

Trans activists have been targeting the Montreal vigil for the best part of a decade

4W @4WPub

A Canadian province has invited a trans-identified male to speak at a memorial service for the 14 women murdered in the École Polytechnique massacre. At the event, Anastasia Preston says they will be discussing the harassment they face as a trans person.

4w.pubTrans-Identified Male Speaking At Memorial For Women Murdered in Sexist MassacreThe Canadian province of Prince Edward Island has invited a biological male to speak at a memorial service dedicated to the women who were slaughtered in an act of anti-feminist terrorism in 1989. The P.E.I Advisory Council on the Status of Women has invited Anastasia Preston [https://twitter.com/AnastasiaPres11…

(This piece was first published here in 2013. My thanks to subscriber Bonnie for it!)

Vancouver male transgender activists (“Transwomen”) spent today organizing a protest against the scheduled upcoming Day of Remembrance for the fourteen women slaughtered during the horrific 1989 L’Ecole Polytechnique Massacre.

Organizer Natalie Reed previously collaborated with Abuzar Chaudhary (who has a restraining order against him by the University of Toronto Women’s Center for violent behavior and threats) in mounting a public protest outside a Vancouver private residence where women met to discuss feminism.

Reed believes that all males can become female if they simply claim to be, and has lobbied for the right to have a state-funded medical procedure to insert a surgical “neovagina” near his penis, so that he can have the appearance of having two sets of genitals. Reed and his “transwomen” co-organizers are offended by any feminist or women’s event that addresses the issues that affect women because they feel that such events discriminate against them as males.

In a shocking lapse of sensitivity and respect, Reed and co-organizers seek to disrupt a solemn event – one remembering the cold-blooded mass-murder of fourteen women by a man who targeted feminists for death because he believed feminism discriminated against his interests as a male- on the grounds that feminists also discriminate against THEIR interests as males.
From the Vancouver Rape Relief website:

1989 – A lone man walked into an engineering class at L’École Polytechnique at the University of Montréal. He separated the men from the women and told the men to leave. After the male students complied, the man declared his hatred of feminists and began to shoot the women with a semi-automatic rifle. While police forces stood outside, Marc Lépine went on a rampage, shooting and stabbing the women at the school. He then shot himself.

He left behind a note that included a list of prominent Canadian feminists whom he planned to kill. It was clear that these women engineering students symbolized the progress of women’s equality. Lépine’s actions could have pushed back women’s demands for increased equality through social change. However, women organized in defiance of his attack.

Women rose up to demonstrate in towns and cities across the country. They connected Lépine’s acts of violence to the everyday sexism to which women are subjected. Women dedicated themselves to feminist organizing to bring into reality their expectations of freedom for the present and the future.

You can read more here. This bizarre upcoming protest may be the most terrifying, grotesque, and shocking incident yet to emerge from the transgender movement’s decade-long war against feminism and women’s rights.

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The author goes on to describe an early attack on Vancouver Rape Relief by the same trans-identified male.

The following post, seemingly lacking all grasp of reality, and without any sense of the basic humanity of the massacred women being memorialized, was authored by Natalie Reed and is being circulated on Facebook and various blogs:

Vancouver Rape Relief invited Janice Raymond to speak at the Vancouver Public Library Nov. 30, 2013

Natalie Reed

11/19/2013

So… VANCOUVER TRANS PEEPS (and allies)… as many of you know Vancouver Rape Relief has invited Janice Raymond to speak at the Vancouver Public Library (presumably the downtown location) on November 30th, as an event memorializing the massacre at L’Ecole Polytechnique. Given VRR’s trans-exclusionist policies, history of trans-misogyny, ongoing support of transphobic feminism, dismissal of Kimberly Nixon, subsequent legal defense, and role in setting legal precedent that permits anti-trans discrimination in Canada, and Janice Raymond’s own history of extraordinary trans-misogyny and central role in the development of transphobia within feminism, we can’t really consider this coincidental or benign, nor can we assume the talk will simply be about L’Ecole Polytechnique, misogynistic violence or women in STEM fields.

In all likelihood, it will almost certainly be an openly cissexist, trans-misogynistic talk, probably based around arguing for trans-exclusionist policy to “protect” the “safety” of “womyn-born-womyn”.

Many folks are trying to prevent VPL from hosting the event, especially given that VPL’s own policies insist upon events being inclusive and respectful towards marginalized groups and identities (and IIRC, gender identity is specifically mentioned). *Hopefully* the talk being prevented from taking place at VPL is what will happen, or at least VPL inviting members of the trans community to respond / debate. BUT IF THE VRR / JANICE RAYMOND TALK PROCEEDS AS PLANNED… I would very much like if we could organize a counter-event to take place at VPL the same day (with or without explicit approval from VPL… library square’s status as public space should permit us to gather there regardless of prior approval- at least long enough to stage the response event- as long as we aren’t being destructive or harassing anyone or anything).

I was thinking of organizing speakers to talk on four topics that would serve as a useful counter-point to the trans-misogyny of Vancouver Rape Relief and Janice Raymond:

1) The consequences of trans-exclusionist policy, and/or trans people being unable to safely access services like rape/abuse/DV support services, homeless and emergency shelters, sexual health services, police services, medical care, etc. …with a definite focus on the rape/abuse/DV stuff (I could take this up as a topic myself, if needed, based on my experiences as a trans rape survivor and my ongoing inability to find any suitable support or resources).

2) The consequences of transphobic, cissexist and trans-misogynistic feminism, as exemplified by writers like Janice Raymond, Sheila Jeffries, Mary Daly, etc., and the consequences of exclusion of or unwelcoming attitudes towards trans women in women’s spaces, organizations, communities, etc. (perhaps tilted towards trans women’s exclusion from feminist space and queer women’s space).

3) Trans-misogynistic violence (which can tie into TDoR and recent events).

4) How trans women are impacted by misogyny and misogynistic violence, like that of the L’Ecole Polytechnique shooting, and how trans-misogyny, transphobia, cissexism, etc interrelates with misogyny, patriarchy, etc.

I think these topics will make a compelling point (ideally to ppl who are there for the Raymond talk, or who have uncritically supported VRR in the past, or who are associated w/ VPL, or who are simply unaware of these issues)… particularly if our event manages to round up better attendance than the Raymond talk itself.

If interested in helping organize this event, or interested in speaking, or interested in helping out in any way at all, please please comment or message me or e-mail me at sincerelynataliereed@gmail.com Also, even just expressing interest in ATTENDING could help give a good idea of whether this works as an idea.

Hopefully none of this will be necessary, but given that it’s less than two weeks away, we should start organizing ASAP.

(also my FB is being slow so I can’t tag everyone… so help me get the word out?)

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The author finished with this plea, which I repost also because these people are still targeting Vancouver Rape Relief, and the link has been updated so you can still use it to donate.

Here at GenderTrender I very seldom post asking readers to consider taking a specific action. Generally I feel it is a bit presumptuous to advise other adults on the specifics of their activism. I am going to make an exception here and ask you to strongly consider whether it may be possible for you to donate some funds to Vancouver Rape Relief. Even if you can only afford five or ten bucks. Or collect five bucks from all your friends and send that in. Whatever you can to support them and the work they do against such outrageous assaults. They need support and (apparently) will- shockingly- need security from the transgender community for this memorial service. Please don’t forget. You can send your donation here.