Written by: Mary Howden
Since the vote on the Gender Recognition Reform Bill and the subsequent challenge by the UK Government, supporters of Gender Recognition Reform have been emboldened to express violence against women.
We already know that many women including author JK Rowling have received death and rape threats. Joanna Cherry KC has a pending court case where she will give evidence against a trans rights activist who threatened to kill her.
What has become obvious this week is how many politicians are supporting threats of violence against women and girls, some even adopting bullying tactics themselves.
Whilst giving a speech on the need to defend single sex spaces in the House of commons, Rosie Duffield MP was shouted down by a number of men including Ben Bradshaw MP and Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP.
Just as The SNP have shown no support for Joanna Cherry. There was no support for Rosie Duffield from the Labour Party, only silence. Emily Thornbury MP even denied this happened yet it was obvious to anyone looking at the footage in parliament.
This was followed by Miriam Cates MP’s speech which led to an aggressive outburst by Lloyd Russell-Moyle. He then walked over to the other side of the house to sit staring at her, clearly attempting to intimidate her.
Next up was a Scottish trans activist issuing a brutal threat of violence to Kellie-Jay Keen and the women who will be attending the Let Women Speak rally in Glasgow. He wished that someone would drive a car into them. He also threatened to murder Rosie Duffield with a gun and JK Rowling with a hammer.
Of course there was a male asking if we thought he could sell a t-shirt advocating that TERFs kill themselves.
Politicians at so-called “trans rights” demonstrations this week have also shown a lack of judgement. They seem to truly believe that public opinion is on their side. On Wednesday Labour MPs Olivia Blake, Nadia Whittome and Lloyd Russell-Moyle attended a demonstration outside Downing St with an activist and potential parliamentary candidate Sarah Jane Baker who spent 30 years in jail for attempted murder and kidnap.
SNP MPs Mhairi Black, Kirsten Oswald and Amy Callahan also attended this demonstration.
Two days ago, at a similar demonstration in Edinburgh, MSPs Alex Cole-Hamilton, Patrick Harvie and Ross Greer were not just in attendance but applauding one of the speakers who has threatened violence to women.
On Saturday MSPs and MPs attended yet another demonstration in Glasgow. Alison Thewlis, Kaukaba Stewart, Kirsten Oswald and Stewart McDonald were pictured with placards behind them saying “Decapitate TERFs” and “Eat TERFs”.
What is appalling is that these politicians are taking us for fools. When they are called out on these glaring mistakes, they deny they knew who they were standing beside. They didn't know who they were applauding. They didn't see the signs. There was nothing wrong with their actions.
Worse still is the deafening silence from party leaders condoning this behaviour and even worse than this is the message it conveys to women; that we are worthless and it’s absolutely fine to assault us for standing up for ourselves.
These politicians are making a mistake; we are the 51% and they need to #RespectMySex if they want our vote. But maybe they've gone too far now for us to have any faith in their ability to respect and protect women's rights.
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