BrightonGender critical feminismLGBTQposie parkerTERFTrans activism

There was widespread shock yesterday when a women’s rights event was the target of verbal abuse and threats of physical violence in one of the most progressive cities in the country.

Videos from the Let Women Speak event in Brighton show trans activists shouting “No terfs on our turf” and “Go ahead and run, you Nazi scum.” An ominous picture shows activists dressed in black with face masks holding trans rights flags near where the women were gathered. Later, attendees were led by police into a nearby shop for their safety, whereupon activists barricaded them in.

According to the writer Julie Burchill, Alan Baker, who calls himself “Sarah Jane”, was in attendance. Baker is “a convicted kidnapper, and attempted murderer, who claims he cut his own testicles off and ate them”. That should make everyone feel safe, then…