Over the past weekend, Standing for Women’s Kellie-Jay Keen (aka Posie Parker) held a Speaker’s Corner event where gender critical women gathered to discuss issues that affect women and girls. The rally took place in Bristol, UK, another one in a series of successful rallies that Kellie-Jay has held over the course of the past year. Kellie-Jay is one of WoLF’s Advisory Council members; we are proud of her and the historic work she has made in the fight to protect women’s rights.

The rally featured many women speakers and a couple of male allies in the women’s rights activism that Keen is championing.

Kellie-Jay opened the event with a bit of singing which served to lighten up the crowd. Many aggressive and loud male transgender activists seemed to be attracted to the event; they began shouting and screaming obscenities immediately. Many of them were clad in black from head to toe, obfuscating their identities, as they screamed at the women and held up signs such as “Terfs can s*ck my d*ck” and “Go Home Terfs.” Sadly, there were also women in the crowd of anti-women counterprotesters, as well as several young boys.

Unfortunately, portions of the event were impeded by the constant harassment and haranguing of the women speakers by the transgender activists: The anti-woman protesters used siren noises, loud singing, screaming, and shouting through megaphones while women were trying to speak. Some women – especially those with disabilities – found it difficult to tune out the loud distracting noises, making speaking difficult. However, the women persevered, and their voices were heard.

The violent, mostly male mob that was mocking and screaming at the women was initially standing right next to the speakers. About halfway through the event, the transgender activists discovered they could cross the canal and stand behind the women, waving their signs and jeering through their megaphones, ensuring that it would be even more challenging for the women to be heard. There were some law enforcement officers standing in between the two groups, but after the activists moved closer to the women, the police did nothing.

Nevertheless, many women spoke out about topics such as children being indoctrinated by transgender policies in schools; the medical community-backed ‘transitioning’ (sterilization, mutilation) of children without consent by their parents; the censorship of women who speak out against these policies; the harassment and social shaming of women and men who dared question transgender policies; the institutionalization of transgender-friendly rules and regulations. Many speakers related their personal experiences at work or among their friends and families, having been shunned or isolated for refusing to accept the delusion that men can become women.

WoLF’s official position aligns with the one Kellie-Jay was presenting at the event: Men absolutely cannot become women. As gender abolitionists, WoLF supports the women at the Bristol speaker’s corner relating their experiences of heartbreak. These women and men also do not accept the current nonsensical and religious belief that males can become females, or that sterilizing children changes their sex. WoLF also recognizes that sex and gender are two separate things, and that being gay, lesbian or bisexual are sexual orientations, whereas gender is a socially constructed idea.

After the rally was over and the women left to convene at a local pub, the transgender activists descended on the women, mobbed and verbally abused them, and followed them all the way to the pub, shouting in their faces. The police did not intervene or ask the aggressive mob to step back or stop their abusive behavior. And an even more disturbing aspect of the situation was that transgender activists had in their ranks young boys, who were encouraged to scream obscenities at and taunt women and girls. WoLF works to stop male violence wherever it occurs, and the example of young boys being influenced and taught to become abusive misogynists was incredibly disturbing.

The violence in the video coverage prompted Graham Linehan, a women’s rights advocate, to ask why did the Bristol Police fail to protect the women?

Kellie-Jay said:

“Our communications lead, Iris, had worked very hard to inform the police about the sort of male aggression and violence women may encounter. She was, frankly, ignored. This was particularly striking following our event in Manchester. The policing in Bristol was inadequate and dangerous. The male aggression and intimidation women experienced in Bristol was revolting. Women were told to die, get in the sea by threatening men in masks.
Women were asked by the police to go home, rather than enjoy refreshments in a bar we had hired. Apparently the police can choose to protect women on the basis of whether or not we are eating or drinking, as a senior officer told me that the police were not here to protect us in the pub. The Slug and Lettuce, St. Nicholas Street, Bristol decided to close rather than continue serving joyful and peace loving women due to the male aggressors surrounding the venue. The police did not disperse the agitators and maintained that they could not guarantee our safety.”

The event was Streamed live on June 19, 2022, and available on Kellie-Jay’s live feed on YouTube, where it is still available for viewing: