Lesbian are facing “extinction” because of the “disproportionate” focus on transgenderism in schools, a controversial campaign group for gay rights has claimed.
The LGB Alliance, which has been branded a “trans hate group” by Pink News and other vocal critics, was set up in October 2019 amid concerns that Stonewall, the UK’s leading gay rights charity, had become too fixated on gender identity.
Its founders, Kate Harris and Bev Jackson, claim to have been “cancelled” for questioning gender identity theory and airing their concerns about the erosion of women’s rights in the face of the transgender movement.
Their detractors claim their refusal to include the 'T' in their LGB Alliance is transphobic along with their insistence that “sex is binary, not a spectrum” and “gender is a social construct”. They have also been accused of a “sinister” campaign of “abuse” on Twitter.
On Wednesday, Ofcom chief Melanie Dawes said it would be “entirely inappropriate” for the BBC to approach groups like the LGB Alliance to “balance” debates around trans issues after SNP MP John Nicolson, a homosexual, described them as “transphobic”.
Thousands of people signed a recent petition calling on broadcasters not to “uncritically platform” the group or its supporters.
While admitting they do not want to see further reform of the Gender Recognition Act (GRA), which requires a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria for legal recognition as the opposite gender, Ms Harris and Ms Jackson insist they want to be able to discuss “all rights” without being “silenced by the Twitter mob”.
“If you do not accept that everyone has a gender identity then you are automatically labelled transphobic which means you can no longer discuss women’s lives and what’s happening to lesbians,” said Ms Jackson. “We are increasingly discovering that lesbians are no longer welcome in the LGBTQ+ world, which is astonishing.”
Recent months have witnessed significant clashes between transgender rights activists and lesbians holding up signs saying: “Lesbians don’t have penises” and “Woman = adult human female”.
In June, Harry Potter author JK Rowling was branded “cruel” and “anti trans” after tweeted criticism of the phrase "people who menstruate" and stated: "If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives."
She has been referred to as a trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF) on multiple occasions, though she rejects the label.
Orwell Prize winning journalist Suzanne Moore left the Guardian in November after facing criticism for writing “about female experience belonging to people with female bodies”, following the publication of a piece in March headlined: "Women must have the right to organise. We will not be silenced".
Alison Bailey, a lesbian criminal barrister who helped to set up the LGB Alliance, is currently suing Stonewall, claiming it collaborated with her chambers to put her under investigation.
“Lesbians don’t have penises,” said Ms Jackson. “A lesbian is a biological woman who is attracted to another biological woman. That’s obvious. Or at least it was obvious until a few years ago.”
The LGB Alliance’s mission statement refers to clinicians concerned about a culture of “transing out the gay” at the Tavistock Clinic in London, which specialises in offering gender identity development services (GIDS).
Ms Harris said: “We are both convinced, had we been growing up now, that we would have transitioned.”
Referring to her childhood as a tomboy, she added: “If I was in school today, I would be taken to one side and helped to come to terms with the fact that I was gender non-conforming. And how special would I feel? What child would turn down additional attention?”
Citing scientific studies which have found elevated rates of autism in transgender people, she said: “This is what drives us. We were recently talking to a teacher in a SEN [special educational needs] school who said there were 24 trans kids, one non binary, but no gays and lesbians.
“Is lesbianism going to become extinct? Yes. It's deeply uncool. At school, in university, it is so uncommon, it is the bottom of the heap. Becoming trans is now considered the brave option.”
Having raised concerns about the exponential rise of children seeking to change sex, the pair have welcomed the recent High Court ruling in the Keira Bell case, which said trans children should not receive puberty blockers unless they understand the “long-term risks and consequences”.
Miss Bell, 23, who was born female, was prescribed the hormone drugs by the Tavistock Clinic at the age of 16 and went on to have a double mastectomy, but now regrets transitioning and successfully argued the centre should have challenged her more on her decision to transition to a male.
“This girl has been to hell and back, so you’d think Stonewall would be saying 'What a brave individual'. But there haven’t been any human rights organisations standing up for her."
Nancy Kelley, head of Stonewall described the Bell verdict as “shocking”.
Following accusations of being associated with “neo Nazis”, Ms Jackson said: “We have no connection whatsoever with any far right organisation, any religious right organisation”.
That came after its Just Giving and Go Fund Me pages were taken down following complaints by the SNP's Mr Nicolson, who described the LGB Alliance as “a hate group which encourages the trolling of trans people and those who champion their rights”.
The MP for Ochil and South Perthshire is now campaigning for the organisation to be denied the charitable status it applied for in February.
He told the Telegraph The LGB Alliance had launched a “sinister campaign of abuse” against him, with supporters branding him a “paedophile” a “rape enabler” and a “misogynist” online after he questioned their motives.
“No one is shutting it down,” he said. “It's incredibly mouthy and loud and obstreperous and perfectly entitled to make the arguments it likes. What I object to is its demonising of trans people.
“I call the LGB Alliance sinister because it is. It's milking the gullible for cash by claiming it is championing gay rights. Under no circumstances should they get charitable status. The Charity Commission should take one look at its abusive tweets.”
Ms Harris countered: “Google LGBT charities and you will find hundreds. But LGB? None. We need the Charity Commission to show that there is a tolerance for a plurality of views.”
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