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Silence in the face of injustice is ...

& books on growing up gay in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s


2024: "Gender Criticals" & Right-Wing extremists join forces once again With an interesting explanation at the end for why they like each other.
2024: Life In "Gender-Critical" Britain:
2023: Life In "Gender-Critical" Britain:
Channel 4: "At the time of Alice's death, she had already been on the waiting list for her first appointment for almost three of a suspected five year wait." [link]
The PM is really nasty because trans people do not claim that biological sex isn't real. They just claim that gender is real too. So, the best the PM could do is lie.
August 2023: Antisemitic, homophobic, racist attacks on memorial sites in Germany are becoming increasingly frequent. And there is a connection. [link]
August 19 2023: Two men injured after another homophobic attack in south London [link]
August 13 2023: Two men stabbed in homophobic attack outside London nightclub [link]
May 2023: Vandals set fire to a rainbow flag outside an LGBTQIA+ club in Delft in the latest in a series of homophobic attacks across the Netherlands [link]
The LSE student group "Rejoin Stonewall" has won a 2023 Student Union Award. Click here for more information.
transphobes, homophobes & nazis
and an alternative humane view



The picture at the top shows neo-nazis coming out to support UK transphobe #1 when she was in Melbourne (March 2023) on an anti-trans crusade. The two videos in the second row show how defenders of trans people are protesting against the nazis at the same event. Credit goes go @geesass and @lilahrpg.

The picture of the desecrated progress flag is a tweet from UK transphobe #2. For those not familiar with the meaning of the progress flag, the bits that are referred to as shit by UK transphobe #2 are the following:
  • The light-blue/white/pink which represents trans people.
  • The brown which represents queer people of colour; sadly the queer community has often not been inclusive [link].
  • The black which commemorates those members of the LGBTQ+ community who have been murdered, who were driven to suicide, and those who died of AIDS.
There are many such hateful (re)tweets by UK transphobe #2, but this one is quite revealing. She apparently thinks that my friends who died of AIDS when still so young were shit. Even worse, at the LSE there are people who sort of agree with this person.

The picture in the third row shows Dutch neo-nazis coming out to protest against drag queens who read stories to children (April 2023). The orange/white/blue flag is not the Dutch flag. It is a variation (prinsenvlag) that was used by the Dutch nazi party which collaborated with the Germans during the war.

The video and pictures in the bottom row show the monthly demonstration of a right-wing UK group demonstrating against drag show readings for children at a South London pub and the counter protest. The two pictures show how the numbers of the haters had dropped to pathetically low numbers at the May rally, whereas we were still standing strong. It was kind of fun to sing "there are many many more of us than you" (on the tune of She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain). But still depressing you have to get up early for this on a Saturday morning. In these pictures you see how the neo-nazis are accusing trans people and drag queens to be paedophiles and child groomers. If history is any guidance, then this is how it starts! The weakest minorities are picked on first using blatant lies and the rest of the society either "sort of agrees" or keeps quiet.

But the UK is worse than Australia and the Netherlands! This is why. The events in Australia and the Netherlands led to sharp rebukes from those in power. See the video of senator Faruqi below or the [tweet]/[video] of the premier of Victoria, Dan Andrews. By contrast, UK politicians of both major parties take the lead in a massive scare mongering campaign based on stoking fear, not evidence.

The Alternative Humane View
in five videos


Click on the pic to see the video.
Pamela Stevenson: "... it goes for the jugular to kill annihilate and make sure that a whole group of people - who by the way is a small percentage - have no rights. ... but if you don't stand for them, I promise you they'll come for you."
Mehreen Faruqi: "They are expanding their catalog of hate from Asian Australians and Muslims to the entire trans community. ... fascism, transphobia and racism are all part of the same arc of hate."
Will Stracke: "As a lesbian, I know that there is no LGBTIQ community without the T. And I know we will only ever achieve our liberation if we all stand together. I know as an older lesbian that the things what the people on the right and far right say today about trans people is what they said about us and they were wrong then and they are wrong now."
Penny Allman-Payne:"I have taught thousands of young people and I see what hate and transphobia does to young people who are discovering their identity."
Judith Butler:"The way in which feminism began was by calling into question, perceived notions of what a woman is."
Dan Glass' Queer Footprints Lauch &
Gay Liberation Front (1970-74) reunion
I chaired an event honouring queer heroes from the GLF and icebreakers. The GLF operated from 1970 to around 1974 with its peak at 1972 when it organised the first gay pride (see below). These days, some claim to have been active in the GLF; even some my age (and so obviously way too young). There were two parts to the evening. One was a panel with several gay pioneers (and there were a couple more in the audience). It was great to see these pioneers speak up against the recent upswing in gender critical views and also against the LSE decision to leave Stonewall. In the other half, my friend and activist Dan Glass launched his book Queer Footprints: A Guide to Uncovering London's Fierce History.
Terrence Higgins Trust Fighting HIV Stigma march 18-3-'23
Weird that I am still walking around with banners after so many years. But HIV stigma is still a big thing and still damaging lives. I highly recommend the recent film that drives young people to keep their HIV status a secret in Ireland today. [Youtube link]. Young readers who like to go to the still popular Heaven may like to know that Terrence Higgins was a DJ at this nightclub and collapsed there while at work. He died not long after on July 4th 1982 as one of the first people to die because of AIDS in the UK.
16-year old trans girl Brianna Ghey killed on 11 February 2023. Check out her [Wiki page] to learn more about her life and the horrendous treatment she received by UK media.
Impressive remembrance/protest and glad to see so many young people show up. [ Press Release]
1st Gay Pride (1972) and
Gay Liberation Front (1970-74)
Helped out with the organisation of the recreation of the 1st Gay Pride 50 years ago to honour veterans of the Gay Liberation Front, the famous movement that started at the LSE and operated between 1970-74 (when I was 8 to 12 years old). First duty was holding up signs while the famous GLF veterans gave speeches. Then acting as a steward during the march wearing a bright GLF jacket making sure none of the participants were hit be traffic

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