Drag Queen Story Times picketed by protestors who claim that it grooms children and promotes paedophilia

[hitmouse]

I don't know how wedded they are to the radical environmental stuff anymore. Bilek seems to have pivotted to full time transphobia, Lierre Keith is busy with WoLF and Derrick Jensen seems to be more interested in giving lectures attacking Queer Theory than saving the planet these days.

I'm not sure the leap from radical environmental to conservative is that unexpected tbh. There was always as strong traditionalist current within green politics, even in more radical circles and especially amongst the more hippy end of the movement - women as earth mothers and men as adventurist hunters and protecters, plus a kneejerk reaction to any form of technology - including things like vaccines. And the division of labour in a lot of squats/sites reflected that. Radical green politics was always very white, very heterosexual and very middle class, often coming with a side order of mysticism, and a lot of the back to the land type stuff reflected that.

Did a bit of digging, and it looks like DGR as an org are still keeping one foot in the environmental side of things, there was a bit of a bust-up over their involvement in an anti-mining camp as recently as 2022:

How an ‘anti-trans’ group split the fight against a lithium mine

Some Nevada activists fighting a massive mine project are angry over the involvement of an environmental group they say espouses discriminatory views about

www.eenews.net

The Environmental Movement Isn’t Ready for Transphobia

DGR members camped out at a controversial lithium mine site have made transphobic statements—showing how left-oriented transphobia can infiltrate movements.

gizmodo.com

According to the Gizmodo article:

Jensen hosts a separate radio show, Derrick Jensen Resistance Radio, with a similar pattern: alternating between interviews with people working on various environmental issues with figures who hold famously transphobic views. Some of his recent guests have included Graham Linehan, a former TV writer who was permanently suspended from Twitter for “hateful conduct” and has compared transgender youth medical care to Nazi experiments. (He has previously denied being “anti-trans,” despite his extensive history of anti-transgender activism.) Jensen also hosted Kara Dansky (as did The Green Flame), who recently appeared on Tucker Carlson, claiming that trans health clinics were “eugenics centers” and saying that “words like gender identity don’t have any meaning.” Dansky authored a book titled The Abolition of Sex: How the “Transgender” Agenda Harms Women and Girls and has publicly identified herself as “#TeamTERF.” Though appearing on the podcast episodes uploaded to the DGR YouTube channel, neither Linehan nor Dansky appear to have any public association with environmental causes or efforts. (We asked Jensen why they were invited on his podcast. We will update the post if he responds.)

Had a quick look at recent episodes and there does seem to be an almost 50/50 split between terf and eco guests (although I'm sure many count as both):

 

[smokedout]

Yeah, a fair few from that scene have had a short stumble from anti-vaccine and conspiracy stuff into alt-right and far right politics. Just been chatting about a dreadlocked earth mother organic food type who slowly slipped into more angry anti-vaccine and 5G stuff at the start of Covid, and then proper leapt headlong into the QAnon, pro-Trump, antisemitic cesspit. Now a proper nasty conspiracy theory type who's obsessed with The Great Reset etc.

Yeah I've lost a couple of old friends to that. Interestingly (perhaps) not people who I remember as being that political - much more about the party than the protest types but now conspiracism seems to be their only personality.

A lesson perhaps about idealistic and youthful political movements collapsing into hedonistic subcultures completely removed from the mundane nitty gritty of class politics. If only somone had warned us at the time (they did, we thought they were boring sanctimonious old bastards).

 

[Joe Chi Min]

.

 

[hitmouse]

Far-right ("Turning Point UK") mobilising against a storytime in South London next weekend:

I imagine this must be not too far away from where many urbs are?

 

[hitmouse]

Colchester as well:

 

[lazythursday]

Yeah I've lost a couple of old friends to that. Interestingly (perhaps) not people who I remember as being that political - much more about the party than the protest types but now conspiracism seems to be their only personality.

A lesson perhaps about idealistic and youthful political movements collapsing into hedonistic subcultures completely removed from the mundane nitty gritty of class politics. If only somone had warned us at the time (they did, we thought they were boring sanctimonious old bastards).

I have a lot of acquaintances who have gone down this road, to varying degrees. I'm not sure I've really quite processed how traumatic this has been - these are people I've known for years, partied with, thought of as fundamentally on the same side in life. Like, I expected them to have my back, if any shit was to hit the fan. And now they share homophobic memes and rant about how BLM was created by the deep state. The last few years have been such an enormous political lesson.

 

[Cloo]

A lesson perhaps about idealistic and youthful political movements collapsing into hedonistic subcultures completely removed from the mundane nitty gritty of class politics. If only somone had warned us at the time (they did, we thought they were boring sanctimonious old bastards).

This is an excellent point, sadly.

Also I feel like I should volunteer for a phone line where your friends and family who have not yet gone full on antisemite ('No, I only mean the Rothschilds!') can phone an actual Jew and maybe be helped up realise that actual people are impacted by this shit.

 

[smokedout]

Far-right ("Turning Point UK") mobilising against a storytime in South London next weekend:

I imagine this must be not too far away from where many urbs are?

Massively outnumbered by the counter protest by the looks of things.

 

[hitmouse]

Blimey, that is quite a contrast in numbers.

 

[Rob Ray]

A bit of cross-pollination with another thread, our old friend from GBeebies Not-Actually-a-Reverend Calvin Robinson was present with a loudhailer. I can only imagine the Mail's reaction if say, a presenter from Sky or the BBC had shown up to do similar on the other side of the blue line.

 

[nino_savatte]

Typically, Daubney, while whipping up his followers on Twitter, is nowhere to be seen. He knows he'd probably get his arse handed to him if he did.

 

[spitfire]

Calvin Robinson THE TWAT getting it in the ear.

 

[spitfire]

Oh and I just happened across this as well, what a great idea.

 

[Cloo]

Some 'strategic' reporting from the Telegraph here about alleged sex ed in Isle of Man which leads with a drag queen 'allegedly' upsetting a child who objected to her saying there are '73 genders' and then going on to talk about what sounds like some not particularly approporiate sex ed that the headline implies was provided by the drag queen, but from the text there's no actual indication that it was the drag queen providing these lessons.

Spoiler: Some probably made up homophobic bollocks about sex ed & 'drag queen'

Sex education has been suspended in Isle of Man schools after a drag queen allegedly told 11-year-olds that there are 73 genders.
The Isle of Man government has launched an independent review of its personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) curriculum after parents raised the alarmm_ about the “graphic, disproportionate, indecent presentation” of sexual acts and different gender identities understood to have been taught in lessons.
Parents of pupils at Queen Elizabeth II High School in Peel, on the Isle of Man, have reported that Year 7 pupils were taught by a drag queenn_ who told them there are 73 genders.
When one “upset” child responded and said “there’s only two”, the drag queen allegedly responded “you’ve upset me” and made the pupil leave the class.
Some 11-year-olds at the school were taught about oral and anal sex, while another group learned about sex change operations and were shown how skin graft taken from a girl’s arm could be used on an artificial penis, according to reports.
“A lot of children are just too traumatised to even talk to their parents," Eliza Cox, vice-chairman of Marown Commissioners, told Energy FM Isle of Man. “As a parent, you don’t know what children are being taught.”
She said that one teacher on the island had told her she had to teach a group of boys and girls in Years 7 and 8 how to masturbate. Another teacher was said to be so uncomfortable with the content of the PSHE curriculum that they told pupils: “Please don’t listen to me” while they taught the lesson." School suspends sex education after drag queen 'told 11-year-olds there are 73 genders'

 

[SpookyFrank]

Blimey, that is quite a contrast in numbers.

And in policing. No wall of bacon encircling the fash, sorry, I meant the people with legitimate concerns.

 

[SpookyFrank]

In case there was any doubt about the transphobic roots of all this, Tennessee has just passed a bill which bans both drag acts in front of kids (or doing anything around kids that involves non-typical gender presentation) and also trans healthcare for kids.

Tennessee curbs trans treatment and drag for children

The governor signs the laws as questions are asked about an old photo apparently of him in women's clothing.

www.bbc.com

Gender critical feminists, this is what you're working for. Fascism.

 

[smokedout]

In case there was any doubt about the transphobic roots of all this, Tennessee has just passed a bill which bans both drag acts in front of kids (or doing anything around kids that involves non-typical gender presentation) and also trans healthcare for kids.

Tennessee curbs trans treatment and drag for children

The governor signs the laws as questions are asked about an old photo apparently of him in women's clothing.

www.bbc.com

Gender critical feminists, this is what you're working for. Fascism.

Directly collaborating with as it turns out:

“Bills on gender-affirming care — dubbed the SAFE Act — have been pushed in 15 state legislatures, and most have been based on model legislation provided by the Women’s Declaration International USA.”

In early 2022, WDI USA’s State Legislative Advocacy (SLA) team, coordinated at that time by Lauren Levey, noticed that a number of states were proposing bills intended to ban medical procedures on minors for the purpose of disguising their sex. But well intentioned as they were, their language and especially their definitions of terms were written in the circular, deceptive transpeak based on sex stereotypes and the writings of those who promote gender identity ideology. The result was that the legislators’ good intentions in opposing gender identity ideology were significantly undermined by eye-rolling nonsense such as “living as a gender that corresponds to their biological sex.”

I won't link, it's easy enough to find.

WDI is an international group, founded by UK based Terfs, which made submissions to the UN calling for an end to all trans rights and which was signed by almost all prominent UK Gender Critical activists including so called moderates.

The end result of the gender critical movement, whether intended by all or not, is starting to look like state enforced gender conformity and an end to bodily autonomy. Fuck knows what future feminists who will have to live in this mess will think when they look back at those responsible.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Fuck knows what future feminists who will have to live in this mess will think when they look back at those responsible.

Amongst other things, anger and bewilderment that the transphobes called themselves feminists while pushing a misogynist agenda, and while calling everyone a misogynist who spoke out against them.

And the ones on here pretend to be left wing as well.

 

[Pickman's model]

Blimey, that is quite a contrast in numbers.

a disparity in class forces

 

[Cloo]

The end result of the gender critical movement, whether intended by all or not, is starting to look like state enforced gender conformity and an end to bodily autonomy. Fuck knows what future feminists who will have to live in this mess will think when they look back at those responsible.

As I've said in the US Transphobia thread - it's 'everyone stay in your gender lanes'. Infuriatingly, in all this you'll get people who go 'Well, the gays brought it on themselves, they went to far, I was OK with them living their lives but when they have to be so visible it's too much! Can't they just get on with it quietly in the same way that nothing I ever say or do announces my sexuality to the public?!'

Latest new flashpoint is Cababarave - an event for parents that they can bring babies to - during the day where there's some scantily clad LGBTQ performers and, from the video that is circulating to much horror, some babies who are far too young to see anything in it other than another interesting thing to stare at. But of course, this is sexualising children and is apparently going to have some impact on them. And presumably there will be some with the 'slipperly slope' argument that apparently the ultimate aim will be to get parents to leave their tiny children alone with paedophiles or something, because reallly people are incapable of using their judgement to distinguish between the two scenarios if their children see enough gay people.

 

[smokedout]

Amongst other things, anger and bewilderment that the transphobes called themselves feminists while pushing a misogynist agenda while calling everyone a misogynist who spoke out against them.

And the ones on here pretend to be left wing as well.

I think of a lot of left/liberals of a certain age never really let go of internalised homophobia/transphobia particularly when it came to gay men and trans women. They learned to say all the right things, and maybe even had a couple of gay friends, but it was still there and is now manifesting in new ways.

One thing that's revealing is how often I see people who claim to be of the left saying I usually hate the Daily Mail but they've been really good on trans/queer issues. The Daily Mail have approached this exactly the way they approach everything else, with hyperbole, misdirection, ommission, exaggeration and at times outright fabrication. If people can't see that, because on this occassion it aligns with their prejudices, then it really reveals that they are just as easy to manipulate as those they've spent years looking down on.

In the (hopefully unlikely) event the Tories win the next election I think we could see similar laws proposed here, and I see few signs from gender critical activists that they would oppose them - when there are criticisms it's more about 'the optics' then any concern that palling around with fascists and empowering far right homophobic voices is likely to lead to violence and deaths. The hatred currently being whipped up against drag queens and gender non-conforming people on mumsnet and gender critical twitter is a sight to behold and really reveals the movement to be based on disgust, homophobia and transphobia with increasingly openly eliminationist aims.

If someone is part of that movement, or offers it support, and isn't doing everything possible to publicly oppose where it is heading then I have no sympathy left at all, and no trust in those who claim that they aren't like that, they just have reasonable concerns or whatever. The fucking ghouls didn't even blink when Brianna Ghey's death was reported, and I've seen little condemnation of the far right politicians in the US or gender critical feminists in the UK who have called for trans elimination. This is how genocides happen and if you're comfortable dancing on the edge of that fine, but at least have the honesty to say so.

 

[Cloo]

There really is no LGB without the T, because if they come for the T, as America is demonstrating, they will always come for the LGB too. So, yes, the Mail et all are not being 'good on queer issues', they are warming up with a bit of bus throwing for a full on assault on wider rights.

And while they're at it they'll come for women in general as well of course.

Hopefully we can divert things before it comes to that and the Tories' gambit to win via invented culture wars because they literally have nothing positive to offer voters, will fail.

 

[smokedout]

There really is no LGB without the T, because if they come for the T, as America is demonstrating, they will always come for the LGB too. So, yes, the Mail et all are not being 'good on queer issues', they are warming up with a bit of bus throwing for a full on assault on wider rights.

Just proposed in Iowa: This joint resolution proposes an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Iowa relating to marriage specifying “In accordance with the laws of nature and nature’s God, the state of Iowa recognizes the definition of marriage to be the solemnized union between one human biological male and one human biological female."

 

[SpookyFrank]

I think of a lot of left/liberals of a certain age never really let go of internalised homophobia/transphobia particularly when it came to gay men and trans women. They learned to say all the right things, and maybe even had a couple of gay friends, but it was still there and is now manifesting in new ways.

One thing that's revealing is how often I see people who claim to be of the left saying I usually hate the Daily Mail but they've been really good on trans/queer issues. The Daily Mail have approached this exactly the way they approach everything else, with hyperbole, misdirection, ommission, exaggeration and at times outright fabrication. If people can't see that, because on this occassion it aligns with their prejudices, then it really reveals that they are just as easy to manipulate as those they've spent years looking down on.

In the (hopefully unlikely) event the Tories win the next election I think we could see similar laws proposed here, and I see few signs from gender critical activists that they would oppose them - when there are criticisms it's more about 'the optics' then any concern that palling around with fascists and empowering far right homophobic voices is likely to lead to violence and deaths. The hatred currently being whipped up against drag queens and gender non-conforming people on mumsnet and gender critical twitter is a sight to behold and really reveals the movement to be based on disgust, homophobia and transphobia with increasingly openly eliminationist aims.

If someone is part of that movement, or offers it support, and isn't doing everything possible to publicly oppose where it is heading then I have no sympathy left at all, and no trust in those who claim that they aren't like that, they just have reasonable concerns or whatever. The fucking ghouls didn't even blink when Brianna Ghey's death was reported, and I've seen little condemnation of the far right politicians in the US or gender critical feminists in the UK who have called for trans elimination. This is how genocides happen and if you're comfortable dancing on the edge of that fine, but at least have the honesty to say so.

Spot on.

 

[Cloo]

There is an insidious creep of people being useful idiots to the homophobic far right by sharing articles like the Telegraph one I refer to above, creating a general sense that gay people are Up To Something Unsavoury (Jews know this kind of narrative well sadly)

 

[8ball]

One thing that's revealing is how often I see people who claim to be of the left saying I usually hate the Daily Mail but they've been really good on trans/queer issues.

Do they ever mention how they just sort of happened to find themselves reading the Daily Mail?

 

[smokedout]

Do they ever mention how they just sort of happened to find themselves reading the Daily Mail?

See the post by Cloo above. They follow a link on social media or from a gender critical website and go oh, this confirms everything I've always secretly suspected about Queers, I'll keep reading, they're the only ones telling the truth about this. Same way everyone else ends up reading it (except my Nan who really liked the crossword).

 

[8ball]

See the post by Cloo above. They follow a link on social media or from a gender critical website and go oh, this confirms everything I've always secretly suspected about Queers, I'll keep reading, they're the only ones telling the truth about this. Same way everyone else ends up reading it (except my Nan who really liked the crossword).

They could at least put some effort in and pretend they were reading it for the horseracing coverage

 

[Karl Masks]

What is all this 'casa baba rave' stuff? It seems to have provoked an even more intense reaction from the pearl clutchers?

 

[elbows]

I think of a lot of left/liberals of a certain age never really let go of internalised homophobia/transphobia particularly when it came to gay men and trans women. They learned to say all the right things, and maybe even had a couple of gay friends, but it was still there and is now manifesting in new ways.

Likewise I have sometimes seen descriptions of what bigotry still existed within areas of the LGBTQ community itself, with plenty of disgusting shit bigotry and bullying directed at 'butch lesbians' from some quarters, to give one of the most obvious examples of barely reformed prejudice and some being treated as more equal than others.

If someone is part of that movement, or offers it support, and isn't doing everything possible to publicly oppose where it is heading then I have no sympathy left at all, and no trust in those who claim that they aren't like that, they just have reasonable concerns or whatever.

I remain haunted by aspects of that on this forum years ago, back when more threads were in full flow about these subjects. There was plenty of framing along the lines of people having concerns about rules being changed. I used to poke at that by inviting those people to go out of their way to at least make clear that they did support the existing rights and rules that had been in place for quite a long time. Few took that opportunity, or ended up demonstrating that they didnt even understand the existing rights that people already had on paper at the time. And certainly didnt leave me with any sense that they would be careful to ensure that existing rights were not eroded. The sense that people were not acting in good faith was increased by some things that were said and also by certain forms of silence in this area, and I never got over that at all. The furthest some would go was to express vague sentiments about people being allowed to live their lives as they choose, but its hard to sincerely enshrine those principals if specific rights and mechanisms are not understood and defended.