The biggest story that got most people talking in Trans Land this week featured JK Rowling and absolutely no trans people, again.

The noise around trans lives is relentless.

That’s why people like Martin Samuel, the Daily Mail’s Chief Sports Gammon, can write, about a protest at an open training session with England Women’s rugby team at Twickenham over their trans ban, that “trans voices are heard all the time.”

Simply put, that is a lie.

Trans voices are rarely heard. What Samuel is thinking about are cis voices talking about trans issues.

That’s a totally different thing that never shuts up.

INSINCERE ACTIVISTS Daily Mail16 Aug 2022 When england’s women held an open training session at Twickenham last week, a group of 15 trans rights activists arrived to protest rugby’s new gender restriction policy. ‘We will not be going away until our voices are heard,’ said emily hamilton, a harlequins supporter, trans woman and a former player after 18 seasons. But trans voices are heard all the time. every sport considers trans issues. every sport listens to trans perspectives and representations. Rugby certainly did before making a hugely difficult decision to exclude trans women on safety grounds. But being heard is not the point. What hamilton means is the protesters won’t go away until they get what they want. And that’s very different. PRESENTER Mark Chapman made great play of the fact that all of the results from every division would be read out on Sports Report at some time on Saturday, but the BBC miss the point. That’s not the same. Pop to the loo, or get momentarily distracted, and you might miss the league you are waiting to hear. There is no timing, no schedule. It’s not like having a complete set of fixtures listed at 5pm. If the programme makers behind the decision cannot grasp that simple fact, one wonders why they are even in sports radio. TYSON FURY retired from boxing. he’s done nothing since. And now he’s retired again. Retired from what, exactly?
Daily Mail 16 August 2022

So, last weekend, a religious extremist brutally stabbed Salman Rushdie, leaving him on a ventilator and likely to lose an eye, amongst other long-terms ramifications such as nerve damage and wounds to the 75-year-old’s liver that follow being stabbed multiple times.

Another religious fanatic then tweeted JK Rowling ‘you’re next’ and Rushdie was flung to the side as the papers, and Rowling’s minions, activated swarm mode to defend the ‘real’ victim and attack who they believed to be responsible – trans people.

Number of trans people involved so far: 0.

You could point to the Daily Mail for kicking it all off on Monday with their editorial saying there was little difference between an Islamic Extremists and a ‘trans rights extremist’ (that’s you if you’re trans, btw), but we all knew it was coming within a few hours of Rushdie being stabbed.

No place for pacifism in these culture wars Daily Mail15 Aug 2022 WHAT’S the difference between an Islamist fundamentalist and a trans rights extremist? Not as much as we may have thought, it seems. Where crushing free speech is concerned, they are very much on the same page. These disparate groups are trying to silence JK Rowling for the sin of speaking her mind – first over the rights of natural-born women, now in support of Salman Rushdie. It takes the maxim that my enemy’s enemy is my friend to absurd limits.
Daily Mail 15 August 2022

In the same edition, the Daily Mail showed us clearly where they planned to take things:

Cowardice of Leftists who fail to defend free speech Daily Mail15 Aug 2022Frank Furedi is a professor of sociology and the author of 100 Years Of Identity Crisis: Culture War Over Socialisation. By Frank Furedi THE most shocking thing about Friday’s attack on Sir Salman Rushdie is not that it happened in the first place. The author had, after all, spent much of his life with a bounty on his head – a burden he bore with bravery and resilience. No, what has astonished me is the reaction in some quarters to the attempted murder of a blameless novelist – especially from the Left. Yesterday morning, absurdly, a BBC Radio 4 news bulletin was claiming that ‘ no motive has yet been established’ for the crime. The website of The Guardian newspaper, equally unwilling to look the facts in the face, was quick to reassure its readers that a motive for the savagery ‘ appears to be unclear’. Rank absurdity. The attacker’s apparent sympathy for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard and Shia extremism was by then obvious to anyone with an internet connection. Iran’s newspapers, moreover, were in no doubt what to think about it, one saying: ‘ A thousand bravos... to the brave and dutiful person who attacked the apostate and evil Salman Rushdie... The hand of the man who tore the neck of God’s enemy must be kissed.’ But the Left, as ever, seemed unwilling to admit the obvious – even as JK Rowling, pictured, was chillingly being told ‘you’re next’ by a Pakistani ‘political activist’ after she dared to express solidarity with her fellow novelist. Well, as Winston Churchill is often misquoted saying, up with this I will not put. It is time for those of us who believe in free speech, in liberalism and in democracy to stand up and say so. Because the world is dividing on clear lines: those who recognise the value of these things, and those who do not. This crisis has, alas, been getting worse, not better. When the ‘Rushdie affair’ broke in 1989, the ‘fatwa’ imposed by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini – over a book the cleric had not even read – provoked shock and anger across the West. The Western world rallied to Rushdie’s defence: Iran and Britain broke off diplomatic relations, and a host of leading cultural and political figures worldwide offered the author private and public support. FAST forward to today and how things have changed. ‘Our’ side is in the grip of a climate of intolerance that is growing daily. The Left, as I say, are squeamish about stating plainly what the rest of us can see with our own eyes. For too long, they have appeased and pandered to the extremists. As recently as 2019, a columnist for the Left- wing Independent newspaper (who also hadn’t read the book), wrote: ‘I wouldn’t have it in my house, out of respect to Muslim people and contempt for Rushdie... I’d be quite inclined to burn it.’ Indeed, it is hard to imagine Sir Salman’s novel The Satanic Verses being considered for publication now. But this is not merely about a debate between Western authors and Islamist fundamentalists. Intolerance and illiberalism now characterise the public square in Britain and across the ‘free’ world. After all, JK Rowling faces death threats not just from Islamists – but, in a horrible irony given how dissimilar the two groups are, frequently from trans-rights extremists, too. And just as it took Twitter 13 hours to remove the death threat aimed at Rowling from the religious fanatics, very often the social media site betrays a shocking unwillingness to delete those threats. We have got to get a grip. It is more than a year since a teacher at Batley Grammar in West Yorkshire was forced into hiding by an angry mob at the school gates. This teacher committed the transgression of provoking a discussion among his pupils: in a religious studies lesson, he showed a drawing of the Prophet Muhammad, a ‘blasphemy’ that many Muslims abhor. Some people might disagree with his decision, but free speech does not require universal agreement: that’s the point. Few are the politicians who have defended this teacher or dared criticise those who left him in fear for his life. If we accept that Britain is now a place where certain topics cannot be freely discussed, then we have lost one of the foundation stones of our democracy. As an academic, I have watched in despair as the ability to speak freely has been steadily eroded. When I was a young man in the 1960s, thought flourished in Britain’s universities. We could say almost anything, debate any view, challenge any orthodoxy. No longer. Today, if a professor wants a lively conversation, he can go to the pub among trusted friends – but he must exercise great caution in the lecture hall. ‘Wrongthink’ is ruthlessly policed and legion are the tales of transgressors suspended by authorities and barracked on the college lawn by placard-waving mobs. STUDENTS who once insisted on the right to think for themselves now demand to hear only what has been approved by ‘correct’ Leftist thinking. The ramifications are immense. Colleagues tell me they see some students, for instance, frozen with fear in historical discussions of the Holocaust. All they want is to be told the ‘right’ viewpoint – the one that gives no offence. Shamefully, the universities are complicit in all this. Yesterday, it emerged that four out of ten British teenagers were rejected this year by top universities, their places given instead to overseas students who pay higher fees. With our elite institutions ever more reliant on this money, little wonder if they feel pressure to tailor their courses and remove any potential sources of upset to keep their customers happy. Applications this summer from Chinese students are also up 10 per cent. This will probably stifle discussion about Taiwanese and Tibetan sovereignty, and the genocide of China’s Muslim Uighur population. Such subjects will be barred – exactly what Beijing wants. Such regimes abhor free speech. We must not follow their lead. The sickening attack on Sir Salman Rushdie and the poisonous threats to JK Rowling are proof of that.
Daily Mail 15 August 2022

The chair of the Society of Authors, Joanne Harris, then had the temerity to highlight that many writers get death threats. This wasn’t done to minimise what happened to Rowling, but to highlight a wider issue that impacts more than just one or two authors. It also included Rowling, you know, like how the word ‘person’ also includes ‘women’.

They hate that, too.

The Critters swarmed, aware that Joanne Harris had expressed support for trans people in the past. Despite offering no criticism of Rowling, repeatedly condemning the threat against Rowling and stating, clearly, that she would represent Rowling regardless of their differing views, they harassed her relentlessly.

They called for Harris to be removed from her elected position because of her views on gender, despite the legal cases GCs have brought against those who have fired people due to their views on gender. They’ve even got a new one on the go:

Not content with merely harassing and threatening Harris, they also forced her to out her own child as trans.

Kathleen Stock enjoyed this. She made it clear that trans people are a thing to be declared should you ever find yourself related to one.

What’s next, some sort of marker on our clothing?

Number of trans people involved so far: 0 (I’m not counting Harris’s child as they have nothing to do with this).

Next up, a letter in support of JK Rowling was drafted and signed by the usual suspects. This generated more media coverage from the Telegraph.

Writers throw book at Chocolat author over failure to speak up for Rowling Society of Authors criticised for ‘silence’ after death threats sent to Harry Potter creator following trans row The Daily Telegraph17 Aug 2022By Craig Simpson THE Society of Authors is facing a mutiny for “failing to defend” JK Rowling after she received death threats for her transgender views, according to members who say the union “has capitulated to ideology”. Joanne Harris, chairman of the management committee for the UK’S largest writers’ union, is now facing an internal revolt over an alleged failure to publicly condemn those who accused writers such as Rowling of “wrongthink” for going against prevailing ideology. The Daily Telegraph understands that authors are resigning their membership of the union over its perceived abandonment of gender-critical writers, and some of those that remain are hoping to oust Ms Harris from its board. One source, who quit the union, said: “The society has capitulated to an ideology where it no longer appears to be willing to support any author who it deems guilty of ‘wrongthink’.” A current member has suggested that more are planning to quit, saying that “we are already in revolt”. Another member, the author Ruth Dudley Edwards, has stated her position online, saying: “As a longtime member of the Society of Authors who was once on its management committee, I’ve been horrified by Joanne Harris’s failure to defend free speech, the society’s bedrock. It’s time for her to resign before she damages it further.” Supporters of Ms Rowling have long raised concerns about online death and rape threats made to the Harry Potter author after she began commenting on the transgender debate by affirming her views on the reality of biological sex, and the value of female-only spaces. The Society of Authors under the chairmanship of Ms Harris – author of the novel Chocolat – received repeated requests from concerned union members to support Ms Rowling. Emails seen by The Telegraph show that as far back as 2020 – when Ms Rowling first weighed into the trans debate – society members asked the union’s leadership to make a public statement in solidarity with Ms Rowling’s right to express her views. Ms Rowling herself said this week that the Society has failed to defend gender-critical writers who have lost their jobs because of their scepticism about “fashionable” ideas. Ms Harris has defended herself by saying that she and the society believe in and protect freedom of speech, but that it does not intervene with disputes on social media. In a statement on Twitter, she wrote: “I support trans rights. I also have a son who came out as trans a few months ago. But my personal feelings about the gender-critical movement don’t affect my belief in free speech. Rowling has every right to her opinions. I may not share them, but that’s fine. And I totally condemn any threats to her, as I do to anyone.” Following the attack on Sir Salman Rushdie, the society released a statement on Monday. It said: “We condemn every type of personal attack on authors to exercising their rights to express themselves freely – whether physical, verbal, legal or political.” The Society of Authors has insisted that it does not have a “stance” in the transgender debate, and that it does not involve itself in disputes between writers. The organisation said: “While we deplore bullying, trolling and personal attacks, we don’t usually speak out publicly on individual cases.”
Daily Telegraph, 17 August 2022

After devoting this half page on Wednesday to the letter JK Rowling’s chums sent to the Society of Authors trying to get Harris removed for not being a transphobe, the Daily Telegraph then completely ignored a letter sent in support of Harris, which was signed by significantly more authors and industry professionals, rather than just a list of people who have made their name being awful to trans people.

Number of trans people involved at any point in this entire spat that was blamed on trans people: 0.

By Thursday, an author few people had ever heard of wrote a full page article in the Daily Telegraph claiming that YES! She too had been cancelled after showing support for JK Rowling. Her ‘successful career’ had been flushed down the toilet all because of those nasty trans people.

What actually happened, it turned out, was that Gillian Philip had been part of a collective of writers who worked on a series of YA books under the pen name Erin Hunter.

Philip then took it upon herself to tweet her gender critical views under the pen name, the other authors didn’t like that, and they decided they weren’t going to work with her any more.

Number of trans people involved: Yep, still 0.

On Saturday, the Daily Mail gave use two full pages to tell us all about “JK Rowling and the female feud tearing the literati apart” which isn’t actually a thing that is happening. The vast majority of authors are not on Rowling’s side, as evidenced by the two letters that were sent.

2 pages from the Daily Mail on "JK Rowling and the female feud tearing the literati apart"
Daily Mail 20 August 2022

There were, of course, many other stories doing the rounds that failed to attract as much attention as anything JK Rowling gets involved with.

The Mail on Sunday ran a story about trans people that just flat out lied in the headline, claiming, hospitals are using words like ‘pregnant people’ INSTEAD of ‘mother’ when their own article shows that this is not the case. The words are being use IN ADDITION TO.

Third of hospitals now use work terms like 'pregnant person' instead of mothers
Mail on Sunday 14/8/22

Number of trans people involved in any of these stories: 0

Other trans stories that made the media this week:

  • ‘They treated me like I was David Icke’: Father Ted creator Graham Linehan slams BBC for ‘making him look insane’ during Newsnight interview about the Tavistock Centre as he continues to cry about the consequences of his own actions.  [Mail Online]
  • Utah parents triggered SECRET probe into the gender of a school girl who outclassed opponents at a sports event to determine if she was biologically born a boy (she wasn’t) [Mail Online] NYMag.com‘s headline for this story was much more accurate – ‘Transphobic Utah Parents Launch Witch Hunt Against Teen’ (somebody tell Americans that capitalising every letter in a headline went out of fashion years ago).
  • Ted Cruz joked Elizabeth Warren might have a penis because ‘in today’s Democrat Party how do we know she doesn’t’ during Nevada rally [Mail Online]

Away from the papers

After it was announced that the Scottish Government would provide free sanitary products in all schools, hospitals, government buildings etc to combat period poverty, Maya Forstater laid out her feminist credentials by declaring ‘period poverty’ as something that doesn’t exist.

More anti-trans campaigners then decided that free sanitary products would be harmful to women:

Note

You might have noticed that I seem to focus mostly on the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Mail Online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph. That is for a few reasons:

  • It’s impossible to keep on top of everything in every paper/website.
  • The Mail titles are the largest in the country, their website one of the biggest on the planet and what they publish has real world impact.
  • I have access to The Telegraph and Mail hard copy papers in ways I don’t for the Murdoch rags and I won’t give Murdoch any money.

This list was in no way meant to be definitive. Nobody has that much time on their hands, except, perhaps, GCs.

See you same time next week and if you want updates through the week, follow me on Twitter after my Alt after right-wingers got my main account shut down and, three months on, Twitter still haven’t dealt with my appeal!

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