Words and images by Louise Jackson
On Thursday March 16, UK anti-trans activist ‘Posie Parker’, real name Kellie-Jay Keen (KJK), took to the steps of Parliament House in Adelaide. She’s currently on her Let Women Speak tour of Australia and New Zealand. Under the banner of ‘women’s rights’ activism, KJK hosts free speaking events which platform transphobic rhetoric.
The National Union of Students (NUS) Queer/LGBTI have committed to protesting every stop on the Let Women Speak tour. These pro-trans rights counter-events have consistently outnumbered KJK’s supporters.
Ellie Hall, from the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism, which co-hosted the Adelaide event, stated that ‘[KJK’s] rally was outnumbered by pro-trans protesters 4:1’ in a ‘brilliant victory against her vile beliefs’.
‘The National Union of Students, in all its capacity, supports the transgender community. Myself and the NUS believe that it is vital to show that far-right, anti-queer and anti-trans views do not have a place in our community’ said NUS Welfare Officer, Grace Franco.
A significant police presence separated protesters from KJK’s rally. Pro-trans protesters chanted ‘we’re here, we’re queer, we’re fabulous, don’t f*ck with us’, ‘we can’t hear you’ and ‘Posie Parker, you can’t hide, you’ve got Nazis on your side’.
The Let Women Speak rally in Melbourne on March 18 was indeed attended by a neo-Nazi group, just to nail home that point.
University of Adelaide SRC Welfare Officer, Rafael Aquino, stated that ‘it is very important for the SRC and the Welfare Department to stand in solidarity with and support the trans community and in particular trans students here at the University of Adelaide who may already face hardships due to their gender identity’.
KJK has not seemed to receive as much support on this tour as she may have expected. At one time during the rally, she began pointing at various protesters and yelling ‘you’re a man, and you’re a man, and you’re a man…’.
She made accusations that the women protesting were ‘handmaidens’, enslaved by men who would destroy them. KJK is for women, until they choose to stand against her.
Who is Posie Parker?
KJK rose to fame with the phrase ‘adult human female’, plastered across UK billboards as the definition for ‘woman’. She’s a prominent online and public figure campaigning against trans rights.
Her work has been credited as part of the growing threat to trans rights in the UK, where anti-trans activists are working hard to roll back protections and rights which trans communities and supporters have fought hard for.
KJK founded the group Standing for Women, the organisers of the Let Women Speak tour. Their website states that ‘2023 is the year of the TERF [trans exclusionary radical feminist]’.
The Australian leg of the tour is being promoted by Binary, formerly known as the Marriage Alliance. The group fought against the same-sex marriage bill and now fights against trans rights.
In an interview with 7 News Adelaide, KJK stated ‘I don’t personally believe trans really exists’.
Her problematic beliefs extend past the trans community and into outright misogyny. In promotion for her Australian tour, KJK stated she would be advocating against access to birth control and abortions for under-16s; ‘I think parents need to take back control of their children’. Doctors in Australia are currently allowed to prescribe birth control without parental permission if it is in the patient’s best interests.
Let Women Speak rallies in Brisbane and Sydney featured Binary anti-abortion activist Kirralie Smith.
KJK has also been accused of racism and white supremacism. She has appeared in a video with a former Klu Klux Klan leader, been interviewed by far-right group Soldiers of Christ Online, and appeared alongside known neo-Nazis. She claims she was unaware of their extremist beliefs at the time, but is known to put aside such things in her fight against trans rights.
At a January rally in Newcastle, UK, a speaker quoted Adolf Hitler and Mein Kampf in an attack on trans rights. KJK did not stop this.
Her Melbourne rally has only stoked the flames. 30 neo-Nazis were in attendance, claiming to be there to form a ‘vanguard’ for the rally. While some attendees have said they were scared of the neo-Nazis, others took photos with them, and no attempt was made to ask the plenty of attending police officers to separate the ralliers from the Nazis.
KJK is a dicey personality even for TERFs. Her right-wing ties and complete denial of trans existence have made her a radical amongst radicals.
What is a TERF and what do they believe?
A TERF is a ‘Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist’. TERFs believe trans people are the biggest threat to modern women. Their rhetoric revolves around the protection of women’s-only spaces, the protection of children, and the fear of predatory men.
To knock out those talking points quickly:
- Women’s only spaces should include trans women. Trans women, particularly trans women of colour, are one of the most at risk minority groups today. You are not afraid of trans women, you are afraid of men.
- Increased discussion of queer people is not a threat to children. It does not turn kids trans or turn them gay, it creates a more welcoming space for them to grow up in. The rates of queer-identification are increasing, yes. But they are increasing because we’re building a more accepting world.
- Puberty blockers are used in a variety of situations, and do not damage a child’s development. Their only function is to delay the onset of puberty, giving trans children time and options for the future.
- Any trans person will tell you that gender-affirming medical care is not easy to access. The idea that parents and doctors are forcing children to mutilate themselves is blatantly inaccurate. Gender-affirming surgeries are not performed on under-18s, and any surgery occurring in adults first requires lengthy consultations. It is not easy to transition, but it saves lives.
- Predatory men are a problem. Denying the existence of trans women is not the solution.
Why are TERFs such a threat?
Quite simply, because of who they are willing to associate with. Anti-trans activism unites people across concerning political divides. As we’ve seen with KJK, TERFs are willing to work with neo-Nazis, evangelical Christians, and other far right groups.
These groups are not only against the rights of trans people, but against women’s rights advances generally.
KJK is a member of the Hands Across the Aisle coalition. Hall says the coalition aims ‘to connect anti-trans feminists with conservative Christian anti-LGBT groups’ where ‘both “table [their] ideological differences” to “oppose gender identity ideology”’.
By reaching ‘across the aisle’, TERFs are willing to threaten feminist ideals, simply because of their hatred of the trans community.
Anti-trans rhetoric has no place in Australia and KJK has concerning personalities on her side.
Her stint with neo-Nazis in Melbourne may have spelt the end for her New Zealand leg of Let Women Speak. Immigration New Zealand are reviewing her impending entry into the country.
Wherever she makes it next, keep drowning out the hate.
Trans rights are women’s rights.
Trans rights are human rights.
Trans rights are not a threat.
TERFs are – fight back.
On Dit 