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Report: Wi Spa Protests Highlight Growing Collaboration Between Gender Critical Activists and the Far-Right

Content note: post includes depictions of police brutality, fascist activity, transmisogyny, racism, and references to pedophilia, domestic violence, sexual assault, and QAnon.

Several gender critical activists showed up to right-wing anti-trans protests at Wi Spa in Los Angeles, CA that took place on July 3rd.[1] At least one also attended a second round of protests organized by the same right-wing groups that took place on July 17th. Five have been identified and all five play active roles in the gender critical movement. Some have organized their own protests in the past.

The aim of this piece is to name which gender critical activists attended, give some background on who they are, describe what they did at the protests and how they’ve been describing the protests to other members of their movement. It will also note any connections these individuals have to the Right, including if they’ve been spreading right-wing media about the protests. Overall, gender critical activists’ actions and responses to the Wi Spa protests demonstrate their increasing alignment with the far-right.

A quick note on terminology: While the term “gender critical” was originally coined and used by transphobic feminists, it has since been adopted by a number of transphobic groups and individuals, including for example some conservative Christians, anti-trans conversion therapists, and transphobic parents of trans youth. This is largely a result of transphobic feminists being willing to ally with other transphobic groups, resulting in these groups adopting their ideas and language (and vice versa). Some transphobic radical feminists, particularly those who do not condone working with the Right, now shun the term “gender critical” because of its current associations. What unites all gender critical people is their belief that sex is immutable and determines a person’s gender and a disbelief in the reality of trans people. Thus transphobes coming from any number of backgrounds can use “gender critical” to describe their position. It has become an ideological label that helps facilitate alliances between groups that previously didn’t have much direct contact with each other or had been in conflict. One can now find conservative Christians and transphobic gay people coming together under the banner of “gender critical”, united in their belief that medical transition is an abomination. Hence in this piece gender critical should not be taken to mean transphobic feminist but rather that the person or group in question is part of a growing anti-trans hate movement formed through coalitions between a variety of groups.

Background on Wi Spa Protests

Far-right white nationalist groups called for protests outside of Wi Spa in Los Angeles on July 3rd after a video of a cis woman complaining to staff that she saw a trans woman in the women’s area of the spa went viral on right-wing and gender critical social media.[2][3] No trans woman is ever seen in the video and many question whether the incident was staged, particularly since the woman in the original video, Cubana Angel, has ties to conservative Christian groups and has since begun fighting to change California’s nondiscrimination laws. Her actions follow a common right-wing tactic of staging an emotionally charged incident and then using it to spread misinformation and propaganda.[4] Additionally, right-wing and gender critical transphobes targeted a local trans woman of color after falsely accusing her of being the trans woman who allegedly exposed herself at the spa. This lead to her receiving threats of violence, including from far-right transphobes who threatened to track her down and lynch her.

Trans-supportive activists and antifascists staged a counter-protest, and end up facing off with the right-wing protesters and Los Angeles Police Department.[1] Right-wing protesters, including members of the Proud Boys, came armed with weapons ranging from bats to knives to giant rosary beads. One was spotted with what appeared to be a gun or taser.[5] There were many violent confrontations between anti-trans protesters and counter-protesters. One of the protesters ended up stabbing two people, a counter-protester and a member of his own group.[6]

In addition to right-wing groups, several gender critical activists attended the protests. Details on their activities will be provided in the following sections.

There were also a woman with a sign who was confronted and chased off by pro-trans and anti-fascist counter-protesters. She has not been identified and doesn’t appear to have come with any particular group. Her political affiliations are unknown but in any case, gender critical social media accounts spread footage of counter-protesters chasing her out of the area, claiming that this proves that anti-fascist and pro-trans activists are violent misogynists.[7][8] Gender critical accounts tended to focus on this incident and those involving gender critical women like Gaye Chapman, ignoring right-wing protesters and the violence they committed. By what coverage they shared, some even give the impression that this woman was representative of the protesters that showed up to the spa, rather than an outlier.

The same far-right groups called for a second protest outside the spa on July 17th.[9] LAPD surrounded the spa and got in between right-wing anti-trans protesters and pro-trans and anti-fascist counter-protesters. As with the first protest, many of the right-wing protesters were armed and wearing body armor.[10] They arrived in a group of around fifty people, many holding signs bearing right-wing and transphobic slogans. Some were chanting QAnon slogans and many claimed to be ‘anti-pedophile activists”, acting as if a trans woman accessing women’s spaces is somehow engaging in pedophilia.

Police blocked counter-protesters from engaging with the anti-trans protesters. They beat counter-protesters with batons, breaking the hand of a journalist covering the protest.[11] They also shot counter-protesters with rubber bullets at close range. They chased and surrounded a group of counter-protesters and arrested around forty people. Meanwhile, Proud Boys and other right-wingers who came to protest were free to roam the streets of Los Angeles, attacking random people they crossed paths with.[12]

Gender Critical Activists who Attended

joey brite and Lynn Meagher

joey brite (left) and Lynn Meagher (right).

Among gender critical activists who turned up at the Wi Spa protest were joey brite and Lynn Meagher. joey brite, of Oakland, California, is an anti-trans activist who has been organizing protests at clinics that treat trans youth across the country including in Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, New York City, Boston, and Tacoma.[13] brite posts pictures and videos of the protests online to promote them and try to recruit more demonstrators. She first made a name for herself in the gender critical movement by organizing an online conference called Can I Get a Witness in August of 2020, which featured presentations by conspiracy theorists, conversion therapists and other anti-trans activists.[14]

joey brite in a hardware store with the captions “I Stand With Rowling” and “Biology is Reality”.

Lynn Meagher works with anti-trans parent groups that promote conversion therapy and attempt to restrict or ban access to medical transition. She’s part of a network of transphobic parents of trans children who got involved in anti-trans activism after their children came out. Meagher is a member of Mass Resistance, a right-wing Christian anti-LGBT hate group. She also has ties to Alix Aharon and the Gender Mapper project and gave testimony in Texas in favor of bills banning pediatric transition using material from that project.[15] Meagher has also protested Drag Queen Story Hour along side Proud Boys at a library in Fairwood, Washington.[16]

Lynn Meagher in late 2019.

brite and Meagher showed up at Wi Spa near the end of the protest, after the confrontations between right-wing protesters and pro-trans counter-protesters had taken place. They wandered around the areas near the spa, attempting to blend in with counter-protesters still holding space. They filmed and took pictures of counter-protesters and engaged a few people in conversation, including one person who joked about working for George Soros, though apparently Meagher and brite did not get the joke and took what he said at face value. joey brite later turned over photos she’d posted on her Facebook to the LAPD in order to target antifascist protesters and encouraged Gaye Chapman, another gender critical activist present at the protest, to talk to LAPD and turn over any footage she had to them. She also shared some of her footage with Fox News affiliates.

Public Facebook post by joey brite with footage, images of graffiti, and gender critical and anti-CRT hashtags. Link to full image description.
Facebook comment by joey brite. Text reads: “The cops in that precinct are looking for any photo proof of the attackers. I wasn’t there at the beginning as Belissa states here & on other pages, but I have handed over to the authorities access to my public FB post and specifically a photo of one young Antifa gal who was super nervous and would probably give up names of some of the creeps.”
Facebook comment conversation between Belissa Cohen and joey brite in the 11th Hour Blog Facebook group. Link to full image description.

Later, brite and Meagher returned to the entrance of Wi Spa, which counter-protesters had decorated with signs with pro-trans slogans. At this point, counter-protesters had left the area. Meagher and brite took advantage of this and removed the signs, putting them in the trunk of their car.[17]

Facebook post from joey brite with one of the trans-supportive signs that she tore down and a description of a confrontation she had with a counter-protester. Link to full image description.

brite is claiming that the protest was a “TOTALLY ORCRESTRATED ANITFA psy ops campaign”. In one instance, brite states that she believes that antifascists created the original flyer calling for the protest at Wi Spa in order to lure gender critical women to a fake protest to harass them.[18] On another occasion, brite states that the original flyer might have come from right-wing groups but still claims the protests were “orchestrated psy ops by Antifa” apparently because anti-fascists called for counter-protesters to show up two hours before the protest was due to start.

Facebook comment from joey brite to Gaye Chapman describing her version of events and encouraging Chapman to turn her records over to the Olympic LA police department. Link to full image description.

brite and other gender critical anti-trans activists, including Jennifer Bilek, linked to a livestream of the protest by “Black Conservative Preacher” aka Quincy Franklin, a hate preacher from Oregon with ties to Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys. Franklin is a domestic abuser, known for aggressive homophobic and misogynistic speech. At the 2018 Women’s March in Seattle, WA, Franklin shouted “some women deserve rape” through a megaphone.[19][20]

Facebook comment from joey brite. Text reads: “Here’s a long video stream by a well known youtuber, The Black Conservative. Mainstream media can be seen on site.” Link to YouTube video of the protest.

brite recently posted screenshots of a conversation she had with another person who was opposed to working with right-wing organizations in which she indicates she’s in favor of working with right-wing groups. She states that not being willing to work with such groups won’t “create the kind of progress we need as women and girls or for helping create safeguarding of children.”

Brief exchange between joey brite and another Facebook user who is critical of collaborating with far-right groups. joey brite writes: “I DO support working with those whom you might consider to be right wing so, no , no alliance can exist between you and I at this point in time. I believe that is not the kind of attitude that will create the kind of progress we need as women and girls or for helping to create safeguarding of children.” Other user writes: “I should have gone with my gut. Ok. [Party confetti emote]”

Lynn Meagher praised the the right-wing protesters who showed up at the second Wi Spa protest on July 17th, calling them “a small brave group”. She claimed that there were “punks in black threatening women” and that “anyone standing up for women and children is quickly and viciously attacked by those who center men’s feelings over the rights of women and children.” Meagher fails to mention that many of these “brave” protesters came armed and wearing body armor, were chanting QAnon slogans and waving Trump flags and signs with right-wing slogans. Nor does she mention how these protesters attacked a journalist attempting to question them and later wandered through the streets of Los Angeles and assaulted random people. While she mentions police in riot gear and rubber bullets, she omits how police beat counter-protesters with batons or shot them at close range with said rubber bullets. Meagher presents a misleading account of the second Wi Spa protest by failing to describe the violence and far-right views of the protesters, and playing up the supposed threat and aggression of counter-protesters while minimizing the police brutality directed against them. Meagher ends by contrasting the Wi Spa protests with a gender critical rally held openly and without opposition in Glasgow, Scotland and then hails the gender critical movement of UK as something gender critical activists in the States should aspire to emulate.

Public Facebook post from Lynn Meagher (“Minn Lynn”). Link to full image description.

Gaye Chapman

Gaye Chapman wearing a shirt that reads “This Witch Doesn’t Burn”.

Gaye Chapman runs After Ellen, a TERF media site aimed at cis lesbian and bisexual women. She lives in Los Angeles. In 2018, she attended LA Pride with a homemade flag bearing anti-trans and gender critical slogans, including “Don’t believe the hype — trans activism is misogyny”.[21]

Chapman saw the original video of Cubana Angel at the Wi Spa and then heard about the protest and decided to check it out. She later stated she didn’t know who had organized the protest and advised other gender critical women to do research before attending protests. She met with a few other gender critical women, including Amie Ichikawa and a woman wearing purple. Near the spa, pro-trans counter-protesters saw Chapman’s TERFy shirt and drove her and her companions off.[22]

Chapman later spread right-wing media about the protests on her Twitter, including tweets by Andy Ngo and Antifa Watch, and identified herself as someone who had attended. She helped spread misinformation about Precious Child, a trans woman of color transphobes have falsely accused of being at Wi Spa. She also promoted the right-wing narrative that antifascist protesters were assaulting “innocent” people, claimed that armed far-right protesters were not transphobic and that the Proud Boys who showed up were “thugs” who had nothing to do with the protest.[23][24][25]

Chapman was aware of the second Wi Spa protest and urged gender critical women to stay away from it.[26] In contrast to the first protest, Chapman has not tweeted about the second Wi Spa protest.

Belissa Cohen

Belissa Cohen with her characteristic red hair and glasses.

Belissa Cohen is one of the founders and lead organizers of LGB Fight Back, an anti-trans group made up of gay people who believe that “transgenderism is woke homophobia” and that medical transition is a form of conversion therapy for self-hating gay people. LGB Fight Back has worked with Parents of ROGD Kids (PROGDK), a group of transphobic parents of trans children who believe that being trans is a form of mental illness spread by social contagion. Last February, the two groups teamed up to protest clinics that treat trans youth in several cities across the country, including one in Los Angeles.[27][28]

Cohen went to the July 3rd Wi Spa protest representing herself, not LGB Fight Back. She was not recognized by counter-protesters and was able to blend in, observe and take pictures. She observed confrontations between pro-trans counter-protesters and a transphobic woman with a sign who was chased out of the area. Cohen also witnessed Gaye Chapman and her companions getting driven off. She didn’t know Chapman but managed to slip a piece of paper with her contact information to Chapman and connect with her later. Cohen also reported seeing confrontations between antifascists and right-wing Christian hate-preachers and right-wingers who claimed they were protesting pedophilia.

Belissa Cohen disguising herself in the July 3rd protests with a black hat and white hoodie.
Front facing photo of Cohen.

Cohen posted on anti-trans Facebook groups saying that she had attended the protest and was willing to share her account of events and pictures she’d taken with the media. She appeared on Posie Parker’s YouTube Channel, as well and Wombs with a View, along with Gaye Chapman.[29][30]

Cohen attended the second Wi Spa protest on July 17th. She blended in and mingled among pro-trans and anti-fascist counter-protesters and recorded videos that she later posted online. She was present when police shot a woman with rubber bullets at close range and recorded the incident.[31]

Belissa Cohen (right) captured in live footage of the July 17th protests, where she was concealing herself among the counter-protesters filming police shooting a counter-protester at close range.

In a description of the video, she refers to the shooting as “Drama!” She posted that video in a gender critical Facebook group and claimed that pro-trans protesters were “standing for the right of males to freely enter women’s single-sex spaces.” Cohen also mentions the arrival of “counter-protesters” but fails to specify that these “counter-protesters” are Proud Boys, QAnon conspiracy theorists, and other far-right groups, many of whom are armed.

Public Facebook post from Belissa Cohen describing and linking to one of the videos she posted on her YouTube channel. Text reads: “GUNS: SMOKE BOMB! SHOOTING OF A PROTESTER! DRAMA!! Very proud of my Ground Zero footage of the SECOND PROTEST AT WI SPA last Saturday July 17, 2021. More footage on my YouTube channel! The protesters you see are standing for the right of males to freely enter women’s single-sex spaces. the counter-protesters advance from the East.”

Amie Ichikawa

Amie Ichikawa is a conservative Christian and former convict who runs WomanIIWoman, an organization that is working to expel incarcerated trans women from women’s prisons, claiming that housing them in women’s prisons endangers cis women.

Ichikawa went to the Wi Spa protest and was later interviewed by Lierre Keith, founder and current head of the anti-trans feminist organization Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF), in a video posted on WoLF’s YouTube channel.[32] In the video, Ichikawa said she went with her boyfriend and claimed it was her first protest and that she didn’t know who organized it. “She wore a shirt that defines “woman” as an “adult human female”, a gender critical slogan popularized by British anti-trans activist Posie Parker, aka Kellie-Jay Keen Minshull. She also wore a baseball cap that appears to read “Epstein Didn’t Kill Himself”, a reference to the conspiracy theory that Jeffrey Epstein was murdered to protect people in positions of power who engage in pedophilia.[33] She met up with Gaye Chapman and other women she met through Twitter. She claims she was chased off when Chapman and the woman in purple accompanying Chapman were run off.

Amie Ichikawa in her Epstein hat.

Ichikawa claims that she and her boyfriend were harassed and followed by antifascists when they attempted to leave the area but that Proud Boys ended up escorting them to their car. She claims that conservative Christians and other people showed up to protest pedophilia and implies that antifascists and other counter-protesters were defending pedophiles. She even defends the shirtless man who attacked people with giant rosaries, claiming that he was a local person trying to protect his neighborhood.

There is footage of Ichikawa near the Wi Spa where one can hear sounds of the protest in the background and there is also a photo of her (wearing a bandanna over her face) posing with Chapman. There is little else in the video interview with Keith or on her social media to corroborate the rest of her account.

Amie Ichikawa (left), Gaye Chapman (center) and a miscellaneous female protester (right). Chapman, the original poster, censored out the miscellaneous protester and Ichikawa’s Epstein hat.

Ichikawa and Keith spend much of the interview hyping up the supposed dangers of antifascists, claiming that they’re violent and hateful. At one point Ichikawa calls them “American ISIS”. She also claims that there was little intervention by police. In contradiction to her description of events, there are many videos of police protecting right-wing protesters and in some instances, police appear to be consulting with members of the Proud Boys.[34] There is also much footage of right-wing protesters attacking counter-protesters and brandishing weapons, such as bats and knives. At least one protester appeared to be armed with a gun.[5] Ichikawa and Keith fail to discuss any of this or how many of the right-wing protesters were engaging in violence.

While Ichikawa and Keith both claim to be critical of the far right and the far left and to condemn violence, they focus exclusively on the supposed danger posed by antifascists and neglect to discuss violence carried out by right-wing protesters or that many came armed. By what events they chose to include and what they fail to mention and how they frame what happened, they end up portraying antifascists and other counter-protesters as irrational, hateful brutes who want to terrorize innocent people who came to protest pedophilia. In contrast, they end up casting right-wingers, including Proud Boys, in a more sympathetic light, as people willing to stand down a mob to protect women and children.

The interview concludes with Keith and Ichikawa agreeing that they have to become more organized and strategic. Keith states that gender critical women are “going to have to be field generals” and will have to become like Joan of Arc and Napoleon. Ichikawa says she has been thinking about “strong arm groups” they could use as “buffers and protection at future protests[.]” She says she “believe[s] there’s a lot of groups that never would have walked together in an event like this that will be able to find common ground and see eye to eye on certain issues. Because it’s not so much right and left anymore, it’s right and wrong now.”

While Keith makes a lot of noise in the interview condemning violence, she herself has called for political violence in the past. As one of the founders and leaders of the ecofascist political cult Deep Green Resistance (DGR), Keith wrote and spoke about the necessity of forming “people’s militia” to wage “Decisive Ecological Warfare” against industrial civilization. Such “ecological warfare” would largely target industrial infrastructure, which would inevitably result in much death and suffering.[35] DGR acknowledges this but justifies it by arguing that allowing industrial civilization to continue on course will result in much more ecological destruction and human suffering in the long run. Given Keith’s past promotion and justification of political violence that would result in massive human casualties, it’s hard to take her current disavowal seriously, especially when she comes to the conclusion that gender critical women must become “field generals[.]”

How Keith and Ichikawa discuss antifascists and far-right groups and how they frame the events of the protest could help warm gender-critical women up to the idea of collaborating with far-right groups like the Proud Boys. Keith’s group WoLF has already worked with right-wing Christians groups including Alliance Defending Freedom and the Heritage Foundation.[36] As part of DGR, Keith has expressed admiration for right-wing militias and their values, particularly their rejection of hedonism and idealization of hierarchy. She’s also expressed hostility towards anarchists and their anti-authoritarian values and political activity. Given that many anti-fascists are anarchists, this puts Keith’s remarks about anti-fascist protesters in perspective. Keith continues to oppose anarchists while potentially setting the stage for collaboration with far-right groups.

Along with Chapman, Ichikawa also urged gender critical women to stay away from the second Wi Spa protest, telling them to “[s]tay very far away from this staged event. Don’t give these people footage for their propaganda to further their extremist agenda”, implying that the second protest was a “false flag” organized by antifascists.[37]

Unlike Chapman, Ichikawa has retweeted media and commented on the second Wi Spa protest. She retweeted footage of LAPD attacking counter-protesters with batons and again implying that these events were staged.[38] She retweeted an image of the journalist who was attacked by the LAPD at the second Wi Spa protest and had their hand fractured and commented “[w]ait til you see what happens when you actually get arrested. Lots of content.”[39] In contrast to the condemnation of violent tactics expressed in her interview with Lierre Keith, Ichikawa seems perfectly happy to welcome violence and police brutality against her political opponents.

She also complained that the media outlets like the Guardian were calling the Wi Spa protests anti-trans while she claimed they were really “anti-pedo” and alleged that the Guardian was “a supporter of pedophiles[.]”[40] In response to a tweet by a gender critical account implying that those protesting against right-winger “anti-pedophilia activists” are “pro-pedophilia”, Ichikawa asked “Where are the right wing anti-pedophiles hanging out these days?”[41] Ichikawa clearly sympathizes with the right and is taken in by their “anti-pedophilia” propaganda. This indicates that she could be willing to work more directly with right-wing “anti-pedophile” groups in the future. At the very least, she will likely continue to spread their propaganda among gender critical women.

Response from Partners for Ethical Care

Partners for Ethical Care is a conservative anti-trans group that focuses on banning pediatric transition and promoting conversion therapy for trans youth.

They posted an article on their website condemning violence at the July 3rd Wi Spa protest and also distancing themselves from people they’ve worked with past who are now advocating for the use of violent tactics in order to end pediatric transition. They stated that “Partners for Ethical Care (PEC) has been saddened and alarmed by recent comments—in person and online—from some people we formerly considered partners and co-workers. Admonitions toward violence as the only way to ‘reset America’ and to overcome the propaganda, lies, and destruction of children and families being wrought by the gender industry concern us gravely.” They also disclosed that “[t]wo of our board members were castigated this past weekend by certain of our partners, and told that unless PEC behaved with violence and a willingness to be arrested and imprisoned, we did not care about children.”[42]

PEC has not named which individuals and/or organizations have been urging them to take up and support violent tactics. While they make a show of condemning violent tactics, they gave no indication that they have taken steps to prevent those advocating violence from actually engaging in such tactics, aside from urging them to reconsider that approach. They also note that they would be willing to break the law to defy conversion therapy bans.

Given the events at the Wi Spa protests and the escalating rhetoric of anti-trans propaganda, it is concerning but not surprising that transphobic people and groups have expressed willingness to use violence to stop trans youth from accessing healthcare and support.

General Gender Critical Reaction to Second Wi Spa Protest

In general, gender critical women paid far less attention to the second protest at Wi Spa than the first one. When the first protest took place, many gender critical women were tweeting about it as it was happening and many retweeted clips of the protest from Antifa Watch and Andy Ngo. In contrast, the second protest brought little to no comment or reaction, though a few gender critical accounts cheered on police brutality against counter-demonstrators.[43] Some gender critical accounts, including Jennifer Bilek, posted right-wing media articles about the protest.

Chapman and Ichikawa both told gender critical women ahead of time to not to attend the second protest, and aside from Cohen showing up and recording, it appears that gender critical activists didn’t come. There were some women among the right-wing protesters holding signs with slogans about “saving women’s spaces” who at the very least were likely influenced by gender critical propaganda. Transphobic feminists and others with gender critical views are regularly interviewed and platformed in right-wing media and spread gender critical arguments and talking points. Regardless of these protesters’ specific politics, their photos or accounts of the protests have not been circulating among gender critical women online.

Many gender critical women expressed anger at the Guardian’s coverage of second Wi Spa protest, particularly because it identified protesters as members of the far-right. Despite the fact that there is ample documentation that the Wi Spa protesters were indeed right-wing, and belonged to far-right groups like the Proud Boys or the QAnon movement, gender critical women acted as if the journalists who wrote the article were lying about the protesters’ political affiliation to make people who want to expel trans women from women’s spaces look bad. Many denied that the protesters were either right-wing or anti-trans. Some, like Ichikawa, accused both the authors and the Guardian of being “pro-pedophile” because the article noted that many of the protesters claimed to be “anti-pedophile activists”. None of the gender critical women expressed concern that right-wing “anti-pedophile activists” attacked one of the writers of the article for trying to ask them why they were protesting, nor did they express concerns about police brutality against counter-protesters.

What This All Means

Overall, the presence of gender critical anti-trans activists at the Wi Spa protests and the general response among gender critical women to the protests is deeply concerning. Gender critical women didn’t hesitate to absorb and spread right-wing propaganda about the protests. Many spread right-wing media such as the livestream by Black Conservative Preacher and tweets by Andy Ngo. Many gender critical women are also taking in and spreading ideas common on the Right, such as believing that both trans activists and anti-fascists are promoting and defending pedophilia.

Gender critical women expressed little to no concern about violence from far-right protesters or the police. A few even cheered on police brutality against pro-trans and anti-fascist counter-protesters. In general, gender critical women were only concerned about aggression or violence directed towards people whose views they agree or sympathize with. They were unconcerned by violence directed towards those they see as their opposition, even if the person being targeted was female. Thus counter-protesters yelling and chasing off a transphobic woman are engaging in “misogynistic violence” but police shooting a woman at close range with rubber bullets is “drama”.

More gender critical activists are showing signs of being willing to work with militant far-right groups. Some like Lynn Meagher have already protested with Proud Boys in the past and others like joey brite have stated that they believe working with right-wing groups is necessary for achieving their goals. WoLF has a history of working with right-wing Christian organizations including Alliance Defending Freedom and the Heritage Foundation. Lierre Keith, WoLF’s founder and current leader, has a history of advocating for violent tactics and has praised right-wing militias as worthy of emulation. WoLF may now be warming gender critical activists up to the idea of collaborating with far-right groups like the Proud Boys.

It’s especially troubling to hear through PEC that some anti-trans activists are urging others to take up violent tactics to destroy the “gender industry” they believe is preying on vulnerable children. This could indicate that there are anti-trans activists who are preparing to commit violence against clinics and/or medical professionals treating trans youth.

At the very least, there’s a good chance of more aggressive right-wing protests happening outside of clinics as gender critical and far-right groups continue to influence each other. Their moral panics and conspiracy theories will continue to cross-pollinate and merge together more and more. Proud Boys have already been participated at protests against Planned Parenthoods across the country, sometimes acting as security for other groups.[44][45][46] And on July 22nd, right-wing protesters, including some who were present at the Wi Spa protests, staged an anti-mask protest at a breast cancer clinic in Los Angeles and attacked cancer patients.[47] How long before far-right groups target clinics serving trans youth?

Additionally, it is also likely that will be more right-wing and gender critical attacks on trans women’s rights to access public and private spaces and move safely through the world. More businesses and other spaces that refuse to discriminate against trans women or trans people in general could find themselves threatened by armed right-wing groups and accused of enabling pedophilia and/or picketed by gender critical women.

In order to effectively resist organized transphobia we need to know who and what we’re up against. Hopefully this article will help those fighting against transphobia and fascism learn more about gender critical activists, particularly those who are willing to work with the right. In particular, I want to make it easier to recognize these activists if they show up at protests in the future. Several were able to take footage that they turned into anti-trans propaganda and one also turned over footage to the police. I want to make it harder for them to pull off such actions in the future. The growing collaboration between gender critical activists and the far-right will bring new dangers and challenges but we can rise and overcome such dangers. We can smash transphobia and fascism and create a world where all can live freely.

References

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