Finally! Crickets From An Anti-Trans Conference.
Just what we wanted to hear.
In the past week, two high-profile conferences in Europe have expressed their opposition to the existence of trans people: Genspect’s conference in Lisbon and the LGB Alliance conference in London. In Lisbon we heard quite a bit about how ending the use of puberty blockers is not only a good thing, but an important step to eliminating trans people from society. In London, however, thanks to the activist group Trans Kids Deserve Better, what we ultimately heard was … crickets.
Those crickets were decidedly not proverbial or metaphorical. No, TKDB infiltrated the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Hall in Westminster during the LGB Alliance’s annual meeting. Six youth were present, and each smuggled in a bag of 1,000 actual live crickets:
The group released approximately 6,000 crickets from bags hidden on their persons which they snuck through security just before a talk on the “dangers” of medical transition. They made sure to spread the crickets (which do not infest and pose no danger to humans) across the entire hall, in order to ensure the conference could be safely brought to an end. The speech was postponed and later speeches were cancelled.
TKDB also helpfully provided a photograph of the hoppy little beasts:
After the ruckus, them.us helpfully explained:
LGB Alliance was founded in 2019 as a trans exclusionary alternative to Stonewall, the largest LGBTQ+ advocacy organization in Europe. Anti-trans activist Jamie Reed was reportedly about to speak when the bugs were dumped, according to tweets. Reed was a former caseworker at Washington University Transgender Center, who has since pivoted to becoming a “whistleblower” speaking out about the supposed harms of gender-affirming care for youth.
They also had an interview with an actual cricket involved, video at Instagram. Reporting on the video, them.us described its contents this way:
“Our sources at the scene tell us that the talk by Jamie Reed on taking away trans healthcare was stopped by these brave bugs, with thousands of six-legged friends hopping about in protest,” the reporter-cricket said.
The cricket went on to say that while LGB Alliance claims to be harmless, they’ve opposed conversion therapy bans and platformed “proud speeches about shutting down trans healthcare.”
“Who are they helping?” the bug said. “With these crickets deciding to fight transphobia, many bugs are standing up for trans kids right now, antennae held up high.”
Somehow them.us neglected the best quote about crickets hopping in solidarity. Even so, this is the type of factual, independent reporting more newsrooms need :cough: New York Times :cough:.
Trans Kids Deserve Better has been causing creative chaos and fomenting good trouble in the UK since this spring, and it looks like the campaign of anarchic fun is set to continue a good long while. Just before the July elections the group occupied the headquarters of NHS England demanding that politicians stop using trans youth as “political pawns” and that NHS provide easier access to the high quality care that trans youth deserve no less than cis kids. Then in August, just before the return to school, TKDB climbed another building: the headquarters of the UK’s Department for Education. That protest sought better support for trans students and more reliable protections against bullies for all kids.
TKDB’s anger at the LGB Alliance, whose conference was frequently linked in media with the Genspect conference in Lisbon because of the similar time frame and themes, is well-deserved. The LGBA only barely qualified as a charity when it sought to register given its history of dehumanizing statements denigrating the rights of trans people. Ultimately they were required to knock that shit off before being granted non-profit status. Even so, opendemocracy.net reports:
“Denigrating the rights of transgender people is, and has always been, LGB Alliance’s reason for existing,” said Paul Roberts, CEO of LGBT Consortium, giving evidence in support of Mermaids in September.
“They exist to oppose free, safe and empowered trans lives,” he argued. The commission’s decision “sows distrust in what it means to hold charitable status.”
The Lisbon conference went ahead without insectoid invasions or other major disruptions, which is regrettable given that they used their time to host Helen Joyce’s arguments that trans people should not be allowed to exist. While reasonable arthropods might wish that meeting never took place, marginal good did emerge in the form of documentation that the attack on puberty blockers is, according to Joyce, not important in itself, but because it represents a step toward societal intolerance for all trans persons:
“This is the real importance of the UK’s ban on puberty blockers. They’re not really a serious treatment option in the UK — I don’t think more than hundreds of kids have taken them, certainly not more than a few thousand. What they are is a rhetorical and argumentative device.”
Reddit’s LabourUK thread posted a longer quote apparently from the same Joyce speech (given the date posted and the overlapping quote), which includes this bit:
“No child gender medicine” means an end to the idea of the trans child. It means no longer teaching children that transitioning is a thing.
Genspect was added to the SPLC’s list of hate groups earlier this year for promotion of ideas such as this, as well as for their participation in spreading pseudoscience opposed to trans health care. Yr Wonkette cannot wait for the day when we hear crickets from them as well.
ETA: LATE BREAKING NEWS!
Literally minutes ago, after your friendly neighbourhood Crip Dyke thought this story was already wrapped in a bow, Lucy from NAARM gave us this news:
A group of young trans activists, operating under the name “Trans Kids Deserve Better,” have raised almost £5,000 to continue their direct actions, after disrupting the anti-trans hate group LGB Alliance’s conference in London by releasing 6,000 crickets into the conference hall. […]
The Trans Kids Deserve Better crowdfunding campaign initially set a goal of £1,000 but quickly surpassed it, reaching over £4,500 with contributions from more than 200 supporters. The funds are intended to support the activists in their efforts to advocate for transgender rights and counteract organizations they believe harm the transgender community.
Money well donated! Go get yourselves in £5,000 of good trouble, kids!
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In case you missed it, 👏🏾 SIX👏🏾 THOUSAND👏🏾 CRICKETS 👏🏾.
I am so in love with these kids.
Jesus fucking Christ, why can't people just leave transpeople alone? What is so fucking hard about saying, "Eh. I don't get it, but it's none of my business"?
Jesus suffering fuck.