Trans lobby raising the bar for on-campus violence

I spent some time yesterday reviewing footage, audio recordings, images and first-hand testimonies of yet another protest, hosted by the trans lobby, at the University of Melbourne. I am appalled and flabbergasted at what I heard, saw and read. I’m flabbergasted that the lies and unfounded claims that come out of the mouthpieces of the trans lobby are even listened to, much less taken seriously, and I am appalled that the hate speech, threats of violence and the acts of physical & psychological violence from the trans lobby (mainly men) are somehow seen as progressive.

This protest was not about safety or human rights for “trans” people.

Men swearing at and threatening, intimidating and assaulting women.

Politicians slandering everyday Australians on public platforms.

Chants of “Terfs Out,” “Terfs get off campus” and “F*ck off C*NTS” echoing throughout the University. (terf is a slur)

Speeches about “trans” visibility in regards to a small portion of people in Australia that have received more attention than anyone has ever had in the history of time.

This protest was an(other) opportunity for a group of entitled Uni students to use the veil of “oppression” and “inclusivity” to actively and viciously tear down the rights of women and demand that the rights of one woman in particular be stripped.

Watch here!

There were an estimated 40-50 people in attendance which included several radical feminist women that went to observe. The trans lobby’s call to action seemed to be to invade and disrupt any ‘transphobic’ lectures or tutorials, which are not happening. The speakers and crowd seemed to voice more outrage and spite against the University establishment figures, including the Dean of Arts, despite him proposing a new pro-trans policy which will force staff to use pronouns amongst other totalitarian demands. To quote one of the attendees of the protest - “It just goes to show that when people roll over to the demands of the trans lobby, they just pile on more aggressively and demand more. Their lust for power is never satisfied.” The Dean of Arts even posted about it on Twitter for bonus points, but they still went after him during speeches at the protest.

It gets worse…

Witness accounts paint a very aggressive scenario of the protest where some women were targeted with verbal abuse and intimidation by men, and one woman, who was wearing a shirt that showed support for Dr. Holly Lawford-Smith, was further intimidated and assaulted when a man (evidently) threw water all over her.

The following is a testimony from one of the attendees. It has been edited to protect the identity of them and other attendees.

“A few [men] were becoming very aggressive and threatening to punch Renee in the head. There were some minutes where it was not evident if they were going to physically attack Renee and the other sisters around her, or not. Interestingly enough, the UMSU Women’s Officer [who is a young woman that “identifies as “non-binary” but also “trans"] and a young man of colour stood between the men threatening to punch her out and Renee. The UMSU Women’s Officer was telling the men, quite avidly, that by being violent they were endangering her and other trans people and they must stop.

One man who looked like a [stereotypical] bikie and had a long beard threw some water over Cindy.

Eventually the rally participants and organisers left but a few of their die hard hostile aggressors stuck around glaring at us. Renee and Ashley, who had been her main support all along, walked off and a particularly very tall, big man who had been very aggressively threatening and yelling, began following them with a couple of his cohort.

Thinking they might physically attack when they had them isolated we followed them. Once the big loud-mouthed fellow clocked that we were supporting and protecting Renee and Ashley, he came up to us; shoving his phone in our faces and demanding ‘Say Trans Rights.’ [one report says this same man did a similar thing earlier but the demand was to say that “trans women are women”]

My reply was “You don’t tell me what to say you little twirp.” His cohort told us they were following Renee and Ashley because they had been ‘committing violence’. Renee had been exemplary at not responding at all to any of their threats or provocations – just keeping an elegant silence and letting her t-shirt do the talking. There was a stand off while we waited for a taxi – as they were going to keep following us. Justine, and older woman in our group, told that man that he was exhibiting typical male aggressive violence pattern behaviour, which shut him up for a minute.”

The protest has already received international criticism, with the International Women’s Human Rights Campaign publishing an open letter to Professor Duncan Maskell (Vice Chancellor) and Professor Russell Goulborne (Dean of Arts) at the University of Melbourne, calling for an end to the targeted harassment of women in academia.

The madness continues…

Let’s take a look at the objectives of the new “gender affirmation policy” announced by the Dean of Arts at the University of Melbourne.

The objectives of this policy are to:

(a)           Affirm the University’s commitment to building a culture that is safe, inclusive and respectful for all transgender and gender diverse (TGD) members of the University community; and

(b)           Provide key principles and actions which will enable this commitment to be realised; and

(c)           Support staff and students in affirming their gender identity or expression.

Righteo. A few things:

  • what about the safety respect for and inclusion of women?

  • what about the conflict that provisions for “gender diversity” cause with other human rights?

  • what on earth is causing this obsession with “affirmation?” “Affirming” the ideological beliefs that someone tries to take on is not a human right, and many would say it is very counter-productive. I really feel like people need a reminder on what “affirm” means:

Capture.PNG

In respect to “gender identity,” affirm literally means to be supportive. Well, unless University staff want to stand on the roof every now and again and “state emphatically” that student’s “genders” are being affirmed!

It doesn’t mean to control the thoughts or the speech of everyone else and it doesn’t mean to change laws and policies.

Get a grip.

More from the (draft) “gender affirmation” policy:

News flash - you are not “celebrating diversity” by forcing people into sexist and stereotypical boxes for male and female, which is exactly what “gender identity” ideology does. You’ll notice that Policy point 4.3 mandates affirmation through force…

News flash - you are not “celebrating diversity” by forcing people into sexist and stereotypical boxes for male and female, which is exactly what “gender identity” ideology does.

You’ll notice that Policy point 4.3 mandates affirmation through forced speech. You’ll also notice that point 4.4 abolishes the safety of single-sex bathrooms for women on-campus.

How dare they make special provisions regarding “expression” for "“gender diverse” people when those people violently oppose the freedom of expression of anyone that disagrees with them about anything. How dare they.

It is mind-numbing to read through policies which have obviously been drafted by people that have absolutely no grasp on facts and reality when it comes to “gender” and sex.

It is mind-numbing to read through policies which have obviously been drafted by people that have absolutely no grasp on facts and reality when it comes to “gender” and sex.

Gender affirmation policy 5.PNG

Notice at the very top of the above image, point 5.12; do you see the hypocrisy? Do you see the gaslighting?

If you don’t, please, let me enlighten you.

The University of Melbourne certainly has an on-campus problem with discrimination, harassment and bullying, but it is not coming from Dr. Holly-Lawford Smith or any “radical feminist” students. The hate speech, the bullying, the harassment and the discrimination is coming from the 40-50 students and the staff that attended the protest today and their cohort. Which, works well for the University. They can easily go through that footage and find every single bully that is discriminating against and harassing one of their staff members, and other women that attended the protest, and take action against them.

As footage continues becoming available, I will update this article.

*Edit - footage can be viewed here.

- Critical Thinker

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