UK — Bristol, England. A young University of Bristol PhD student and writer says that packs of transgender activists have been viciously terrorizing her since February 2018, when she chaired a meeting that was held by Woman’s Place UK (WPUK).

WPUK is an organization dedicated to discussing proposals to reforms of the Gender Rights Act (GRA), which WPUK says is a matter “of legitimate and material concern” to women. GRA reforms permit a transgender person to obtain legal recognition as the opposite sex.

According to WPUK, sex discrimination and violence – including sexual violence – against women are ongoing. Therefore, WPUK’s principles are that “sex matters”; women have the right to organize; “sex-based data and high-quality research must be central to the development of any services, policies or actions that address women’s needs or that challenge sex discrimination and inequality”; and “women who want or need single sex spaces (including toilets, health provision accommodation, prisons, sports, sexual and domestic violence services)” must be “able to access them without resorting to extraordinary measures.” WPUK believes the gender identity movement undermines such rights.

It roused fury in the transgender community last year when it came to light that WPUK was to meet at a venue in the city of Bristol in February, and that the chairperson of the event would be University of Bristol PhD candidate Raquel Rosario Sánchez, who had recently arrived from the Dominican Republic to study on a scholarship.

Transgender activists circulated an anonymous petition calling for the cancellation of the event. The petition denounced the WPUK meeting as a “violent denial of trans experience and identity.” Although the meeting was not to be held at the University of Bristol, the petition urged the university to intervene, claiming it was of “particular concern that the event is to be chaired by Raquel Rosario Sánchez, a member of the Gender and Violence Research Centre at Bristol University.” The activists insisted that it implied endorsement that “calls into question the integrity of the Centre and of the University as a whole.”

Nic Aaron is accused of terrorizing Raquel Rosario-Sánchez after the latter chaired a campaign that critiqued gender identity legislation, and its effects on women. (Courtesy: Transgender: Intersectional/International Conference)

Ms Rosario Sánchez filed a complaint with the University of Bristol against Nic Aaron, a PhD transgender student whom she says had begun bullying her. Transgender activists urged members of the community to give Rosario Sánchez “hell” in retaliation for the complaint.

The university launched formal disciplinary proceedings; however, as Ms Rosario Sánchez walked to the hearings, gangs of “masked” transgender activists would gather outside to heckle and terrorize her, she said. The masked individuals called the young woman “heinous scum,” and threatened to throw eggs and milkshakes on her, the young woman explained.

“I no longer feel safe on campus. Most people who are subject to abuse by trans activists stay silent because if you file a complaint you undergo the campaign of threats I have experienced,” Ms Rosario Sánchez stated.

Stressed out and intimidated by the campaign of terror organized against her, Ms Rosario Sánchez fell behind academically and missed her performance review. She no longer qualifies for the scholarship she received from the Dominican Republic to attend university abroad, and says she will be forced to take out a huge loan to fund her continued studies or otherwise lose her student visa.

The University of Bristol dragged out the investigation for a year, and concluded the proceedings without taking disciplinary action against the student accused of abusing Ms Rosario Sánchez.

“It took tremendous effort from all my family to help me get here. I remember being with my mum, so full of hope about coming to the UK to study. Someone stole my future and the university let them,” Ms Rosario Sánchez lamented.

“We believe that every effort has been made to support Ms Rosario Sánchez,” the University of Bristol said. “Matters relating to individual disciplinary cases are confidential, therefore we are unable to make further comment.”

WPUK said in a statement about the matter, “[W]omen must be supported to exercise their rights to free speech without fear.” WPUK has said they “believe that respectful dialogue is vital if we are to create a society which upholds the rights of everyone.”

To voice your opinion, contact the following:

Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Hugh Brady

Mail: Beacon House, Queen’s Road, Bristol, BS8 1QU

Phone: (0117) 42 83183

Phone (on-campus): 83183

Email: [email protected]

Student B, previously educated at the prestigious University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics, publicly bragging that abusing me for 20 months was a hobby. This message has been wholeheartedly enabled and endorsed by @BristolUni. This is the face of an abuser. pic.twitter.com/y9M37UU3nK — RaquelRosarioSánchez (@8RosarioSanchez) August 24, 2019

To show Raquel Rosario Sánchez that you support her, post a comment that includes your name at Statement of Support for Raquel Rosario Sánchez, or send an email to [email protected]

Update

On May 21, 2020, Ms Rosario Sánchez began crowdfunding as part of an effort to bring a lawsuit against the University of Bristol, which she says has failed to properly protect her from transgender activists’ bullying and harassment. She issued the following statement on crowdjustice.com:

I am deeply grateful to the Dominican Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology which has decided to fund me for another year, despite the considerable impact the bullying and this institutional process have had on my academic performance. I am equally grateful to the Centre for Gender and Violence Research at the University of Bristol which has shown me nothing but kindness and solidarity throughout this ordeal. The Head of the Centre for Gender and Violence Research has issued a public statement detailing the facts of this internal matter and condemning the University of Bristol’s handling of the process. You can read the public statement here. Unsurprisingly, trans activist students continue to target me, attempting to cancel feminist meetings I organise inside the University of Bristol, as recently as March 2020. This is not a healthy or humane learning environment for any student. The University’s actions are not only in contravention of their own institutional policies, but are also illegal.

Read more on this story ‘Bullying by trans student at Bristol University could cost me my visa’

The Times

A Bristol University postgraduate student who made a complaint of bullying against a transgender student has faced a barrage of abuse and even “masked protesters” when she attended disciplinary hearings. Statement by the Head of the Centre for Gender and Violence Research at the University of Bristol

Woman’s Place UK

In February 2018, The Centre for Gender and Violence Research, at the University of Bristol, was mentioned in an anonymous petition calling for the (cancellation) no-platforming of a meeting being organised by Woman’s Place UK.