I’ve run out of patience and I am angry. For years I’ve argued against trans ideology and its erasure of sex and sexual orientation, which inevitably leads to attacks on women’s and lesbians’ rights. For this I’ve been subjected to all sorts of abuse, including gaslighting. The latest enactment of this is a result of the protest by lesbians (absolute sheroes) at Pride in London. Predictably and incorrectly framed as anti-trans, this protest has exposed just how toxic the “LBGT” is for lesbians and made clear why we need such protests in the first place.

It’s important to spell out what’s actually being claimed by trans activists and their oh-so-woke allies. When they say that a man can be a lesbian, they are saying that a straight relationship is in fact a lesbian relationship. If someone is in a relationship with a member of the opposite sex, they can claim it’s a same-sex relationship. Because [insert idiotic reason that demands you deny material reality]. This is how stupid the whole thing is.

Ruth Hunt, Linda Reily (and all of Diva magazine) and anyone defending the indefensible: you’ve become dangerous homophobes who attack and smear lesbians for refusing to have sex with males. There’s no difference between those of you who claim lesbianism is bigoted and those who view homosexuality as deviant. You all support conversion therapy. You’re making it impossible for young lesbians to say no and feel safe within their supposedly own communities. Shame on you all for allowing this coercion to thrive. Shame on you for contributing to the trauma some young lesbians are experiencing.

Lesbians are female homosexuals. Female homosexuality doesn’t magically disappear because of what goes on in the heads of straight males. That we’ve reached the point where we have to state the bloody obvious is as ridiculous as it gets but in the end, this whole sorry state of affairs manages to reveal what it actively seeks to obfuscate. Trans ideology is patriarchy rebooted. This should be clear from the fact that trans-identified females (“trans men”) never figure in any of these arguments and that straight men face no backlash for refusing to date trans-identified males. It should be clear when cancer of the uterus is said to affect “people with a uterus”, while prostate cancer remains a man’s cancer. It should be clear when female spaces which exist to protect women are under attack, while men’s clubs which exist to prop up male supremacy and power are left untouched. It should be clear when a pro-lesbian protest is framed as anti-trans, while the San Francisco public library exhibits fake-blood “I Punch TERFs” t-shirts and barb-wire-covered bats. This is about reinforcing the status quo, not challenging it.

We will not allow lesbianism to be redefined to mean bisexuality. We refuse to be shamed for being lesbians and we will carry on speaking up because it’s important that young lesbians understand that the rape culture they encounter within queer communities is unacceptable. You have a right to say no at any point and for whatever reason. There is no penis in lesbian sex. As Magdalen Berns succinctly puts it, there is no such thing as a lesbian with a penis. Anyone who says otherwise is an abuser.

Thank you to the many women who have protested at Pride events: in Auckland, Los Angeles, San Francisco and now London. Our movement is growing. In the UK A Woman’s Place UK is holding talks throughout the country (you can invite them to your town/city), Fair Play For Women provides all you need to know about proposed changes to the GRA, and now the Lesbian Rights Alliance is speaking up on our behalf. More and more of us are refusing to be silenced and the tide is slowly turning.

#GetTheLOut