A billboard bearing a dictionary definition of the word ‘woman’ has been taken down following pressure from a trans activist.

Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull paid for a billboard bearing the words “woman, wʊmən, noun, adult human female” for her campaign group Standing for Women.

LGBT activist Dr Adrian Harrop complained to advertising company Primesight, demanding the poster be taken down, and branding Standing for Women a “transphobic hate group”.

‘Absurd’

Harrop said the billboard “makes transgender people feel unsafe”, and added he had “no doubt” that the motivation for the poster was to elicit these feelings.

He lobbied the CEO and senior directors of Primesight via social media for its removal, accusing them of being complicit in “the spread of transphobic hate speech”.

Keen-Minshull said the real reason for the poster was to start a conversation about women’s rights.

She criticised the company’s decision to remove the poster, saying: “We’re in a new realm of misogyny when the word ‘woman’ becomes hate speech”, adding, “this is a new level of absurd”.

Sinister

The mother of four hit out at Harrop’s “sinister and pernicious” attempts to shut down her free speech, saying: “If the word ‘woman’ can mean anything, then women lose their sex-based protections, and nobody is protected.”

She continued: “Every single organisation that capitulates paves the way for the next one to do the same.

“This is what trans activists do. This is how they silence women. I hope this will help people wake up to what’s going on.”

‘Basic Safeguarding’

Last month, several Guide leaders were disciplined or sacked after they raised concerns about the safety of children when Girlguiding’s rules about affirming transgender children became widely known.

The guidelines say that boys who believe they are girls should be allowed to join the Guides, and to share changing facilities, showers and tents with young girls.

Helen Watts, who had her membership terminated after 15 years with the Guides, said she was upset and angered by the decision, adding: “We had some serious concerns about a policy that ignored basic safeguarding principles.”