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cosmolinguistToday a coalition of LGBT+, disability rights and feminist organisations have been protesting transphobia at the People's History Museum in Manchester, which was strong-armed into accepting a booking from Sex Matters, a group that insisted on meeting here though they don't align with the museum's values, relying on their "gender critical" views having been classed as protected speech in British case law to insist on meeting there.
The whole museum had to be closed all day, so they lost income from their café and shop and donations, for a small group of bigots to have a meeting for two hours.
These people try to claim that, since the People's History Museum holds a lot of suffragette artifacts, they want to "own this space." ...I mean, the suffragettes were fascist and racist too, so yes you're doing well in that regard ladies!!! Weird flex!
We greeted the hate group enthusiastically and politely on their entry, telling them the museum is for everyone and Manchester is a friendly city. And it's a cliché but they were all the same: middle-class middle-aged white women, same haircuts and clothes, same sour faces. While we, like the rest of the public, were denied entry to the building, so we were outside chanting, singing, being colorful, with all kinds of visible diversity and, honestly, joy. Even in the face of an existential threat, here is #TransJoy
Near the end, the sun came out (it'd been mostly cloudy all morning, the odd sprinkle of rain wasn't enough to cut the muggy air), we had happy hardcore on the PA, and people were writing messages in sidewalk chalk. I took photos of a few of my favorites:
"A better world for trans people is a better world"
"Our revenge will be in the laughter of trans children"
"trans ♡ disabled solidarity"
I added "trans disabled immigrant solidarity" (vertically, like the first three were a checklist) and then next to that "no one is illegal" with a heart around it.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-11 12:40 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-11 05:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-18 04:52 pm (UTC)Yeah they really do rely on people being put off by tactics like that; it really bugged them how well-organised we were outside the building I think!
(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-11 08:50 pm (UTC)I'm glad you can find trans joy even in the middle of that bullshit, and thank you for holding them to account.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-12 05:44 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-18 04:55 pm (UTC)I don't know; we weren't expecting that! I can't imagine the museum would have given in to a demand (unless they paid a lot? but I don't expect that); I imagine they were put off by stories of how similar groups have been greeted and saw it (or were encouraged to see it) as a security risk. I am only speculating though.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-18 06:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-18 07:38 pm (UTC)My understanding is that if they refused the booking they could have been sued and while they might be in the right, it's a museum that depends on donations and charitable funding and stuff; it doesn't have anywhere near the money that TERFs can pay their lawyers. I know people who know the staff and volunteers and they weren't happy shout having to host this. They kept the big progress pride flag and the "trans rights are human rights" banner up where the transphobes had to walk past them to get in the building.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-18 10:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-12 01:37 pm (UTC)