Trans activists stage protest outside FiLiA feminist conference in Glasgow

Anonymous organisers behind the Glasgow Trans Rally had attempted to shut down the conference

Trans activists protest outside the international feminist conference. Photo: Sarah Ward/PA Wire

Women’s rights campaigners from Iran and Afghanistan were among those met with abusive signs and shouts from trans activists as they arrived at a feminist conference in Glasgow.

Anonymous organisers behind the Glasgow Trans Rally had attempted to shut down the three-day FiLiA conference, which features people from around the world to discuss topics including female genital mutilation.

Speakers including SNP MP Joanna Cherry and writer Julie Bindel are also on the line-up.

The venue Platform cancelled the conference 12 hours before it was due to start on Friday amid a backlash online from trans activists, but solicitors got the decision reversed, citing the Equality Act.

But as attendees arrived at the venue on Friday, a group of 40-50 trans activists shouted at them and held up signs saying “Keep terfs out of Glasgow” and “Transphobia kills and hurts all women”.

JK Rowling took to social media to criticise a male activist who led abusive chants as attendees, many of whom are older women, queued to enter.

A trans councillor in Glasgow for the Scottish Green Party who attended the protest said she did not want to see the conference cancelled, but wanted it to be “intersectional”.

Elaine Gallagher, 56, said: “It is a major feminist organisation. I would like for the festival to go ahead without that slant, but the position of so many anti-trans, anti-sex worker activists, the lobbying around this, is not acceptable.

“I would like them to be intersectional. It is not trans violence which is the problem, it is male violence.

“I would like it if they would drop the claim that trans rights are in conflict with women’s rights.”

Another Glasgow Scottish Green councillor, Holly Bruce, 29, also joined the protest and criticised “politically induced moral panic”.

She said: “There’s various workshops and sessions that are under the guise of women’s safety, that are trans exclusionary.

“It is a really good organisation but unfortunately there are certain workshops which are trans exclusionary.

“I’m not saying we shouldn’t be protecting women from Iran and Afghanistan.

“For me I’m here to show solidarity with trans people and to ensure their voices are heard.

“The reason for the rally is workshops which exclude trans people.”

Conference attendee Denise Fahmy, from Leeds, who successfully took the Arts Council to employment tribunal after suffering harassment due to her gender critical beliefs, objected to one of the most vocal activists outside the conference being a man.

She tweeted: “Hectored by this man and his friends this morning heading into #FiLiA2023 where 1500 of us will be defending women’s human rights.”

Prior to her arrival at the conference, Jordanian activist Reem Alsalem, United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, spoke about expecting to witness abuse.

She wrote: “Arrived in Glasgow to participate in the @FiLiA_charity conference tomorrow. I guess i’ll be witnessing in real time what i have been reading about over the last few years.

“The concerted attempts to censor #women and prevent them from meeting and discussing issues that are important to women, and… women continuing to resist as they always have!”.

A spokesman for Platform said: “We are fully aware of and comply with our legal obligations and responsibilities under the equality legislation. We welcome a diverse and eclectic clientele including those from the trans community on our premises. We also recognise the right to peaceful protest.

“As a responsible employer, we always closely monitor and safeguard the safety and wellbeing of our employees, and would condemn any unlawful behaviour that could affect them.”

FiLiA has been contacted for comment.