Jen Joins the LGB Alliance
Preface to Preface
Everything in this serialised article is the opinion of Jen Ives. It is written entirely from her perspective, and first-person experiences. The views expressed do not represent the views of anyone affiliated with Jen Ives, or her pet hamster Cathy - who has no interest in the matter at all, and is currently asleep.
Preface
Even today, I’m frequently surprised by how few people seem to know anything about the LGB Alliance. I used to tell myself that it was because “Trans Issues” were niche. But as things stand right now, they absolutely aren’t. Yes, we are a minority - but we are one of the most publicly talked about minorities in the UK media. Our very existence is debated so frequently, I wouldn’t be at all shocked if Bigfoot soon had to come out in defence of us.
With trans identities being attacked so often by the mainstream, and previously established health & social rights for trans people being stripped back wherever possible - I don’t think it’s too much to ask that people actually know something about the organisation that have been working tirelessly for the last few years to delegitimise, stigmatise, patronise and antagonise trans people into silence. They’re called the LGB Alliance, and under the current UK Government, they now have an official, registered charity status. You know, like Age Concern, or Shelter.
I will not give a full rundown of their entire history, but that information can be easy found elsewhere. What I will tell you though, is that the “LGB” in “LGB Alliance” stands for “Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual”. Simply put, their front-line pitch is that they are striving to re-establish “sex based rights” for “same sex attracted people”. It’s the LGBT community, but without the T (like in the good old days). They seem to operate on many contradictory, mixed up platforms - but the main gist as I understand it is, in their view - sex is a material reality, gender is a fantasy & trans people are therefor a risk to sex-based protections. They claim to have no ill-will towards “trans identified males” (trans women - their words, not mine) and seek only to protect women from men who seek to invade female only spaces. They are biological essentialists in the most dogmatic way, who reject gender-philosophy and perpetuate the idea that trans people are simply mentally ill homosexuals. From where I am standing, it seems like they will only be truly satisfied when trans people are excluded from everyday life entirely. They are known to be very litigious, have many public and not-so-public financial backers, and some of their biggest supporters engage in online harassment to intimidate and silence.
Their official website claims that their goal is to “advance Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual rights”. On the site, they claim that they “…engage with others respectfully” and insist “We do not condone, endorse or encourage any abusive or discriminatory behaviour towards any group or individual”.
Which is why, when last year I heard they were about to have their first ever official LGB Alliance conference in London, I decided I simply had to attend. Yes, I am trans - but I am also bisexual, so figured that I had as much right to go as anyone else. I hoped that if I attended, I’d be able to meet some of these “gender critical” individuals face to face, and engage with them respectfully, as equals. We could talk through their concerns, without any fear of abusive or discriminatory behaviour coming my way. And that’s exactly what I did - I attended…
…but unfortunately, things didn’t go quite to plan.
I hope you enjoy reading this account of my experience attending the LGB Alliance Conference last October. I have talked about it in minor detail on a few podcasts, and a few people wrote about it - one of whom, most recently was Graham Linehan. In his “article” he defamed my character quite shamelessly, and accused me of being a liar. This serialised article you’re reading now isn’t an attempt to “set the record straight” or prove Linehan wrong. It isn’t something I need to do, because as many already know - I was covertly recording my experience at the conference with a lapel microphone attached to my bra. Many of the things that I mention in this piece are captured crisp and clear in WAV format. I have been goaded by many anonymous, gender critical twitter accounts over the past 5 months to release the audio prematurely, without proper legal backing & I haven’t yet given into this for the simple reason that, I’d rather you think I’m a liar - than as fucking stupid as them.
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- Jen Ives