Joan Smith is a British writer, sex segregationist, and anti-transgender activist from the movement’s gender critical faction.
Background
Joan Alison Smith was born August 27, 1953. Smith attended University of Reading. Smith was on staff at The Sunday Times from 1979 to 1984.
Smith is author of the Loretta Lawson series of crime novels. Smith’s nonfiction books include Misogynies (1989), Different for Girls: How Culture Creates Women (1998), and Home Grown: How Domestic Violence Turns Men Into Terrorists (2019).
In 2015, Smith was elected chair of Labour Humanists, a group promoting secularist policies and humanist values within the Labour party.
Smith was married to journalist Francis Wheen from 1985 to 1993 and was partners with politician Denis MacShane from 2003 to 2010.
Anti-transgender activism
In 2021, Smith was fired as Co-Chair of the Mayor of London’s Violence Against Women and Girls Board, a volunteer role held since 2013. The decision came after a governance review. Officials denied Smith’s claims that it was because of anti-trans activities.
Smith frequently writes anti-trans articles for UnHerd. Smith is a member of Sex Matters Advisory Group.
References
Brook, Libby (August 19, 2021). The Guardian London mayorâs office denies feminist activistâs claims over sacking https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/aug/19/london-mayors-office-denies-feminist-activists-claims-over-sacking
Smith Joan (August 20, 2021). Why did Sadiq Khanâs office fire me? UnHerd https://unherd.com/2021/08/why-did-sadiq-khans-office-fire-me/
Resources
UnHerd (unherd.com)
X/Twitter (x.com)
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
Giles Fraser is a British journalist, broadcaster and clergymember. Initially trans-supportive, Fraser says he became a TERF in response to tactics used against supporters of anti-transgender activist J.K. Rowling.
Background
Giles Anthony Fraser was born November 27, 1964 in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. Fraser studied at Newcastle University and Ripon College Cuddesdon, then earned a doctorate at University of Lancaster.
Fraser was ordained as a deacon in 1993 and as a priest in 1994. Fraser taught at Wadham College, Oxford, and Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral. Fraser is the author of Redeeming Nietzsche: On the Piety of Unbelief, How to Believe: Investigating Wittgenstein, and Christianity with Attitude.
Fraser hosts The Moral Maze and Thought for the Day on Radio 4. Fraser is a Vicar of St Anne’s, Kew, part of the Church of England.
Fraser has been married twice and has three children.
Anti-trans views
In 2015 Fraser wrote a column about how the church needs to welcome trans people. When interacting with trans people, Fraser uses their names and pronouns because “my default response is to affirm these decisions.”
Fraser’s opinion shifted in 2023. After anti-trans activist Suzanne Moore introduced Fraser to J.K. Rowling at an event at Italian restaurant Pino, the restaurant was vandalized and review-bombed online.
Fraser reportedly became a TERF after that. Fraser also revealed several anti-trans views:
I believe in limits, in the givenness of some things. And, it seems to me, biological sex is one of them. I find the use of medical technology to transgress these limits to be Faustian in its hubris.Â
Because some transactivists now behave as though anything they can do for the cause is justified, however cruel: get people sacked, ruin their businesses, be vile to others online. The public sphere is becoming so unpleasant, so full of vitriol and accusation, that many of us just put on our tin hats and retreat from the conversation. To be honest, I have been quite content that my privilege has, until now, encouraged me to think that the best thing for me to do is to sit this one out and say nothing. I have been hiding behind this terribly convenient self-denying ordinance, leaving the likes of J.K. Rowling and Suzanne Moore to take all the heat, my courage being a few pathetic âlikesâ on Twitter.
References
Fraser, Giles (May 22, 2015). Why the church needs welcome services for people transitioning gender. The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2015/may/22/why-church-needs-welcome-services-people-transitioning-gender
Fraser, Giles (June 9, 2022). How pasta made me a Terf. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2022/06/how-pasta-made-me-a-terf/
Resources
X/Twitter (x.com)
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
Timandra Harkness is a writer and comedian who has some gender critical positions about transgender youth and anti-transgender activists.
Background
Harkness presents the BBC Radio 4 series, FutureProofing and How To Disagree. Harkness is author of Big Data: Does Size Matter?
In the show Brainsex, Harkness came to the correct conclusion that “brain sex” is one of many ways sex science is similar to race science: a misuse of science to justify oppression.
Anti-trans statements
Harkness has written in anti-trans publication UnHerd about supporting anti-trans activist Kathleen Stock.
Harkness also stated opposition to gender affirming healthcare for transgender youth:
I support the rights of trans people to equal treatment. I don’t support encouraging teenagers into irreversible medical interventions by telling them they’re in the “wrong body” because they don’t fit narrow gender stereotypes. So I won’t sign this letter.
References
Harkness, Timandra (October 13, 2021). The hounding of Kathleen Stock. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2021/10/the-hounding-of-kathleen-stock/
worldwrite (November 12, 2011). Sex in the brain: do men and women think differently? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ6ygnNsH8o
Resources
Timandra Harkness (timandraharkness.com)
X/Twitter (x.com)
Mary Harrington is a British author and anti-transgender activist.
Background
Mary E. Harrington grew up in Kings Langley and graduated from Oxford in 2002.
“In 2005, I changed my name to Sebastian, because the internet told me to. That was a fairly eccentric thing to do 15 years ago. Now, it seems like everyoneâs at it.”
Harrington worked in marketing from 2006 to 2020, specializing in marketing for the shipping industry. Harrington is a contributing editor at anti-trans publication UnHerd.
Harrington is author of the 2023 book Feminism Against Progress.
References
Trinko, Katrina (April 30, 2023) Did the Pill and the Digital World Fuel Transgenderism? The Daily Signal https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/04/30/mary-harrington-feminism-against-progress-author-talks-transgenderism/
McBain, Sophie (March 8, 2023). Mary Harrington: “Make sex consequential again.” The journalist and author on what liberal feminism gets wrong. New Statesman https://www.newstatesman.com/encounter/2023/03/mary-harrington-interview-make-sex-consequential
Selected anti-trans writing by Harrington
Harrington, Mary (February 19, 2024). New study: trans youth not at elevated risk of suicide. UnHerd https://unherd.com/newsroom/new-study-trans-youth-not-at-elevated-risk-of-suicide/
Harrington, Mary (December 1, 2023). Ultra-Processed People. Reactionary Feminist https://reactionaryfeminist.substack.com/p/ultra-processed-people
Harrington, Mary (September 14, 2023). The Statistic No One’s Allowed To Study: Why are so many transgender prisoners sex offenders? Reactionary Feminist
Harrington, Mary (July 17, 2023). NHS mental health app âKoothâ is a danger to girls. UnHerd https://unherd.com/newsroom/nhs-mental-health-app-kooth-is-a-danger-to-girls/
Harrington, Mary (July 23, 2023). Which orifice? What organs? Who cares? Reactionary Feminist https://reactionaryfeminist.substack.com/p/which-orifice-what-organs-who-cares
Harrington, Mary (June 12, 2023). California laws fundamentally redefine the family. UnHerd https://unherd.com/newsroom/california-laws-fundamentally-redefine-the-family/
Harrington, Mary (May 12, 2023). The Hyperpalatable Human What AI-generated burger adverts tell us about male-to-male transsexuals. Reactionary Feminist https://reactionaryfeminist.substack.com/p/the-hyperpalatable-human
Harrington, Mary (April 17, 2023). From the UN to SNL, how institutions fall to trans activism. UnHerd https://unherd.com/thepost/from-the-un-to-snl-how-institutions-fall-to-transactivism/
Harrington, Mary (April 3, 2023). New laws confirm the sacred principle of bodily self-creation UnHerd https://unherd.com/thepost/new-laws-confirm-the-sacred-principle-of-bodily-self-creation/
Harrington, Mary (March 29, 2023). What Posie Parker learnt from Brexit: Every campaign needs its shock troops. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2023/03/what-posie-parker-learnt-from-brexit/
Harrington, Mary (March 2, 2023). Why Progress isnât feminist. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2023/03/why-progress-isnt-feminist/
Harrington, Mary (March 2, 2023). Dylan Mulvaneyâs new face is only the beginning UnHerd https://unherd.com/thepost/dylan-mulvaneys-new-face-is-only-the-beginning/
Harrington, Mary (January 5, 2023). Why are incels turning themselves into girls? UnHerd https://unherd.com/thepost/why-are-incels-turning-themselves-into-girls/
Harrington, Mary (October 28, 2022). Scotlandâs new gender bill imperils the Union. UnHerd https://unherd.com/thepost/scotlands-new-gender-bill-imperils-the-union/
Harrington, Mary (October 28, 2022). Can you really be non-binary? UnHerd https://unherd.com/2022/08/what-does-it-mean-to-be-non-binary/
Harrington, Mary (May 30, 2022). Landmark trans cases show who the men really are. UnHerd https://unherd.com/thepost/landmark-trans-cases-show-who-the-men-really-are/
Harrington, Mary (October 20, 2021). Welcome to Team TERF, Margaret Atwood UnHerd https://unherd.com/thepost/welcome-to-the-team-margaret-atwood/
Harrington, Mary (September 14, 2021). The Gender Resistance. First Things https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2021/09/the-gender-resistance
Harrington, Mary (September 1, 2021). Trans activism has mummy issues. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2021/09/the-trans-war-on-motherhood/
Harrington, Mary (May 6, 2021). Nobody wins the gender wars. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2021/05/nobody-wins-the-gender-wars/
Harrington, Mary (May 6, 2021). The trans lobby is finally meeting resistance. UnHerd https://unherd.com/thepost/the-trans-lobby-is-finally-meeting-resistance/
Harrington, Mary (December 9, 2020). For me, self-identification was a con. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2020/12/for-me-self-identification-was-a-con/
Resources
Reactionary Feminist (reactionaryfeminist.com)
Substack (substack.com)
UnHerd (unherd.com)
X/Twitter (x.com)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
Jacob Siegel is an American writer and critic of gender affirming healthcare.
Background
Jacob Rosenberg “Jake” Siegel was born November 13, 1980 to sociologist Jan Rosenberg Siegel and academic Frederick Fein “Fred” Siegel, (1945â2023), a progressive turned senior fellow at conservative think tank the Manhattan Institute.
Siegel served in the US Army, then commanded the New York Army National Guard Alpha Company, 1st Battalion 69th Infantry.
Siegel worked at The Daily Beast, where sibling Harry served as a senior editor. Siegel is an author and co-editor with Roy Scranton of Fire and Forget: Short Stories From the Long War, by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Siegel has written for The New York Times, Tablet, Politico, the New York Daily News, The Baffler, Vice, and the National Endowment for the Humanities
Siegel is senior editor of News and The Scroll, Tabletâs daily afternoon news digest.
References
Siegel, Jacob (May 6, 2022). Did hipsters start the gender wars? UnHerd https://unherd.com/2022/05/how-hipsters-started-the-gender-wars/
Siegel, Jacob (June 15, 2022). The Evil of Banality. The Scroll https://thedailyscroll.substack.com/p/the-evil-of-banality
Moulton, David (March 9, 2023). The Great Transitioning. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/great-transitioning [Moulton thanked Siegel for his help with this]
Siegel, Harry; Siegel, Jacob (May 13, 2023). Pop: The private life of the public intellectual: Memories of Fred Siegelâs loving legacy from his sons Harry and Jacob. New York Daily News https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-fred-siegel-harry-jacob-sons-20230513-x75suvkdbjasvd2zhlnlufl5su-story.html
Roberts, Sam (May 11, 2023). Fred Siegel, Urban Historian and a Former Liberal, Is Dead at 78. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/11/nyregion/fred-siegel-dead.html
Resources
X/Twitter (x.com)
Patreon (patreon.com)
Daily Beast (thedailybeast.com)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
Gareth Roberts is a gay British writer and anti-transgender activist.
Background
Gareth John Pritchard Roberts was born June 5, 1968. Roberts attended King Alfred’s College (now the University of Winchester) and Liverpool Polytechnic (now Liverpool John Moores University).
Roberts published the 1997 gay erotic novel The Velvet Web under the pseudonym Christopher Summerisle. Roberts wrote for British soap operas Brookside, Coronation Street, and Emmerdale. Roberts also wrote several books and episodes within the Doctor Who franchise and a number of sitcoms.
Anti-transgender activism
On September 3, 2017, Roberts posted to Twitter, “I â€ïž how trannies choose names like Munroe, Paris and Chelsea. It’s never Julie or Bev is it?” Later Roberts added, “It’s almost like a clueless gayboy’s idea of a glamorous lady. But of course it’s definitely not that.”
In 2019 Roberts was dropped from a Doctor Who project due to the 2017 comments and released a statement. Roberts described the 2017 tweets as “cheerful vulgarity” and laid out various “opinions on transgenderism”:
I donât believe in gender identity. It is impossible for a person to change their biological sex. I donât believe anybody is born in the wrong body.
I think itâs wrong to â write a falsehood into law; compel people by law to speak words they do not believe; rewrite the law to remove womenâs biological sex-based rights and protections; reinforce gender stereotypes; medicalise children who donât conform to gender stereotypes. Thatâs it.
Roberts then began litigating these anti-transgender views on UnHerd and other anti-trans platforms.
References
Gunz, Rafaella (September 17, 2017). Doctor Who writer Tweeted a transphobic comment and the internet is not having it. Gay Star News https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/doctor-writer-tweeted-transphobic-comment-internet-not/
Jusino, Teresa (September 5, 2017). Doctor Who Writer Gareth Roberts Talks Vile, Ignorant Trash About Trans Women. The Mary Sue https://www.themarysue.com/doctor-who-writer-gareth-roberts-talks-vile-ignorant-trash-about-trans-women/
Farrow, Max (September 4, 2017). ‘Doctor Who’ Writer Gareth Roberts Tweets Controversial Comments Online. geeks.media https://geeks.media/doctor-who-writer-gareth-roberts-tweets-controversial-comments-online
Flood, Alison (June 5, 2019). Doctor Who anthology drops writer over transgender remarks. The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/05/doctor-who-anthology-writer-transgender-tweets-gareth-roberts
Selected writing by Roberts
Roberts, Gareth (May 19, 2022). After 12 long hours, I have been freed from Twitter prison. UnHerd https://unherd.com/thepost/after-12-long-hours-i-have-been-freed-from-twitter-jail/
Roberts, Gareth (October 27, 2021). Is the BBC finally standing up to gender ideologues? UnHerd https://unherd.com/thepost/is-the-bbc-finally-standing-up-to-gender-ideologues/
Roberts, Gareth (October 15, 2021). Stephen Nolanâs Stonewall documentary is unmissable. UnHerd https://unherd.com/thepost/stephen-nolans-stonewall-documentary-is-unmissable/
Roberts, Gareth (September 10, 2021). Judith Butlerâs toxic nonsense. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2021/09/judith-butlers-toxic-nonsense/
Roberts, Gareth (August 13, 2021). The BBC erases homosexuality with the stroke of a pen. UnHerd https://unherd.com/thepost/the-bbc-erases-homosexuality-at-the-stroke-of-a-pen/
Roberts, Gareth (June 17, 2021). So youâve been cancelled? Hereâs what to expect. UnHerd https://unherd.com/thepost/so-youve-been-cancelled-heres-what-to-expect/
Roberts, Gareth (June 14, 2019). How I was cancelled by Doctor Who. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2019/06/how-dr-who-fans-became-its-overlords/
Roberts, Gareth (June 4, 2019). Statement on BBC Books and Transgenderism. Medium [archive] https://web.archive.org/web/20190604101854/https://medium.com/@zmangareth/statement-on-bbc-books-and-transgenderism-dd7ad0c9231a
Resources
X/Twitter (x.com)
Spectator (spectator.co.uk)
Medium (medium.com)
Will Lloyd is a British journalist who writes for several anti-transgender publications. Lloyd is commissioning editor and writer at New Statesman.
Background
Lloyd earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Bristol in 2015 and an advanced degree from University of Oxford in 2020. Lloyd wrote for The Tab and freelanced before joining UnHerd in 2021. Lloyd joined New Statesman in 2023.
Writing on trans issues
In writing about Jan Morris, Lloyd says:
Asked about the pushback against the trans movement in 2017, an increasingly ancient Morris said our âmoment is messy, but I think more and more people will move to my conditionâ. She believed it was possible that âeveryone has the potential to have both genders in themâ.
Jan Morris was an early adopter of an ideology that has swept across the Western world in the past 30 years. Conundrum has never been out of print. Morrisâs belief â born from the collapse of empire, engineered to replace her imperial faith â that gender is ineffable and innate, are becoming commonplace in institutional settings. When Morris died, one of the leading tributes came from the chief executive of the Tavistock Clinicâs Gender Identity Development Service.
Is this simply fashion? Is this ideology âcronyisticâ as Helen Joyce, and other gender-critical writers have suggested? Some feminists argue that gender-identity ideology will be abandoned âwhen it is no longer in the ascendentâ, the politicians and tech billionaires will junk the pronouns in their emails, biology will reassert itself, and women will no longer have penises.
References
Lloyd, Will (October 19, 2022). Jan Morris: prophet of our gender troubles. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2022/10/the-prophet-of-our-gender-troubles/
Lloyd, Will (February 15, 2023). Hannah Barnes: Inside the collapse of the Tavistock gender clinic. New Statesman https://www.newstatesman.com/encounter/2023/02/hannah-barnes-inside-collapse-tavistock-gender-clinic-lgbtq-transgender-nhs
Resources
X/Twitter (x.com)
Substack (substack.com)
UnHerd (unherd.com)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
Malcom Kyeyune is a conservative Swedish writer and anti-transgender activist. Kyeyune has described transgender rights as “gender Lysenkoism.”
Background
Malcom Kyeyune was born on December 19, 1987. Kyeyune is part of the steering council for the conservative think tank Oikos. Kyeyune identifies as a Marxist, but socialist/Marxist colleagues suspended Kyeyune from Sweden’s Young Left party as a result of conflicts within the Left Party.
References
Kyeyune, Malcom (June 24, 2022). The Rise of Gender Lysenkoism. Compact https://compactmag.com/article/the-rise-of-gender-lysenkoism
Resources
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
X/Twitter (x.com)
UnHerd (unherd.com)
Muck Rack (muckrack.com)
The Compassion Coalition is an anti-transgender group blog. It was actiev from March 2020 to March 2021.
Key people
Resources
Blogspot (blogspot.com)
Facebook (facebook.com)
Advocates Protecting Children is an American anti-transgender organization.
Background
The nonprofit was incorporated in 2022 under EIN 87-3081103.
Key people
Resources
Trans Data Library (transdatalibrary.org)
Advocates Protecting Children (advocatesprotectingchildren.org)
Instagram (instagram.com)
Facebook (facebook.com)
X/Twitter (x.com)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
- advocates-protecting-children-942297224 [deleted]
YouTube (youtube.com)
Guidestar (guidestar.org)