Paul Marshall is a British investor and anti-transgender activist. In 2017, Marshall gave funding to anti-transgender publication UnHerd.
Background
Paul Roderick Clucas Marshall was born on August 2, 1959. Marshall’s parent Alan was an executive based in the Philippines, but Marshall remained in England for school. Marshall earned degrees from St John’s College, Oxford and INSEAD.
In 1997 Marshall and Ian Wace founded a successful hedge fund. After many years supporting policies of Liberal Democrats, Marshall began funding conservative projects, including anti-trans publication UnHerd and anti-trans platform GB News.
Marshall and spouse Sabrina have two adult children.
Tom McTague is a British writer who works for anti-trans publication UnHerd. McTague previously worked at anti-trans publication The Atlantic from 2019 to 2023.
Background
McTague grew up in County Durham in the North East England. McTague, spouse, and child live in London.
McTague has also worked at Mail Online, the Independent on Sunday, and the Daily Mirror.
McTague co-authored the 2017 election book, Betting the House.
Tim Montgomerie is a British writer and conservative activist. Montgomerie founded anti-trans publication UnHerd.
Background
Timothy “Tim” Montgomerie was born on July 24, 1970 in Barnstaple, Devon. Montgomerie’s conservative views as a teen were shaped by Thatcherism and evangelical Christianity. While enrolled at University of Exeter, Montgomerie and David Burrowes founded the Conservative Christian Fellowship. Montgomerie led the organization from 1990 to 2003.
In 2004 Montgomerie co-founded conservative think tank The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) with Iain Duncan Smith, Mark Florman and Philippa Stroud. In 2005 Montgomerie founded right-wing blog ConservativeHome and has since held numerous roles at British media outlets.
Montgomerie founded anti-trans publication UnHerd in 2017 and left in 2018.
Third Factor is a publication by anti-trans activist Jessie Mannisto.
Background
Third factor is a reference to a concept by Kazimierz Dąbrowski in which there are three factors that affect creative and gifted people: nature, nurture, and a kind of dynamism Dąbrowski calls “overexcitability.”
People
Jessie Mannisto
Alexis Obernauer
Ilana Grostern
Ralph Rickenbach
Margo Margan
Luis Manuel Martínez Domínguez
Raphaela Carrière
Podcast
Overexcitability and the Higher Path (August 17, 2023) Jessie
Of Sophists, Mensheviks, and Cassandras with Marie (August 24, 2023) Jessie and Marie
Maladjusted to Gen Z’s Maladjustment with Margo Margan (August 31, 2023) Jessie
When Struggle Sessions Stir Positive Disintegration (September 7, 2023) Jessie
The Voice in Strength and Vulnerability with Laura Stavinoha (September 14, 2023) Jessie
Courageous Conversation for the Next Generation with Jefferson Shupe (September 21, 2023) Jessie
Embodied Camaraderie with Alasdair Gunn (September 28, 2023) Jessie
Fighting Affective Polarization with Julian Adorney (October 12, 2023) Jessie
Jessie Mannisto is an American consultant and anti-transgender activist. Mannisto is executive editor at anti-trans organization Genspect.
Background
Jessie Louise Mannisto was born on May 31, 1982 to parents Keith and Anne and grew up in Northridge, Michigan with a younger sibling, Emily. Mannisto earned a bachelor’s degree from Kalamazoo College in 2004, followed by a master’s degree from University of Michigan in 2011. Mannisto speaks Japanese and has spent time in Japan. From 2011 to 2013 Mannisto worked at the Japanese Consulate in Detroit, then at the CIA as an analyst from 2013 to 2017.
In 2018 Mannisto began working as a freelance consultant and researcher.
Anti-trans activism
In 2017 Mannisto founded Third Factor, a publication “for creative and intellectually engaged people.” In a 2019 Third Factor article, Mannisto first “publicly questioned gender identity and its apparent over-representation among those identified as gifted.” In this piece, Mannisto promoted several controversial ideas and people:
In 2023 Genspect announced that Mannisto would moderate a panel at their Denver conference titled “Not your mom: Women resisting gender ideology.” Scheduled panelists include Heather Heying, Carrie Mendoza, Stella O’Malley, Nina Paley, and Carole Hooven.
Sander Rietveld is a Dutch anti-transgender activist. Rietveld directed the 2023 anti-trans media piece “Het transgenderprotocol.” It was so one-sided that one of the subjects, Lucy Kortikasari, came out against Rietveld’s deceptive and biased practices.
Background
Rietveld earned a master’s degree from Leiden University in 1999. Rietveld did investigations at Netwerk from 2004 to 2010.
Rietveld authored the 2021 book Nieuwe kruisvaarders [New Crusaders] about connections between orthodox Christianity and far right populism.
Rietveld is host of the podcast ZEMBLA.
Anti-transgender activism
Rietveld directed Het transgenderprotocol. Personnel included:
Rietveld, Sander (2021). Nieuwe kruisvaarders: de heilige alliantie tussen orthodoxe christenen en radicaal-rechtse populisten. Prometheus, ISBN 978-9044645163
Linda Blade is a Canadian athlete, coach, and anti-transgender extremist. Blade considers transgender athletes “almost an existential threat to our sport.”
Background
Linda Blade was born on May 26, 1962 in Bolivia. Blade and spouse moved to Nigeria in the 1990s. They returned to Canada after they had a child.
Blade competed in track and field. Blade earned a doctorate from Simon Fraser University in 1994. In 1997, Blade began work as a sports performance coach.
In 2014, Blade was elected as president of the board for Athletics Alberta and was involved in shaping Canadian sport policy. Blade is president of the Edmonton Track Council, and is responsible for overseeing athletics programs across Alberta, including at Kinsmen Field House.
Anti-transgender activism
Blade is a frequent collaborator with Raine McLeod of AB Radical Feminists.
According to a 2021 report by The Canadian Anti-Hate Network, “Blade’s staff bio at the Royal Glenora Club, an Edmonton-based private fitness and social club, describes her ‘struggle to preserve sports for biological females’ as ‘the hill I am prepared to die on.’”
Blade and Barbara Kay wrote the 2021 book Unsporting: How Trans Activism and Science Denial are Destroying Sport.
Blade is involved in anti-trans organization Independent Council on Women’s Sports and maintains anti-trans website N=8. According to Blade, this equation “denotes the number of male born runners it took to change the rules of sport for ALL female athletes in the world across ALL sports.”
Blade was announced as a speaker at a 2023 anti-trans conference by Genspect.
Yamauchi, Mara (July 2, 2022). Dr Linda Blade and a life in athletics.World Athletics https://worldathletics.org/personal-best/lifestyle/linda-blade-life-in-athletics
Signatories (September 27 2020). We stand with JK against hate.The Sunday Times [archive] https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/letters-to-the-editor-banish-empire-and-make-us-all-proud-5tl06tt6h
Signatories (April 10, 2022) Press pause on Conversion Therapy Bill.The Sunday Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/press-pause-on-conversion-therapy-bill-g7vbtvc7h
James Lindsay is an American writer and anti-transgender activist.
Background
James Stephen Lindsay was born on June 8, 1979 in Ogdensburg, New York and grew up in Maryville, Tennessee. Lindsay attended Tennessee Tech, earning a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree. Lindsay earned a doctorate from University of Tennessee in 2010. After completing the degree, Lindsay worked as a massage therapist.
Anti-transgender activism
Lindsay and Peter Boghossian published a hoax paper in 2017 titled “The Conceptual Penis as a Social Construct.” They stated the paper parodied “poststructuralist discursive gender theory.” The paper was rejected by Norma, but later accepted by Cogent Social Sciences.
Lindsay, Boghossian, and Helen Pluckrose submitted 20 hoax papers, which they submitted to peer-reviewed journals using several pseudonyms. One recommended that people challenge their transphobia by inserting sex toys into their anuses.
The hoax was uncovered by Toni Airaksinen of Campus Reform in 2018.
Lindsay is a proponent of the right-wing LGBT grooming conspiracy theory and helped popularize “groomer” as a slur directed at LGBTQ educators and activists. Lindsay considers the Pride flag to be “the flag of a hostile enemy.”
Lindsay was a featured speaker at the 2023 anti-trans Genspect conference in Denver.
New Discourses
Lindsay founded the New Discourses wesbsite, now owned by Christian nationalist commentator Michael O’Fallon of Sovereign Nations.
Lindsay published a series of anti-trans posts by contributor “Donna M.,” the pen name of Linda Kramer, “a writer who was censored by Medium when her insights on transgender issues were labelled ‘hate speech.'”
The New Discourses podcast frequently attacks the trans community. Anti-trans episodes include:
Jaschik, Scott (May 22, 2017). Hoax With Multiple Targets. Inside Higher Ed https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/22/faux-scholarly-article-sets-criticism-gender-studies-and-open-access-publishing