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Trisha Posner is an American writer and anti-transgender activist who also publishes under the name Patricia Posner.

Anti-transgender activism is a family business; spouse Gerald Posner is also involved in the anti-transgender movement.

Background

Patricia Denise Levene was born in London on March 10, 1951 and grew up in Islington, doing some dance training at the Aida Foster Theatre School before dropping out of Arts and Media School Islington.

After coming to New York City in 1978 and working as an artist, hotel manager, and employee at the Swedish recording label SWS, Trisha Poser married Gerald Posner after they met on a blind date. They soon began collaborating on books. Posner’s website states:

I conduct every interview with him, sift through thousands of pages of original documents in government and private archives, and work on early drafts of manuscripts.

In a profile for Florida International University’s Artspeak, Posner reiterated this work as a researcher to the authors: “On those projects, she conducted every interview with him, sifted through thousands of pages of original documents in government and private archives, and worked on the early drafts of manuscripts.”

In the late 1990s Posner started a monthly column about developments in women’s health.

  • This is Not Your Mother’s Menopause: One Qoman’s Natural Journey through Change (2000)
  • No Hormones, No Fear: A Natural Journey Through Menopause (2007)
  • The Pharmacist of Auschwitz: The Untold Story (2017)

In 2010, Gerald Posner was revealed to be a serial plagiarist, which was attributed to “a flawed research methodology.”

The Posners own Area 51 Consulting LLC. They are also officers of the non-profit Antisemitism Watch, Inc., a Florida Domestic Non-Profit Corporation filed on November 22, 2022. Miami DJ Oren Nizri is also an officer.

Anti-transgender activism

Posner was offended during cancer treatment when when a healthcare provider described the condition as chest cancer. Even though Posner is well-versed in the historic dangers of attacking a persecuted minority, Posner jumped into anti-transgender activism with zeal, offering up a version of the “great replacement” conspiracy theory that cisngender women are being “erased” by transgender people.

Posner claimed that friends were also afraid of expressing outrage about inclusive medical terms that encompass all people with the same disease:

you’re called a Republican for whatever reason that is, or [you’re called] transphobic. Then, of course, you had JK Rowling, who really stood up to everybody, and they canceled her. But then for me, there wasn’t much to cancel. So then I looked at the UK Health Project, and they had a woman with a man sitting next to her – pregnant man – it just seemed all a bit bonkers to me.

When the Posners publicly teamed up for their anti-trans crusade in 2023, they revealed their affinity with an array of other anti-trans activists, including J.K. Rowling, Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, Abigail Shrier, Christopher Rufo, Heterodorx, Julia Mason, Genspect, Sharron Davies, Charles Gasparino, Wesley Yang, Rich Zeoli, Lorelei/hatpinwoman, Tom Fitton, Mike Opelka, Rick Ferri, Lisa Selin Davis, Michael Shermer, and the global ringleader Stella O’Malley.

References

Posner, Patricia (May 9, 2022). When did “woman” become a dirty word? Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/woman-become-dirty-word-transgender-gender-fluid-nonbinary-lgbtqia-sogie-supreme-court-leak-dobbs-roe-wade-birthing-person-medicine-11652124897

Helppie, Richard (June 7, 2022). Woman Erased: How Degendering is Eliminating the Biological Woman: An interview with Trisha Posner:. The Common Bridge https://thecommonbridge.substack.com/p/woman-erased-how-degendering-is-eliminating

Resources

Trisha Posner (trishaposner.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Antisemitism Watch (antisemitismwatch.org)

  • EIN 88-4312270

Instagram (instagram.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Gerald Posner is an American writer, plagiarist, and anti-transgender activist.

Anti-transgender activism is a family business; Posner’s spouse Patricia Denise Levene “Trisha” Posner (born March 10, 1951) is also involved in the anti-transgender movement.

Background and plagiarism

Gerald Leo Posner was born May 20, 1954 in San Francisco. Posner’s parent Jerry was raised Jewish and was a shipping executive. Posner’s parent Gloria L. Posner was Catholic, and Posner was raised Catholic.

Posner attended St. Ignatius College Preparatory and earned a bachelor’s degree from University of California, Berkeley in 1975. Posner earned a law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1978. Posner practiced law until 1986.

Posner’s books include:

  • Mengele: The Complete Story (1986)
  • Warlords of Crime: Chinese Secret Societies: The New Mafia (1988)
  • Hitler’s Children: Sons and Daughters of Leaders of the Third Reich Talk About Their Fathers and Themselves (1991)
  • Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK (1993)
  • Killing the Dream: James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1998)
  • Motown: Music, Money, Sex and Power (2003)
  • Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11 (2003)
  • Secrets of the Kingdom: The Inside Story of the Secret Saudi-U.S. Connection (2005)
  • Miami Babylon: Crime, Wealth, and Power–A Dispatch from the Beach (2009)
  • God’s Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican (2015)
  • Pharma: Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America (2020)

Posner was Chief Investigative Reporter for The Daily Beast, until resigning over serial plagiarism charges in 2010. Posner’s excuse at the time was:

in the quick turnaround I then obviously lost sight of the fact that it belonged to a published source instead of being something I wrote.

Posner (2010)

It later emerged that The Daily Beast was the tip of the iceberg. Posner’s books also had extensive instances of plagiarism, most notably Miami Babylon. Author Frank Owen demonstrated in court filings that Posner plagiarized liberally from Owen’s 2003 book Clubland. Via the Miami Herald, a publication that was also one of Posner’s many plagiarism victims:

Earlier this week, Posner, who holds a law degree, told The Associated Press that a flawed research methodology caused him to put passages from Clubland in Miami Babylon without proper credit. Last month, Posner quit as chief investigative reporter of The Daily Beast after a Slate.com writer noted several instances in which Posner used material from Miami Herald articles.

Rothaus (2010)

In 2013, Posner was named in a complex federal lawsuit brought by Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird, against Posner’s book agent Samuel Pinkus. Via Vanity Fair:

Filed in New York District Court, the suit names Pinkus, his wife, former TV-news writer Leigh Ann Winick, and Gerald Posner, a Miami-based attorney and investigative journalist with a questionable reputation, as defendants.  […]

When Posner filed the incorporation papers of Philologus Procurator, Inc., [PPI] in 2011, he was digging out from a journalism scandal. In February of the previous year, he had resigned as chief investigative reporter of the Daily Beast Web site following allegations of serial plagiarism. Later that same year, he was sued for copyright infringement by the Miami writer Frank Owen, who charged Posner with such pervasive plagiarism in his book Miami Babylon from Owen’s book about Miami, Clubland, that, as Owen said in his lawsuit at the time, Posner should be “eligible for the Guinness Book of World Records for copyright infringement.” (The lawsuit was settled out of court.)

By the end of 2012 it seemed Posner wanted out. He filed an amendment stating that he was no longer associated with PPI: “As of December 31, 2012, Sam Pinkus is the full and only owner of all shares of this corporation.”

Seal (2013)

Posner was later dismissed with prejudice from Lee’s suit, and the case was ultimately settled.

Posner and spouse are officers of the non-profit Antisemitism Watch, Inc, a Florida Domestic Non-Profit Corporation filed on November 22, 2022. Miami DJ Oren Nizri is also an officer.

Anti-trans activism

In 2023, Posner joined his wife in attacking healthcare for transgender children and adolescents. In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece about “transgenderism,” he criticized the legal off-label use of puberty blockers to halt unwanted puberty.

As an example of how Posner spins things, he mentions that puberty blockers are FDA approved to delay puberty, but he claims it is only for “a rare childhood disease caused by a genetic mutation.” He deliberately avoids saying “precocious puberty” because it undermines his entire thesis.

Delaying puberty, including in trans children and adolescents, is usually done to appease parents in addition to helping young people experiencing unwanted puberty. Most gender diverse youth (at least 19 in 20 in one study) continue transition, and many would prefer to go directly to hormones without delay. Posner concludes:

Ignoring the long-term dangers posed by unrestricted off-label dispensing of powerful puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, combined with the large overdiagnosis of minors as gender dysphoric, borders on child abuse.

Posner (2023)

If a minor wants to halt unwanted puberty for whatever reason, and their family and healthcare provider agree after weighing the potential risks and benefits, that option should be available to all Americans.

Posner and spouse revealed their affinity with an array of other anti-trans activists, including J.K. Rowling, Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, Abigail Shrier, Christopher Rufo, Heterodorx, Julia Mason, Genspect, Sharron Davies, Charles Gasparino, Wesley Yang, Rich Zeoli, Lorelei/hatpinwoman, Tom Fitton, Mike Opelka, Rick Ferri, Lisa Selin Davis, Michael Shermer, and the global ringleader Stella O’Malley.

References

Nolan, Hamilton (March 30, 2010). Gerald Posner May Set World Plagiarism Record. Gawker https://www.gawker.com/5505620/gerald-posner-may-set-world-plagiarism-record

Nolan, Hamilton (September 7, 2010). Superplagiarist Gerald Posner Sued by Plagiarism Victim. Gawker https://www.gawker.com/5631819/superplagiarist-gerald-posner-sued-by-plagiarism-victim

Shafer, Jack (February 5, 2010). Plagiarism at the Daily Beast. Slate https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/02/plagiarism-at-the-daily-beast-gerald-posner-concedes-lifting-from-the-miami-herald.html

Shafer, Jack (February 8, 2010). More Posner Plagiarism. Slate https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/02/case-reopened-reviewing-new-examples-of-plagiarism-by-the-daily-beast-s-gerald-posner.html

Shafer, Jack (February 11, 2010). The Posner Plagiarism Perplex. Slate https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/02/making-sense-of-the-blog-statement-by-former-daily-beast-reporter-gerald-posner.html

Rothaus, Steve (Mar 20, 2010 ). Authors confront each other amid book scandal. Miami Herald https://www.miamiherald.com/living/article1935676.html [archive]

Staff report (February 28, 2010). Gloria Posner. San Francisco Chronicle https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/sfgate/name/gloria-posner-obituary?id=21926876

Elfrink, Tim (May 10, 2020). Posner Plagiarizes Again. Miami New Times https://www.miaminewtimes.com/2010-05-20/news/posner-plagiarizes-again/ [archive]

Seal, Mark (August 2013). To Steal* a Mockingbird*? Vanity Fair https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2013/08/harper-lee-dispute-royalties

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (2013). Lee v. Pinkus et al. (1:2013-cv-03000) https://dockets.justia.com/docket/new-york/nysdce/1:2013cv03000/411469 https://www.sdnyblog.com/files/2013/07/13-Civ.-3000-2013.05.03-Complaint.pdf

Brush, Pete (September 6, 2013). Harper Lee Settles With Agent Over ‘Mockingbird’ Copyright. Law360 https://www.law360.com/articles/470604/harper-lee-settles-with-agent-over-mockingbird-copyright

Posner, Gerald (June 7, 2023). Opinion: The Truth About ‘Puberty Blockers.’ Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-truth-about-puberty-blockers-overdiagnosis-gender-dysphoria-children-933cd8fb

Resources

Gerald Posner (posner.com)

Blogspot (blogspot.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Substack (substack.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Muck Rack (muckrack.com)

Antisemitism Watch (antisemitismwatch.org)

  • EIN 88-4312270

Daily Beast (thedailybeast.com)

Peter Gajdics is a Canadian writer and anti-transgender activist.

Background

Peter Gajdics was born and raised in Vancouver. After undergoing “conversion therapy” in his 20s, he became a vocal opponent of the practice. He is the author of the 2017 book The Inheritance of Shame: A Memoir.

Anti-transgender activism

Rather than acknowledge that we all face the same coercive “therapies” from hateful psychologists, Gajdics complained in Quillette that the “trans rights lobby” had co-opted the movement to end conversion therapy.

References

Gajdics, Peter (June 4, 2022). Gender Ideologues Have Co-opted the Campaign Against Conversion Therapy. Quillette https://quillette.com/2022/06/04/gender-ideologues-have-co-opted-the-campaign-against-conversion-therapy/

Resources

Peter Gajdics (petergajdics.com)

Inheritance of Shame (inheritanceofshame.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Kathleen Hayes is an American writer and anti-transgender activist. Hayes believes the trans community is a “cult.”

Background

Hayes bas born in ~1968 and attended University of California, Berkeley. While there she joined the Spartacus Youth League, a revolutionary communist organization that espoused Trotskyist philosophies. Via Washington Post:

Kathleen Hayes, a Berkeley alum now working with the Spartacus Youth League, pauses from her task of passing out copies of the Workers Vanguard newspaper. She finds the disc disgusting: “The idea that the university that tried to squelch free speech is now putting up a monument to free speech is priceless. This is hypocritical. We know they can run anyone whose views they don’t like off campus.”

She said in 2022,”Since quitting in 2016, I’ve devoted myself to trying to better understand how and why so many leftists—including myself all those years—imbibe and express antisemitism.”

Hayes earned a master’s degree at Birkbeck, University of London, in 2020. Her thesis was ‘Marxism, the “Jewish Question” and the Holocaust: The Spectre Behind Contemporary Left Antisemitism.’

Her essay ‘Antisemitism and the Left: A Memoir,’ was published in Fathom in 2021. At the time, she planned to work toward a doctorate.

Anti-transgender activism

In 2022 she presented a paper titled ‘Punch a TERF’ and ‘Smash the Zionists’: Misogyny and Antisemitism in the Contemporary Western Left:

Authoritarianism thrives on a dialectic of love and hate. Lonely, spiritually thirsty people in a fragmented modern world turn to authoritarian groups and movements not only for a sense of belonging and meaning, but what they experience as love. The exquisite comradeship the authoritarian group provides can only be enjoyed against another group, one deemed righteous to hate. That authoritarianism invariably fosters prejudice was best understood by the Frankfurt School, who noted that ‘the authoritarian must [their emphasis], out of an inner necessity, turn his aggression against out groups’. They also found authoritarians hated predictable clusters of groups: their typical rightwing antisemitic subject also hated black people, foreigners and gays and had retrograde views about women.

Today many of the same illiberal, authoritarian ‘progressives’ who spew antisemitism support a misogynist rampage in the form of transactivism. Much as anti-Zionist vitriol is really directed against all Jews, transactivists’ threats against ‘TERFs’ implicitly target all women. Both campaigns are driven by perverse claims about ‘privilege’. For the authoritarian left, (‘Zionist’) Jews and (‘cisgender’) women are ‘oppressors’, so hating them is not only just, but obligatory. Race—the suggestion that both groups are ‘white’—plays an essential role. The contemporary struggle against antisemitism therefore calls for also grappling with the threatening, bizarre, overtly anti-materialist offensive occurring on the terrain of gender.

She posted a similar piece in Quillette titled “Gender Ideology’s True Believers.”

References

Heni, Clemens (August 20, 2022). Ukraine, Holocaust trivialization, transphobia and tolerating the “American Nazi Party” in the pro-Israel scene? https://clemensheni.net/ukraine-holocaust-trivialization-transphobia-and-tolerating-the-american-nazi-party-in-the-pro-israel-scene/

Hayes, Kathleen (September 13, 2022). ‘Punch a TERF’ and ‘Smash the Zionists’: Misogyny and Antisemitism in the Contemporary Western Left. Conference: 21st Century Antisemitism https://londonantisemitism.com/conference-21st-century-antisemitism/

Boudreau, John (July 28, 1992). Up against the scrawl. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1992/07/28/up-against-the-scrawl/1d731e33-1992-486c-b299-d60786510ada/

Staff report (February 12, 1988). “Smash Metzger’s Klan Terror!” Workers Vanguard https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/workersvanguard/1988/0446_12_02_1988.pdf

Staff report (April 1, 1993). Berkeley Spartacus Youth Club Protests “Right to Life” Bigots. Workers Vanguard https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/workersvanguard/1993/0573_09_04_1993.pdf

Hayes, Kathleen (May 19, 2022). Gender Ideology’s True Believers. Quillette https://quillette.com/2022/05/19/gender-ideologys-true-believers/

Hayes, Kathleen (July 2021). Antisemitism and the Left: A Memoir. Fathom https://fathomjournal.org/antisemitism-and-the-left-a-memoir/

Hayes, Kathleen (September 21, 2022). From Trotsky to Torah. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/holidays/articles/trotsky-to-torah-rosh-hashanah

Resources

Quillette (quillette.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Jewish Journal (jewishjournal.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Bernard Lane is an Australian writer and anti-transgender activist. Lane has written for anti-trans platforms including The Australian, MercatorNet, Quillette, and Substack.

Background

Lane earned a bachelor’s degree from UNSW in 1984.

Anti-transgender activism

Lane worked at The Australian from 1991 to 2022. While there, Lane created a dedicated section to attack transgender people.

In 2022 Lane began self-publishing the anti-transgender Substack Gender Clinic News.

In 2024 anti-trans psychiatrist Mikael Landén leaked a pre-publication paper by Sallie Baxendale to Lane. Baxendale’s academic literature review reflected Landén’s view that puberty blockade should be strictly controlled because of unknown risks, particularly cognitive effects. Baxendale then complained in anti-trans publication UnHerd, including a piece about how the literature review written by Baxendale was rejected by three journals as well as accepted by Acta Paediatrica. Baxendale claimed, “it wasn’t the methods they objected to, it was the actual findings.” Of the rejection reasons that Baxendale shared, all were about the obvious bias of the author and the stigmatizing potential from how the material is tendentiously presented.

References

Lane, Bernard (March 15, 2022). New media outlet examines the evidence for ‘gender medicine.’ MercatorNet https://mercatornet.com/new-media-outlet-examines-the-evidence-for-gender-medicine/78051/ [archive]

Resources

Gender Clinic News (genderclinicnews.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Quillette (quillette.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

The Australian (theaustralian.com.au)

  • Gender [archive]
  • theaustralian.com.au/topics/gender
  • Bernard Lane
  • theaustralian.com.au/author/bernard-lane

Konstantin Kisin is a Russian-British podcaster and anti-transgender activist. Kisin gets money and attention by attacking the trans community, especially gender diverse children.

Kisin is co-host of the anti-transgender podcast TRIGGERnometry with Francis Foster. 

Background

Konstantin Vadimovich Kisin was born on December 25, 1982 in the former Soviet Union and grew up in the United Kingdom after Kisin’s family emigrated there in 1994.

Beginning around 2016, Kisin began performing on stage at numerous venues. In 2018, Kisin was invited to perform at a Unicef fundraiser at London’s School of African and Oriental Studies. Kisin refused to sign a behavioural agreement requiring that controversial topics be covered in a respectful and non-abusive way.

Kisin’s 2019 show Orwell That Ends Well played at Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Kisin and Alina Kisina (born January 21, 1983 in Ukraine) were married on November 28, 2003. They have a child, Nikolai Kisin, born May 12, 2022.

Kisin is author of the 2022 book An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the West.

Anti-trans activism

Kisin and Foster founded the hard-right podcast TRIGGERnometry in 2018. In 2020 they co-founded Avian Appreciation Limited in the UK.

Kisin and Foster have platformed over 100 of the world’s most notable anti-trans activists and gender critical public figures.

In anti-trans publication Quillette, Kisin complained about alleged mistreatment due to the podcast:

Even though my co-host is an old school leftie and I’m a centrist with a strong libertarian bent, we’ve been banned from comedy clubs and lost friendships in the industry over our “right-wing podcast.” 

We’ve interviewed people about the evolutionary origins of racism, the biological differences between men and women, the gender pay gap, populism, capitalism, socialism, communism and much else besides, but nothing has made us pariahs quite like defending free speech.

In a glowing review for the 2022 anti-trans film What Is a Woman? by Matt Walsh, Kisin mentioned TRIGGERnometry episodes with trans journalist India Willoughby, anti-trans extremist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, and and ex-trans activist Sierra Weir:

I have probably met and interviewed more transgender people, gender-critical feminists, detransitioners and people engaged in the “trans debate” than almost anyone. In preparation for these conversations, I’ve read extensively about the origins of gender ideology, the medical realities of transition and the ideological underpinnings of this emerging phenomenon.

References

McCubbin, Kelly (February 11, 2023). Konstantin Kisin Is Taking You for a Ride. Medium https://medium.com/@MightyMicroscope/konstantin-kisin-is-taking-you-for-a-ride-8796ec59ff11

Staff report (December 12, 2018). Comedian refused to sign ‘behavioural agreement’ before gig. BBC News Newsbeat https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-46541002

Kisin, Konstantin (June 3, 2022). Review: What Is a Woman? Substack https://konstantinkisin.substack.com/p/review-what-is-a-woman

Kisin, Konstantin (January 3, 2019). The New War on Comedy. Quillette https://quillette.com/2019/01/03/the-new-war-on-comedy/

Kisin, Konstantin (November 22, 2019). YouTube Censored My Interview With Posie Parker. Quillette https://quillette.com/2019/11/22/youtube-censored-my-interview-with-posie-parker/

Anderson, John (June 6, 2023). Why Can’t We Talk About Transgenderism? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQBo27YyE44

Thévoz, Seth (May 16, 2023). Assault rifles, wind farms, immigration and hormones: Inside NatCon. openDemocracy https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/inside-national-conservatism-conference-suella-braverman-immigration-wind-farms-rifles/

Media

OxfordUnion (January 12, 2023). Konstantin Kisin: Woke Culture HAS Gone Too Far – 7/8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJdqJu-6ZPo

Resources

Konstantin Kisin (konstantinkisin.com) [archive]

Alina Kisina (alinakisina.co.uk)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Twitter (twitter.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Locals (locals.com)

Substack (substack.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Chartwell Speakers (chartwellspeakers.com)

“Vera Lindner” is the stage name of Penka Kouneva, a Bulgarian-American composer and anti-transgender activist. Kouneva is a producer of the 2023 anti-trans film No Way Back, directed by Laura VanZee-Taylor. As producer, Kouneva is responsible for including convicted sex offender David Arthur Kendall as one of the ex-trans activists featured.

Prior to engaging in anti-trans activism, Kouneva worked on the trans-created Matrix franchise and has done orchestration for the Oscars, many video games, and many science fiction media projects.

Background

Penka Dinkova Kouneva (Пенка Динкова Кунев) was born February 25, 1967 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Kouneva came to the US in 1990 to attend Duke University, earning a doctorate in 1997. In 2000 Kouneva moved to Los Angeles and brought several family members over.

Kouneva married musician Daniel M. Schweiger on August 29, 2004. Schweiger is a writer for assignmentx.com, buzzine.com, filmmusicmag.com, and Venice Magazine. Schweiger writes liner notes and has a composer podcast called On the Score.

They have one child born in 2006. Kouneva has stated, “The defining experience of my early 40’s was the birth of my daughter,” which came at a creative crossroads.

Kouneva is sometimes credited as Penka Kouneva-Schweiger. Because their child is likely a beneficiary of the Schweiger & Kouneva Living Trust, it’s likely not possible for their child to share any opinions that contradict Kouneva’s.

Kouneva has released several albums and has been involved in composing and orchestrating many projects. Kouneva frequently collaborates on orchestration with composers who include Steve Jablonsky, Nathan Barr, Don Davis, and Hans Zimmer.

Selected video games

Kouneva has created work for Atari, Activision, Blizzard, EA, Microsoft, Sony, Steam, Ubisoft, among others.

  • Enter the Matrix (2002)
  • World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria (2005) & Legion (2016)
  • Call of Duty 3 (2006)
  • Transformers: The Game (2007) & Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
  • Gears of War 2 & 3 (2008 & 2011)
  • The Sims 3 (2009)
  • Prince Of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (2010)
  • StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (2010) & Heart of the Swarm (2013)
  • Dragon Age II (2011)
  • Kinect Disneyland Adventures (2011)
  • Diablo III (2012)
  • Overwatch 1 & 2 (2016 & 2022)

Selected film and television

Kouneva has created work for Disney, DreamWorks, Lionsgate, New Line, Paramount, Regent, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros., among others.

  • The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
  • Hostel (2005 & 2007)
  • Transformers (2007)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016)
  • The Oscars (2020)

Anti-transgender activism

Kourneva became an anti-trans activist at the height of the 2020 pandemic lockdowns. Kouneva’s teenage child, who had previously come out as lesbian, came out as trans and asked to be referred to by a new name and masculine pronouns.

Kourneva was radicalized after reading the anti-trans book Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier.

Kourneva found a lesbian therapist, who affirmed the teen, much to Kourneva’s dismay. Kourneva refused their child’s requests for a binder and dietary supplements. Kourneva learned that the therapist suggested that Kourneva’s child speak with the family’s health insurance company about coverage for trans healthcare. That is when Kourneva pulled their child from therapy and left Los Angeles to have their child to volunteer on a farm. Concerned about losing custody because of these anti-trans views, Kourneva came up with a strategy:

What I had to do is show love, support, and kindness without affirming the delusion. Without affirming the ideology, and drawing a very clear boundary that you’re loved, you’re safe, but we will do absolutely nothing medical until you are 18.

In order to engage in anti-trans activism without having it connected to a lucrative career, Kouneva created the alias “Vera Lindner.”

Kouneva also uses the fictitious business name “Panacol Productions dba PKS, Inc.” PKS stands for “Penka Kouneva Studios, Inc.,” a California corporation Kouneva created in 2018. Under the Panacol banner, Kouneva produced the 2023 anti-trans film No Way Back.

The press release for the film was put out by Panacol and lists Kouneva as contact:

References

Panacol Production dba PKS, Inc. (June 13, 2023). New Original Documentary “NO WAY BACK: The Reality of Gender-Affirming Care” to Receive a World Premiere Event at AMC Theatres Throughout the US – June 21, 4:30 and 7:30 PM/ https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-original-documentary-no-way-back-the-reality-of-gender-affirming-care-to-receive-a-world-premiere-event-at-amc-theatres-throughout-the-us–june-21-430-and-730-pm-301849037.html

Bolar, Kelsey (September 9, 2022). Identity Crisis: California Mom Says Gender Ideology Drove Autistic Daughter Into Mental Breakdown. IWF https://www.iwf.org/identity-crisis-vera/

Jones, Brad (September 8, 2022). Mom of Ex-trans Daughter Seeks to Expose ‘Social Contagion’ in Documentary. Epoch Times https://www.theepochtimes.com/mom-of-ex-trans-daughter-seeks-to-expose-social-contagion-in-documentary_4719361.html

IWF (September 9, 2022). Identity Crisis: California Mom Says Gender Ideology Drove Autistic Daughter Into Mental Breakdown. Independent Women’s Forum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lVlIQFVkAA

Joseph, Tara (July 9, 2020). Cherishing relationships, opening doors, a fascination with Space, Astronauts and NASA and striving for success with composer Penka Kouneva. For Love and Music https://www.jamartistsgroup.com/cherishing-relationships-opening-doors-a-fascination-with-space-astronauts-and-nasa-and-striving-for-success-with-composer-penka-kouneva/

Palma, Alex (February 21, 2018). INTERVIEW: Penka Kouneva And The Birth Of Id. Cultured Vultures https://culturedvultures.com/interview-penka-kouneva-birth-id/

Eckerling, Debra L (August 3, 2018). Penka Kouneva Scores With Video Games. Jewish Journal https://jewishjournal.com/culture/arts/236837/penka-kouneva-scores-video-games/

gamermd83 (December 12, 2015). MD Interviews: Penka Kouneva (Composer & Orchestrator). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcfgai2PhdU

Savas, Kaya (October 5, 2012). Composer Interview: Penka Kouneva. Film.Music.Media https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0UOWiHLG_8

Staff report (October 3, 2004). Marriages: Penka Kouneva and Daniel Schweiger. Milford Daily News https://www.milforddailynews.com/story/news/2004/10/03/marriages-penka-kouneva-daniel-schweiger/41182998007/

Resources

Penka Kouneva (penkakouneva.com)

Open Corporates (opencorporates.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Duke University Department of Music (music.duke.edu)

American Federation of Musicians Local 47 (afm47.org)

Francis Foster is a British comedian and anti-transgender activist. Foster co-hosts anti-trans podcast TRIGGERnometry with Konstantin Kisin.

Background

Francis James Foster was born on May 1, 1982.

In 2020 Kisin and Foster founded Avian Appreciation Limited in the UK.

Media

Triggernometry (August 8, 2023). Francis Foster REACTS to Starbucks Transgender Advert. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdLQagwEaX4

Resources

Francis Foster (francisfoster.co.uk)

Instagram (instagram.com)

X/Twitter (x.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Ruth Barrett is an American spiritual leader and anti-transgender activist.

Background

Ruth Bienenfeld was born on February 4, 1954 in Los Angeles to a family deeply involved in Reconstructionist Judaism. After marrying William Q. Barrett in 1977, Ruth Barrett had a child, Amanda Rebecca Barrett, born in 1978.

Barrett attended University of California, Santa Cruz to pursue an interest in spirituality and folklore, eventually joining a coven in 1977.

Barrett began performing women’s music as a teen and recorded five albums with fellow mountain dulcimer player Cyntia Smith beginning in 1981.

Barrett divorced after coming out as lesbian in 1984.

From 1991 until its closure, Barrett was heavily involved with the trans-exclusionary Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. Barrett performed with Kay Gardner after they met there. Barrett began releasing solo works in 1990.

Barrett led Moon Birch Grove coven until 1988. That year, Barrett founded Circle of Aradia, which affiliated with Reformed Congregation of the Goddess in 1993. Barrett relocated with partner Falcon River to the Midwest in 2000, founded the nonprofit Temple of Diana, Inc. in 2001, and continues to teach and perform at music events and festivals.

Trans-exclusionary activism

In addition to involvement in Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, Barrett is an adherent to “Dianic Wicca,” an explicitly trans-exclusionary set of beliefs and practices.

Dianic tradition is celebrated in exclusively female-only circles.

Power is sourced through our wombs, and female embodied magic that is found in every cell of her body.

A woman is a person who is an adult human female (XX).  

In the current climate where transgender activists seek to eliminate protections based on biological sex, we will not participate in our own oppression and erasure by pretending that our bodies are insignificant to what makes us female, as girls and women. 

We encourage males who are trans identified to create their own rites of passage that address their significant life cycle events from birth into elderhood. We welcome females who have de-transitioned and wish to reclaim their female being free of patriarchal collusion. 

Female Erasure (2016)

Barrett is editor of the anthology Female Erasure: What You Need To Know About Gender Politics’ War on Women, the Female Sex and Human Rights. The book puts forth a variety of anti-trans views centered on the conspiracy theory that trans people are “erasing” women and lesbians.

Contributors:

  • Lane Anderson
  • Temple Ardinger
  • Ruth Barrett
  • Cathy Brennan
  • Dominique Christina
  • “Crash” [Ky Schevers]
  • Alix Dobkin
  • Maya Dillard Smith
  • “Gallusmag” [Linda Shanko]
  • Elizabeth Hungerford
  • Sheila Jeffreys
  • Nedra Johnson
  • Nuriddeen Knight
  • “Mara Lake”
  • Julia Long
  • Vajra Ma
  • Patricia McFadden
  • Patricia Monaghan (1946-2012)
  • Ava Park
  • Falcon River
  • “Joan F. Archive”
  • Monica Asencio
  • Jennifer Bilek
  • Mary Ceallaigh
  • “Double XX Howl”
  • Kathy Crocco
  • Carol Downer
  • Ila Suzanne Gray
  • Elsa Gidlow (1898 – 1986)
  • “Hypotaxis”
  • Rachel Ivey
  • Lierre Keith
  • Dr. Kathleen “Kelly” Levinstein
  • Sara St. Martin Lynne
  • Kathy Mandigo, M.D.
  • Jackie Mearns
  • Barbara Mor (1936 – 2015)
  • “Phonaesthica”
  • Max Robinson
  • Kathy Scarbrough
  • Sally Tatnall
  • “Sharon Thrace“
  • “Marie Verite” [Denise Caignon]
  • Mary Lou Singleton
  • Monica Sjöö (1938 – 2005)
  • Yeye Luisah Teish
  • Devorah Zahav
  • Additional acknowledgements: Karen Cayer, Mary Daly, Therese Hill, and Shiela Jeffreys

References

Malkmus, Doris (November 28, 2004). Oral History Interview: Ruth Barrett. (PDF) LGBTQ Religious Archives Network https://lgbtqreligiousarchives.org/media/oral-history/ruth-barrett/RBarrett.pdf

Malkmus, Doris (August 5, 2020). Ruth Barrett | Profile. LGBTQ Religious Archives Network https://lgbtqreligiousarchives.org/profiles/ruth-barrett

Cowanl, Zagria (November 9, 2010). Ruth Rhiannan Barrett (1954–) priestess, folksinger. https://zagria.blogspot.com/2010/11/ruth-rhiannan-barrett-1954-priestess.html

Resources

Female Erasure (femaleerasure.com)

Dancing Tree (dancingtree.org)

Temple of Diana (templeofdiana.org)

Women’s Rites, Women’s Mysteries (womensriteswomensmysteries.com) [archive]

Guardians of the Grove (guardiansofthegrove.org) [archive]

  • The Spiral Door Women’s Mystery School of Magick and Ritual Arts

Aeolus Music (aeolusmusic.com) [archive]

Milli Hill is a British author and anti-transgender activist. Hill was upset after reading the term “birthing person,” a value-neutral and inclusive term to describe all people who can give birth. After getting pushback about her views, Hill leaned even harder into anti-transgender activism.

Background

Milli Hill was born in January 1975 and attended Leweston school before earning a degree from Durham University in 1996. After working as an actor and dramatherapist, Hill began a writing career focusing on birth, breastfeeding, and motherhood.

Hill gave birth to three children. Hill has written three book about pregnancy and childcare and founded the Positive Birth Movement in-person support group network that was active until 2021. Hill incorporated Milli Hill, Ltd. in 2020.

On November 25, 2020, Hill was tagged in a social media post about obstetric violence that used the term “birthing people.” Hill replied:

“Thanks. Good to see this post. I would challenge the term ‘birthing person’ in this context though, especially on international day to end violence against women. It is women who are seen as the ‘fragile sex’ etc, and obstetric violence is violence against women. Let’s not forget who the oppressed are here, and why.”

The original poster replied, “Obstetric violence is violence against anyone on the receiving end of obstetric violence – women, trans men, non-binary people, anyone.”

Hill replied:

“Personally I think it’s part of violence against women but if you disagree then at least don’t leave them out and say ‘women and birthing people’. 

Hill has gone on to become a leading anti-trans voice, frequently criticizing the civil rights movement in general and specific activists in particular in the press and on social media.

References

Smith, Julia Llewellyn (July 21, 2021) Milli Hill: the campaigner cancelled for questioning the term ‘birthing people.’ The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/milli-hill-the-campaigner-cancelled-for-questioning-the-term-birthing-people-dkqplw0b7

Hill, Milli (May 17, 2022). When even midwives are being taught that men can give birth, I despair for motherhood, says childbirth expert MILLI HILL. Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10826897/Trans-debate-midwives-taught-men-birth-despair-MILLI-HILL-says.html

Resources

Milli Hill (millihill.co.uk)

Positive Birth Movement (positivebirthmovement.org)

Milli Hill Ltd.

  • Company number 12523381

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Substack (substack.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)