In 2020, supporters of J.K. Rowling published an open letter in the Sunday Times in response to criticism of the author.
Rowlingās book Troubled Blood included a male serial killer who dresses as a woman in order to lure his female victims, a common transphobic trope.
Signatories include many key figures in anti-transgender extremism.
Letter
JK Rowling has been subjected to an onslaught of abuse that highlights an insidious, authoritarian and misogynistic trend in social media.
Rowling has consistently shown herself to be an honourable and compassionate person, and the appalling hashtag #RIPJKRowling is just the latest example of hate speech directed against her and other women that Twitter and other platforms enable and implicitly endorse.
We are signing this letter in the hope that, if more people stand up against the targeting of women online, we might at least make it less acceptable to engage in it or profit from it.
We wish JK Rowling well and stand in solidarity with her.
Sall Grover is an Australian writer, app developer, and anti-transgender activist. Grover founded giggle, a networking app designed to exclude transgender women.
Background
Sally “Sall” Grover was born on October 11, 1984. Parent Rob Grover is a real estate agent. After attending Bond University, Grover then moved to Hollywood.
In 2011, Emma “Em” Jensen and Sall “Face” Grover published a blog called The LA Team, chronicling their experiences in Los Angeles. Their story was optioned by Gold Circle Films and developed as Sex on the First Date. It was never produced.
For eight years, Grover lived in Los Angeles, writing and pitching: “It was a horrible life.” Grover then moved to Brooklyn and lived with a group of women.
Grover has since returned to Australia as a freelance copywriter and screenwriter for Screen Queensland and Be Media. Grover operates Wadd Holdings Pty Ltd.
Grover had a child in 2022 named Isabelle Lily.
Anti-transgender activism
In 2019, Grover set up Giggle For Girls Ltd Pty. Grover then fundraised and developed a networking app “for females.” The app used facial recognition and other techniques to exclude people, including trans woman Roxanne Tickle:
On 3 March 2022, Giggleās lawyers at the Feminist Legal Clinic responded to the complaint, saying Tickle was āconsidered maleā based on her appearance in the selfie and that this was why she had been removed.
Grover described Tickle as a “trans identified male” in a social media post less than three weeks later. Grover was represented by Katherine Deves.
In 2022, Grover protested a Medicare form that used the term “birthing parent.”
Podcast
In 2022, Grover released 15 episodes of The Giggle Podcast. Guests included many key anti-trans activists in Australia.
Anonymous guests
“UPenn Swimmer”
Twitter account NoSelfIDinQLD
Critic of gender-affirming group acon (AIDS Council of New South Wales)
Eva Kurilova is a Canadian anti-transgender activist. Kurilova identifies as a TERF and has been affiliated with anti-trans extremist groups Gays Against Groomers and LGB United. Kurilova has contributed to anti-trans group blogs and Substack newsletters, including Gender Dissent, Reality’s Last Stand, and The Distance.
Background
Kurilova lives in Calgary, Alberta and earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Calgary in 2013.
Anti-trans activism
In 2022, Kurilova signed an open letter supporting anti-trans extremist Amy Hamm.
Kurilova is part of the LGB separatist movement. In 2024, Kurilova told conservative Canadian publication True North:
āIām a very gender non-conforming person, and I was that way as a childā¦ I was a tomboy,ā she said. āI really really worry and fear that if I was a child today, I would be a prime candidate for transition, for teachers and counsellors and doctors to tell me, āyou know you can be a boy.ā Thatās kind of why I have a very strong personal investment in these issues, and why I want to help protect kids.ā
It Is MA’AM! with K Carnelian, Mel, and Eva Kurilova (September 1, 2023). It is MA’AM! Ep. 010 Eva Kurilova. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j64XpRZIri4
Feminist Current is a blog and podcast by anti-transgender activist Meghan Murphy. Over time, it has moved from general topics related to feminism to a strong focus on key figures from the anti-transgender movement, including:
filmmaker, Abby Epstein, and Holly Grigg-Spall, author of Sweetening the Pill: Or How We Got Hooked On Hormonal Birth Control and a producer of The Business of Birth Control SEP 26, 2022
Antonia Okafor Cover, the founder and president of EMPOWERED, sees things differently. Antonia is the National Director of Women’s Outreach and a national spokesperson for Gun Owners of America. SEP 14, 2022
Joey Brite is an American ex-transgender activist who organized an anti-transgender conference in 2020 and is an executive producer of the 2023 anti-trans film No Way Back (originally Affirmation Generation). Director Laura VanZee-Taylor, producer Penka Kouneva, and executive producer Brite are responsible for including convicted sex offender David Arthur Kendall as one of the ex-trans activists featured.
Background
Alicia Nancy Neff was born in February 4, 1955 in Los Angeles to Charles “Bud” Neff and Carolyn Jeannette Neff. Neff’s father was a musician who ran Neff’s Paint and Wallpaper in Anaheim, and Alicia Neff graduated from Anaheim High School in 1972.
As an adult, Neff began using the names Alicia Brite and Joey Brite, usually styled joey brite. Brite and a songwriting partner began performing original “women’s music.” Brite also worked in set design and theatrical props, eventually becoming lighting assistant for an independent film company “that churned out lesbian porn for theatrical release.”
Brite has kept a connection with the paint and wallpaper industry since the late 1980s, operating an interior paint consultancy called The COLOR Effect since 1995.
Brite was a DJ at KPFA in Berkeley from 1983 to 1985. Brite was associated with Mills College from 2001 to 2003, working as a liaison for Fremont High School. In 2004 Brite began producing events and fundraisers and started handling social media for several artists.
Brite continues working in production, incorporating Small Pockets Productions LLC in California in 2020 and Behind the Curtain Productions Inc in New York in 2022.
2020 conference
On August 8, 2020, Brite held the “Can I Get a Witness” conference. It was dedicated to the memory of Magdalen Berns and featured many prominent anti-transgender activists:
Wall Street Journal writer Abigail Shrier and Author of the recently published Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters
Therapist Sasha Ayad M. Ed., LPC at Inspired Teen Therapy
Lesbian and Gay News was an anti-transgender publocation in operation from February 2021 to March 2023.
Background
Merrywell London Ltd. and BM Payments Services Limited
Many readers will know that LGN came into being as a result of its editor, David Bridle, who is also the owner of Boyz magazine, tweeting a request that asked people to give LGB Alliance a fair hearing before coming to a judgement about them.
“The censorious groupthink of a LGBTQIA+ mindset has closed down wider discussion and investigation. It has closed down much responsible lesbian and gay current affairs and commentary. But now we hope Lesbian and Gay News will help resurrect that journalism.”
“The constituency of GC LGB activists is still small, and there was no way we were going to be able to flourish unless LGB Alliance kept us in the loop, continued to actively promote us, and regularly provided us with information and material to publish relating to their activities and planned activities. As time progressed, it became clear that we were overwhelmingly being kept at armās length ā notwithstanding some tokenistic gestures that fell far short of what we needed.”
People
The following people had bylines or were cited or reprinted in LGN:
“Mia Hughes” (November 21, 2021). A guide to peaking the woke. https://lesbianandgaynews.com/2021/11/a-guide-to-peaking-the-woke-by-an-lgn-reader-most-people-have-no-idea-of-the-harm-that-lies-beneath-the-rainbow-flags-and-the-seemingly-innocuous-mantras/
(March 27, 2022). Announcement from the LGN Management Team: Lesbian and Gay News is closing https://lesbianandgaynews.com/2022/03/announcement-from-the-lgn-management-team-lesbian-and-gay-news-is-closing/
Resources
Lesbian and Gay News (lesbianandgaynews.com) [archive]
Blaire White is a conservative transgender activist and YouTuber. White hosts a “drama” channel focusing on the easiest targets, usually whatever trans person has done the most controversial thing that week. White also hosts a similar podcast called The Blaire White Project. White makes frequent appearances with other conservative trans people and anti-trans activists. White has been affiliated with extremist group Gays Against Groomers and is a favored source for conservative media outlets and anti-trans journalists.
Dylan Mulvaney is an American media personality who documented the first year of gender transition in a popular video series called “Days of Girlhood.”
Background
Mulvaney was born December 29, 1996 in San Diego, California, grew up in Southern California, and earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Cincinnati in 2019.
Mulvaney performed in the musical The Book of Mormon on its national tour, as well as in other musical theatre productions. Mulvaney also was brought up from the audience to dance with a friend at the Ellen show and appeared as a contestant on The Price Is Right.
“Days of Girlhood”
At the start of the pandemic, Mulvaney began posting comedy videos on social media. Mulvaney quickly amassed a large following after the “Day One of Being a Girl” post went viral on TikTok. Mulvaney was soon doing many endorsement deals and sponsored posts. Several of Mulvaney’s videos sparked criticism, including one about tampons, one about Ulta cosmetics, one about wearing tight clothing to “normalize the bulge,” and several where Mulvaney dressed up as a young girl.
In October 2022, Mulvaney was invited to speak with Joe Biden at the White House, which led to significant backlash from conservatives, including conservative trans people like Caitlyn Jenner.
Following 2022 facial feminization surgery, Mulvaney did a face reveal of the results in January 2023. At the 2023 Grammy Awards, Mulvaney talked over Laverne Cox while filming their first introduction. Though Mulvaney had solicited Cox’s advice, Mulvaney was clearly not listening, leading a number of prominent trans people to comment on the dynamics of the encounter.
In March 2023 Mulvaney held the live fundraising event Dylan Mulvaney’s Day 365 Live! to celebrate one year since starting transition. Those who showed Mulvaney support, including cisgender allies like Drew Barrymore, faced criticism.
In April 2023 Mulvaney made sponsored posts for Bud Light and Nike. The Nike post showed Mulvaney exercising in their sports bra and sparked more criticism from anti-trans people. The Bud Light posts promoted an NCAA March Madness giveaway and revealed the brand had made a customized Bud Light can with Mulvaney’s face on it.
Bud Light immediately faced bomb threats and boycotts after conservative demagogues like Tucker Carlson and anti-trans groups decided to make an example of the beer. Anti-trans troll Matt Walsh made such pointed and cruel personal attacks that Walsh’s YouTube channel was demonetized. In the first weeks, several conservative entertainers joined the boycott, Bud Light sales dropped about 25% year over year, two ABInBev marketing executives were ousted, the stock was downgraded by several firms, and Senator Ted Cruz announced a planned investigation into whether the brand was marketing to underage audiences. ABInBev released a noncommittal statement and a poorly received patriotic ad, announced they would buy back unsold beer, and hired conservative consultants to help with a rebrand. Bud Light lost its place as America’s favorite beer, ABInBev laid off hundreds of employees, and North American organic sales dropped $1.4 billion. The fiasco instantly became one of the worst marketing blunders in history and a setback for national brands supporting trans inclusion or offering brand endorsements to trans people.
Facing extreme overexposure, Mulvaney reduced the frequency of posting and announced an upcoming book. In June 2023 Mulvaney reflected on the first three months of the controversy:
āWhat transpired from that video was more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined. For months now, Iāve been scared to leave my house. I have been ridiculed in public. Iāve been followed. And I have felt a loneliness that I wouldnāt wish on anyone. And Iām not telling you this because I want your pity. I am telling you this because if this is my experience, from a very privileged perspective, know that it is much much worse for other trans people.ā
In 2023 Attitude magazine honored Mulvaney as Woman of the Year.
To mark the 2024 anniversary of starting transition, Mulvaney posed with Lady Gaga and shared several messages with fans. In 2025, Mulvaney released the book Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer and announced a podcast called The Dylan Hour. In 2026, Mulvaney was cast in the Broadway show Six: The Musical as Anne Boleyn, sparking anti-trans backlash online.
They have had a few people on who have expressed support for progressive trans views, including Isaac Saul, Destiny, Sam Harris, David Pakman, Stephen Hicks, and Peter Tatchell.