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Cathy Brennan vs. transgender people

Cathy “Bug” Brennan is an American lawyer and anti-transgender extremist. Brennan is a prominent and strident part of the movement’s gender critical faction.

Brennan claims the trans community will lead to “lesbian annihilation” and has argued against legal protections based on gender identity and expression.

Background

Catherine Margaret “Cathy” Brennan was born on December 30, 1970 and grew up in Pine Bush, New York. Brennan earned a bachelor’s degree in 1992 from Fordham University, followed by a law degree from University at Buffalo in 1995. Brennan is admitted to practice law in Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and Oregon.

After briefly working as a reporter at Baltimore’s The Daily Record, Brennan then held advocacy and enforcement roles at Bar Association of Baltimore, The Women’s Law Center of Maryland, Advocates for Children and Youth, and the City of Baltimore. Since 2004 Brennan has worked at Hudson Cook LLP, becoming a partner in 2008.

Anti-transgender activism

Brennan became infamous in the mid-2010s for anti-trans trolling and verbal abuse on social media, particularly on Tumblr and Twitter. Brennan ran a site called Gender Identity Watch that documented trans people and their supporters until it was suspended by WordPress.

In 2011, Brennan and Elizabeth Hungerford sent a letter to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women with their concerns about legal protections based on gender identity and expression, claiming such protections undermine protections based on sex.

The tone and tactics used, which included contacting people’s employers and doctors, made Brennan the most notorious trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF) of the time:

The chief TERF figurehead is a Maryland attorney named Catherine Brennan who once served as a liaison on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. In July of 2012, a petition circulated to have Brennan removed from that position because, to put it mildly, she flatly rejected the “Gender Identity” half of her job description.

Apart from a sordid internet history of harassing, misgendering, and mocking trans* people, Brennan co-authored a letter with Elizabeth Hungerford to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, to argue against — yes, against — legal protections based on “gender identity or expression.” In so doing, Brennan has effectively allied herself with those on the Right who viciously deter trans* folks’ attempts to secure employment, housing and safe public spaces.

Since vacating the American Bar Association liaison position, Brennan has continued to spread her anti-trans* viewpoints at the annual Radfem conference. 

Allen, 2013

Brennan was also involved in Radfem Hub, a group blog and forum with a substantial anti-trans focus. In 2011, a Radfem Hub contributor named Agent Orange was revealed to be a men’s rights activist named James Huff. Huff then released a data dump from their forum that had a significant impact on members.

Brennan was involved in organizing the annual Radfem Conference. As the group began to have a harder time operating, including last-minute cancellation of their 2013 conference venue, Brennan made a legal claim to the Radfem Hub site. The content was then archived at other domains.

As of 2018, Brennan was no longer interested in running the Gender Identity Watch website. Anti-trans group Women’s Liberation Front then volunteered to maintain it. WordPress suspended Gender Identity Watch, GenderTrender, and a number of other virulently anti-trans sites in November 2018. Gender Identity Watch went offline in 2023.

References

Allen, Samantha (July 10, 2013). Counterpunch and the War on the Transgendered. Jacobin http://jacobinmag.com/2013/07/counterpunch-and-the-war-on-the-transgendered/

Ramseyer, Laurel (August 10, 2011). Cathy Brennan & Elizabeth Hungerford take their anti-trans activism to the UN. Pam’s House Blend http://pamshouseblend.firedoglake.com/2011/08/10/cathy-brennan-elizabeth-hungerford-take-their-anti-trans-activism-to-the-un/ [archive]

Admin (May 18, 2013). Radfem Hub is now an archives. https://radicalhubarchives.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/radfem-hub-is-now-an-archives/

Brennan, Cathy; Hungerford, Elizabeth (August 1, 2011). [Response to United Nations] via Sex Matters https://sexnotgender.com/gender-identity-legislation-and-the-erosion-of-sex-based-legal-protections-for-females/

Resources about Brennan

RationalWiki (rationalwiki.org)

WordPress (wordpress.com)

Resources by Brennan

Cathy Brennan (cathy-brennan.com)

Gender Identity Watch (genderidentitywatch.com) [archive]

Hudson Cook (hudsoncook.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Tumblr (tumblr.com)

Substack (substack.com)

WordPress (wordpress.com)

  • genderidentitywatch.wordpress.com [suspended – archive]

Academia.edu (academia.edu)

Twitter (twitter.com)

  • FinTechEsq
  • bugbrennan (suspended in 2013, reinstated in 2022 by Elon Musk)
  • BadhbhCatha
  • PegasusBug
  • Unicornbug
  • orgwomenslib
  • RadfemsRespond
  • SisterTrinity
  • ActualDykez
  • NameTheProblem (suspended)
  • GIDWatch (suspended)
  • JenderFatigue (removed)
  • BossAssBomb (removed)

Instagram (instagram.com)