OPINION: "TERF organisation" to hold annual conference in Brighton - express your concerns!

A "TERF organisation" called FiLiA, whose website claims they are challenging “sex-based injustices” (and count JK Rowling among their cherished speakers), is due to hold its annual conference at the Brighton Centre this October.

It is no secret that Brighton has long been a hub for queer and trans communities. In the wake of the UK's ban on puberty blockers for trans youth, the Supreme Court ruling and Keir Starmer’s spineless reversal of his 2022 stance on trans women, FiLiAs attempt to hold this conference in Brighton is not just troubling, but feels like a deliberately malicious move to make our community feel unsafe at its heart. 

The focus may currently be on trans women, but the slippage of trans rights is inevitably having wider implications for the queer community and indeed, for women’s rights more broadly. Those who claim to advocate for “protecting women’s spaces” from trans women are unconsciously licensing, for example, cis men claiming to be trans men to enter said spaces.

What’s the solution here? Is it to allow police officers to strip search women deemed too “masculine” for a women’s space and inspect their genitalia? Is it to force trans people to take up bathroom space from disabled people (if there is even a disabled bathroom available)? Or is it simply to accept that trans women are women, and let them piss in peace? 

FiLiA’s war against solely “sex-based” injustices licenses violations of and violence against all women. If you are able, please do reach out to the Brighton Centre to let them know that FiLiA are not welcome in Brighton. If you are a local resident, you can also reach out to your local councillor and write to your MP to express your concerns.