Mick Hartley

Raquel Rosario-Sanchez – the student who's suing Bristol University after they made it clear that they backed the trans lobby and were totally uninterested in protecting feminists like her – talks to the Times:

A PhD student who is suing Bristol University for failing to protect her from abuse and intimidation by trans activists has said the institution is too scared to condemn their behaviour.

Raquel Rosario-Sanchez, 32, a feminist writer, campaigner and academic, specialises in the study of male violence against women. Soon after starting her doctorate, in February 2018, she was branded “transphobic” by activists.

They said her crime was to hold feminist meetings that opposed allowing men who identify as women into female-only spaces, such as changing rooms and domestic violence refuges.

“At no point did anyone at the university speak to me about how to protect myself throughout all this,” Rosario-Sanchez told The Times.

She agreed that the university was scared to anger trans activists. “But I don’t understand why they can’t see they have a duty to protect all students equally,” she said. “I don’t understand why they feel they need to acquiesce and bend down to one group in particular. It just doesn’t make any sense.

“The reason why I got involved in this debate was that I was witnessing the normalisation of violence in the public sphere. The language used by trans activists is not normal. Intimidating and abusing people you disagree with is not normal. I felt like I had a duty to stand up to it.”

She was initially targeted for chairing a meeting of the campaign group Woman’s Place UK (WPUK) titled “A Woman’s Place is Speaking Out”. The hearing at the Bristol civil justice centre was told that trans-rights activists repeatedly protested against her on campus and claimed she was “spreading hate about trans people”.

Before one meeting, a trans activist posted online: “Please go to [the WPUK event] armed with a dozen eggs and your finest collection of obscenities.”

Only one of the activists, a trans PhD student who worked with Rosario-Sanchez at the Centre for Gender and Violence Research, has faced disciplinary action. The court was told this week that the university dropped the case after the trans student organised protesters to disrupt the hearings.

The trans student, who has posted online about “punching terfs” — the acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminists — has since been employed by the university as a teacher. RosarioSanchez said this was a “tacit endorsement for their behaviour”.

“I found the process dystopian and humiliating,” Rosario-Sanchez said. “I was being cross examined by a barrister about chairing a feminist meeting and for holding feminist views.”

Rosario-Sanchez, from the Dominican Republic, suffered a mental collapse in 2019 and said she was unable to complete her thesis.

The court has been told that Tracy Brunnock, the university’s equality, diversity and inclusion manager, wrote an email to senior managers saying that disciplinary action against the trans student was risking their good relationship with LGBTQ+ groups in the city.

“Earlier this year, we worked incredibly hard to restore relationships with Bristol Pride, Stonewall and Trans Bristol but it now appears that these tensions are again coming to the forefront,” Brunnock wrote.

“My concern is that all of the above will damage our credibility as a supporter of trans people on a local and national level. It is becoming very difficult for my Team to maintain positive relationships with the LGBT+ community whilst responding to criticisms of the University’s position on the disciplinary case. I wanted each of you to be aware of the risks surrounding this case in terms of the University potentially being asked to withdraw from Bristol Pride and also from Stonewall, both of which would damage our reputation as an inclusive employer.”

Dr Emma Williams, 49, former head of the Centre for Gender and Violence Research, told The Times she resigned from the university “in part because this has been going on for four years”.

So there it is. Bristol University's over-riding concern is that they maintain their credibility as supporters of trans people, and keep on the right side of Stonewall and the LGBT+ community – for which read, the trans community. Their credibility as supporters of women students is of absolutely no concern. And behind all this are the ever-present threats of violence against women – which are studiously ignored.

And, speaking of Bristol University, let's not forget the neopronouns.

Update: Julie Bindel at the Spectator.

This isn't a war about transgender people, or even transgender ideology. It is a war against so called progressive men, who have discovered a new and canny way of sticking it to us whilst still appearing to be on the right side of history. Framing this as nasty women not allowing trans people to live their best lives hides what it really is; a misogynist backlash against feminism. Until recently, this subterfuge has even worked with most liberals, although the tide is turning.

But there is another reason why we should back this case to the hilt and stand alongside Rosario-Sanchez. It is about her as a person, a human being. She’s strong and resilient, but she’s also vulnerable and hurt. Rosario-Sanchez left her home and travelled thousands of miles to fulfil her dreams. She left a loving family, her beloved dog, friendship network, and language. ‘I even left the beautiful weather to come here,’ she told me.

If she loses, the bullies win. It means that universities will be able to continue to be cowed by trans activists, and that feminists will effectively be silenced. It would embolden universities like Sussex, whose inadequate responses allowed the bullying of feminist Professor Kathleen Stock to continue unabated.

What has happened to Rosario-Sanchez is a disgrace. If you are still silent on the ways that extreme trans rights activism is affecting her and women like her, you should hang your head in shame. Now is not the time for silence. Now is the time to sit up, and take action.