Mick Hartley

Gareth Roberts – with his book Gay Shame: The Rise of Gender Ideology and the New Homophobia just out – talks to Brendan O'Neill at Spiked on how a mad, homophobic ideology disguised itself as a civil-rights movement:

The change happened very, very quickly. It was less of a long march through the institutions and more like a sprint. The strangest part is that you can almost narrow it down to a few weeks in 2014. That was when the LGB community suddenly became the LGBT community. Shortly afterwards, all these other letters and numbers and symbols were added into the mix. Without any kind of consultation or thought, gay institutions were swallowed up by the gender movement.

Stonewall was the foremost gay-rights institution in Britain. But that all changed when Ruth Hunt took over in 2014. Hunt apologised for not including T in the LGB and immediately began transforming Stonewall into an LGBTQ+ organisation. This happened without anyone really thinking about it, and without any real discussion. Other institutions, such as the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (now called BFI: Flare), also started preaching about trans inclusion. Everyone went along with these incessant buzzwords. Progressive institutions, as they always do, accepted these ideas purely because they were new….

In general, madness seems to have captured our politics. People can’t cope with listening to arguments against their worldview, so they dream up imaginary Nazis. Just look at how trans activists treated Allison Bailey. Bailey is a black lesbian barrister, who has worked for decades on domestic abuse and racial equality. But when she became involved in LGB Alliance in 2019, she was mercilessly attacked by gender ideologues. She was even pushed out of her job because of her gender-critical views.

This insanity used to be nipped in the bud by the media and society in general. But nowadays, with genderism and other social issues, mad ideas get a foothold. In a sane world, nobody would entertain the idea that someone like Allison Bailey is far right or a Nazi. The people saying as much should be laughed at or dismissed. But today, they are encouraged – even though it’s all obvious nonsense.