There is a dangerous escalation of transphobia happening right now. The political right in the United States and the United Kingdom are rolling back civil rights for trans people specifically and LGBT people more broadly. This is being driven by an amalgamation of mainstream conservative parties, the far right, Christian fundamentalists and right-wing shock jocks and tabloids.
It took a night-time protest by anti-LGBTI bigots through the Sydney suburb of Newtown to bring the group “Christian Lives Matter” to public view.
Trans rights supporters protested over the weekend against the speaking tour of UK right-wing activist and transphobe Kellie Jay Keen, also known by the pseudonym Posie Parker.
“Basij guards, you are our Daesh!”, chanted parents outside an Education Ministry building in western Tehran on 4 March, likening Iran’s security forces to the Islamic State.
Several dozen far-right Christians marched down King Street, Newtown, on Friday night to protest against Sydney’s hosting of World Pride. The mob of bigots intimated passers-by, attempted to enter LGBTI venues while hurling abuse through the doors and threatened to bash those filming them. Horrified Friday night partygoers and pub staff looked on as the mob was escorted by a small group of NSW police, who made no attempt to restrain the march even when the Christians started spitting in their faces.
If you google “Andrew Tate”, you will discover that he is one of the most googled individuals in the world, and thus the cycle continues. Tate is a far-right misogynist megalomaniac who currently sits in a Romanian jail, suspected of human trafficking, while his fans cry out that their “Top G” has been framed: another victim of the Matrix. The Tate phenomenon is horrifying., a morbid symptom of a sick system.