After another successful event in Victoria, the activists are working overtime

We managed to pull off a second event in Victoria, and are not giving up!

On Saturday night, we put on yet another all-female panel event discussing the harms of gender identity ideology in Canada. “We,” being Vancouver Island Speaks, the name a few independent women gave themselves in an attempt to have a conversation about the impact of gender identity ideology on women and kids on Vancouver Island. Never before had such an event been held on the Island, and after meeting a number of local community members, seeing several controversies erupt around men in girls’ change rooms on the Island, and finding some brave women ready and willing to speak out, I initiated an event.

I am not an organizer. I am a writer, a podcaster, a journalist, a tweeter, a public speaker, a reader, and a fan of hanging around in dark bars being ridiculous with my friends. I have been involved in numerous events across Canada and beyond, addressing the conflict between women’s rights and gender identity ideology, the threat to free speech and kids, and the desperate need for truth-speaking and courage on this issue, but organizing is a whole other beast. That said, someone had to do it, and having found some brave and committed souls invested in putting something together, no matter the challenges, I figured we had to plug forward and not overthink the complications and barriers, lest we psych ourselves out, which we probably would have.

The barriers were and still are immense. We have marginal funding, almost every venue we’ve booked has been harassed into cancelling us by local queer activists, we need a ton of security, we are not marketers by trade, nor are we fundraisers, nor are we experienced at event planning. But, as I’ve learned, if we don’t do it, no one will, so we just did it. It has been stressful and exhausting and also every one of our events has been amazing and galvanizing. I feel grateful and blessed to have the opportunity to connect with all these local Islanders, so kind and warm and bold and supportive and actually loving (not the fake kind of “loving” that involves saying the words “love” while spewing threats and lies at anyone who fails to kowtow to your cult).

We have managed to put on five of these events, to date: in Nanaimo, Parksville, Duncan (after being cancelled, initially), and Victoria (times two). They have all been peaceful, compelling, and well-attended (often even fun!). We intend to continue, (despite the fact that the activists are currently running around to every venue on Vancouver Island and beyond in an attempt to bully them into signing a contract guaranteeing they will never allow women speaking about women’s rights to book with them ever again).

Our most recent event in Victoria was fantastic, featuring the brave and brilliant Bryony Dixon, Linda Blade,

Magdalena Huston ♡

, and Mia Hughes. The ever-cancelled, long-time Canadian leftist,

Stuart Parker

, moderated.

This one was no less a challenge than any other, for all the same reasons: we are working with next to no funding or institutional support, we lose our venue almost every single time and need to bust ass last minute, frantically seeking a new one, and we are subject to unhinged harassment and slander from the "be kind" brigade, as are our venues. We organize these events with just a few people—volunteers working for free. We are fighting an unimaginably massive, extremely well-funded beast, with just the power of courageous people and community members who offer anything they can, at their own risk—filming, sound tech, security, postering, driving, working the door, setting up, cleaning up, simply being present at our events, showing their faces, donations, and of course speaking up.

These are the actual marginalized people of Canada—the ones the government ignores and disrespects at every turn, in favour of dark interests, including Big Tech/Pharma and their foot soldiers, who somehow believe it is "kind" and "loving" to put rapists in women's prisons and to sterilize children and mangle their bodies.

I was the first in Canada to speak publicly against gender identity ideology, from a women's rights perspective (at an event organized by Lindsay Shepherd via her university group, the Laurier Society for Open Inquiry) in 2018. It was very scary and I was not a good speaker, and probably wasn’t totally prepared for some of the questions coming my way. I hope I have improved marginally since then, but it was never my plan to be a public speaker… It isn’t my favorite thing to do, and in fact when I first started doing it, it terrified me—my hands would sweat and shake the whole time. Not only was I terrified of public speaking, but I was also terrified of being attacked and/or murdered while speaking, having to face down crowds of protesters who made it clear they would do anything to stop me from speaking. This is not a lucrative job, this is not a safe job, this is not a particularly relaxing job, but it absolutely is rewarding. I do love what I do, though of course I would love a little more financial security in my life (don’t worry—I trust you, universe!)

I say all this not as an attempt to gain pity—I am very happy and fulfilled in my life, and love my work. It is exactly what I was meant for, and I consider myself lucky to be able to do it. I have been able to meet and speak with and learn from and connect with the most incredible people, all around the world. I have had so many opportunities I never dreamed of. I have been able to go places I never would have been able to afford to travel to. I work for no one but myself, which is in itself a huge blessing. But at the same time I see endless people online, including feminists (once my “allies”), speculating about motives, wealth, political incentives, Russian funders, a excessive love of men, etc. etc.

It’s the same old song for anyone who doesn’t hide in their room judging everyone else from inside an algorithm, I suppose—the people who claim they “can’t,” but in reality won’t. Because in reality, anyone can. Anyone can speak up and push back and show up. But it’s a risk some people simply don’t want to take. They should probably just say that instead of pretending I and others put their lives and jobs and families and friends on the line because it’s not just easier for us, but lucrative. You guys are the ones protecting your careers and bank accounts, not us. Get real.

The only reason I started speaking publicly about this was because I had to—because if I didn’t, no one else would. So I did.

Since, I've spoken as much as I can possibly manage, and organized as much as I'm able, with a few wonderful, brave women and community members. Our events are generally ignored by the media, with the exception of platforms like Rebel News, some wonderful independents, and some worthy columnists. This has been the case since the beginning, so I’m used to it but am no less accepting of the patheticness of the Canadian media, who have opted not to do their jobs, but to cater to the biggest douche on the planet, somehow our Prime Minister.

Frustratingly, we also tend to be ignored by would-be “allies”—the WheRe aRe aLL thE WomEn (a refrain so common we started a weekly live stream in its honour—do subscribe!) brigade and the Americans demanding to know what the hell is going on in Canada (fair enough — Canada is f***ed). We tend to be left out even of the Americentric heterodox club, even, likely on account of not having moved to Austin like everyone else.

I am exceedingly proud of what we have done, but it's very difficult to do it within our limits. There are some big-platformed Canadian men who seem, like the Canadian media, to have adopted a “if it doesn’t fit our narrative or career ambitions, we can’t see it” approach to women in this movement, and then I think there are genuinely a ton of people who simply don’t know that there are women in Canada who really are trying to go it almost alone.

Those pretending we don't exist know who they are, and know why they’re doing it, but I can’t help but point out the hypocrisy in claiming to lead the fight against the erasure of women while intentionally erasing women from the fight.

But to those who genuinely do want to fight and to support us in the fight, we desperately need you. We are up against something massive here.

What I think we need is this (and not limited to this, of course):

1) We need to band together, stop these nonsense political divisions and political purity tests, and move on from this flat-brained "I can't stand next to a RigHt WinGeR!" thing. No more party allegiance to parties that don’t care about you. No more shitting on women because they don’t live up to your ideals. Your ideals aren’t real life. Real human beings are real life. We are real human beings, not political categories. You can either be stubborn or you can do something.

2) We need physical bodies — people speaking up and out in public, people coming out to events, showing up at school board meetings, at town halls — people showing their faces so the government can't pretend we don't exist by simply banning us from the internet.

3) We need to organize, to talk to politicians, to send letters to our MPs, to vote out politicians who go along with gender identity ideology—let them know this is a key election issue and that you will be voting based on whether or not they know what a woman is. No more tiptoeing around. Don’t let them get away with this anymore.

4) Funding (I hate to say it because talking about money makes me deeply uncomfortable, but not having funding is a huge impediment). We don’t have government funding (obviously), we aren’t working with any institution, we don’t have Daily Wire money or Jordan Peterson money or Russian money or tenored university gigs or or or. We pay for our events with the funds garnered through ticket sales and via individual donors. We have received a few funding chunks here and there, which are wonderful and super generous, but we have our sights on Vancouver next year, and so we will need larger chunks. If you wish to donate to future efforts, consider a donation!

I don’t know where this fight will go in Canada. We have some hope in voting Trudeau and the NDP out, as both the B.C Conservatives and the federal Conservative Party have expressed genuine interest in ending the gender identity nonsense. They are our only hope in that regard, so I hope you all will put aside your 30-year-old right wing yuck! knee-jerk, and recognize that politics are not what they were in the 70s, 80s, or 90s. The parties who claim to be working for you are not.

The real hope, of course, lies in the people—the people who show up, stand up, fight back, and say “no more.” We saw what the truckers accomplished, so I know Canadians have it in ‘em. Let’s see it.