Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (née Keen; born 1974 or 1975),^[1] also known as Posie Parker, is a British gender-critical and anti–transgender rights activist.^[2][3] She is the founder of the group Standing for Women^[2][3] and special advisor to the Women's Liberation Front (WoLF). Keen-Minshull has been described as a key figure against the United Kingdom's Gender Recognition Act of 2004. She has been credited for popularizing the use of the term "adult human female" to define a woman; the term later became associated with gender-critical feminism.

Keen-Minshull describes herself as a woman's rights activist,^[4][5] but says that she is "not a feminist".^[6][7][8] She has used billboards, posters, stickers and social media to promote anti–transgender rights messages, and has held events in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand that have been protested against by supporters of transgender rights.

Biography

Keen-Minshull's activism includes opposition to legal protections and policies that allow transgender people to be legally recognised as their gender. She has opposed the UK Gender Recognition Act,^[9] the use of public bathrooms by transgender people according to their gender, and the participation of transgender people in sports that align with their gender.^[10] She has also opposed the use of puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy for transgender children,^[11] and drag performances, including in locations that may be viewed by children.^[10]

Keen-Minshull is also a special advisor to the Women's Liberation Front.^[2] In March 2023, the New Zealand Herald described Keen-Minshull as "a key figure in the movement against the UK's Gender Recognition Act".^[9]

Billboards, posters, stickers

Keen-Minshull is credited for popularising the term "adult human female" to define a woman, which she began to promote in 2018 on billboards.^[12][13] The term is associated with gender-critical feminism.^[14][15]

In September 2018, under the pseudonym "Posie Parker", Keen-Minshull paid the advertising company Primesight to place a billboard poster in Liverpool with the text "woman, wʊmən, noun, adult human female", telling the BBC it was in response to support expressed by Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson for the trans community.^[13] Keen-Minshull said she was concerned the word "woman" was "being appropriated to mean anything" and that the poster was intended to "start a conversation" about women's rights.^[13] Primesight removed the poster following a complaint, stating it had been "unaware of the motive" and "misled" and was "fully committed to equality for all".^[13] In response to the poster, LGBT charity Stonewall noted in their 2018 Trans Report on violence and hate crimes against trans people that: "These are not just statistics, they represent the lives of trans people, which are only being made worse by increasingly frequent attacks in the media, online and in public spaces."^[13]

Standing for Women had a digital version of the poster placed on a billboard in Leeds on 19 October 2018, and Kong Outdoor, which owned the billboard, said the sign initially appeared to comply with Advertising Standards Authority regulations, but then removed it pending further investigation after becoming aware of "the controversy around the message."^[16]

In May 2019, a sticker stating "Women only. This is a single sex service under the Equality Act 2010" that was produced by Standing for Women and designed to appear official was removed from a Dundee Railway Station bathroom door after station staff were alerted.^[17] Keen-Minshull denied that the group had placed the sticker in the station and said "We are fed up that the protected category of sex in the Equality Act is routinely ignored and are standing up and saying we matter too."^[17]

On 27 July 2020, Keen-Minshull paid for a poster reading "I ❤ JK Rowling" to be displayed at Waverley Station in Edinburgh.^[18] Rowling had recently elicited controversy for her views on trans people. The poster was taken down by the Scotland wing of Network Rail on 30 July, who stated that the poster was removed for violating its advertising guidelines due to its political nature.^[19][20] On 11 September 2020, Chris Elston and Amy Hamm paid for the same message to be posted on a billboard on Hastings Street, Vancouver. It was blacked out the next day, following complaints.^[21]

In July 2021, Speak Up For Women in New Zealand used the phrase "adult human female" in billboards, which were removed following complaints about transphobia.^[22][23]

HelloPrint, the company that had produced stickers, t-shirts, and other merchandise for Keen-Minshull over five years announced in February 2023 that it would no longer fill orders for Keen-Minshull, and "If we had been fully aware of her beliefs earlier, we would earlier have refused to print for her."^[24]

Social media

In 2018, after a complaint from Susie Green, then CEO of transgender charity Mermaids, Keen-Minshull was interviewed by West Yorkshire Police for suspicion of malicious communication in relation to tweets made by Keen-Minshull.^[25][26] In 2019, Keen-Minshull said she was interviewed by Wiltshire Police for suspicion of harassment due to two YouTube videos she had produced that directed criticism at Green for supporting her daughter's transition.^[25][26] The 2018 case was closed with no further action.^[18]

In May 2018, Woman's Place UK, an organisation that opposes gender self-identification for trans people, announced that it had disinvited Keen-Minshull from a meeting, based on objections to "her stated views on race and religion."^[2][27] In 2022, Woman's Place UK published screenshots they said were from Keen's Twitter account and since deleted, to "clarify our own political ground",^[2] stating they had invited Keen-Minshull to discuss the 2018 police investigation related to her tweets, and since then, "many of her subsequent connections, statements and actions have only strengthened our decision not to work with her."^[28]

On 30 January 2019, Sarah McBride, a transgender rights activist and press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), participated in a panel discussion between members of the Parents for Transgender Equality National Council and members of the United States Congress, during a visit to Capitol Hill to advocate for the Equality Act.^[3][29] Afterwards, Keen-Minshull and Julia Long entered the room in the Cannon House Office Building where McBride was working, and recorded themselves on Facebook Live yelling at and misgendering her.^[3][30]

In response to the 30 January incident, an HRC spokesperson stated: "It is disturbing but not at all surprising that anti-transgender extremists brought to the United States at the behest of The Heritage Foundation would stoop to harassing a transgender woman and parents of transgender youth."^[3] A spokesperson for The Heritage Foundation denied a connection to the presence of Keen-Minshull and Long in the United States and said in reference to a Heritage Foundation panel discussion attended by Keen-Minshull that the organisation had "no contact with them before or after our Jan. 28 event, and have zero connection to anything they did afterward."^[3]

In October 2019, Keen-Minshull appeared in a video interview with Jean-François Gariépy, a far-right YouTuber who advocates for a "white ethno-state".^[31] She has also given an interview to Soldiers of Christ Online, a far-right network.^[2] Keen-Minshull denied prior knowledge of the interviewers' far-right affiliations.^[2][31] In 2019, Jean Hatchet, a gender-critical activist, expressed concerns about what she described as "right-wing links" developed by Keen-Minshull in the US, as well as her connections to The Heritage Foundation, writing on her blog: "I don't care what these people think about trans ideology. That cannot be separated from the things they do and advocate that specifically harm women."^[2]

In 2021, Keen-Minshull produced a YouTube video about Mridul Wadhwa, the director of the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC), who has faced threats of violence that led to increased security at the ERCC, and has been the focus of an activist and social media campaign opposed to her hiring because she is a trans woman.^[32] Keen-Minshull referred to Wadhwa as a "male CEO."^[33]

She praised far-right activist Tommy Robinson in a podcast for Feminist Current.^[2]

Rallies, speaker events, and protests

United Kingdom

A 15 May 2022 rally organised by Keen-Minshull was interrupted by a woman, posing as a speaker, who took the microphone to say: "I just wanna say that I am a cis female and I recognise trans women in women's spaces as alright, and I don't think we need to protest that, I don't think we need the vitriolic hate. Trans women are women!"^[34] The microphone was eventually recovered by Keen-Minshull after the woman was chased by rally organisers and the crowd booed and chanted.^[34] Allie Crew, an artist whose work the speakers stood in front of during the rally, tweeted in response to it: "I am greatly saddened that my work was re-appropriated like this and I do not share their views. I promote all human rights". Keen-Minshull said in response that counter-protesters had blocked access to the Emmeline Pankhurst statue.^[34]

On 19 June 2022, Keen-Minshull and approximately 60 supporters held a rally in Bristol, which was met by approximately 100 counter-protestors organised by Bristol Against Hate.^[35] Avon and Somerset police said police separated the groups by forming a line, and that "while both groups at times raised their voices, there were no physical confrontations. The right to protest is a fundamental democratic right and we are pleased to have been able to facilitate both these demonstrations."^[35]

On 18 September 2022, a rally in Brighton organised by Keen-Minshull as part of a speakers tour was met by hundreds of counter-protesters.^[36][37] Sussex police reported three arrests,^[36] including a 50-year-old man who attended the event to support Keen-Minshull and later admitted in court to assault of a counter-demonstrator.^[38][2]

At a Standing For Women rally in Newcastle upon Tyne on 15 January 2023, speaker Lisa Morgan referred to "the big lie" concept, including that it was "first described by Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf", and said "The big lie is that trans women are women."^[39][9][40] Queer.de reported Keen-Minshull appeared "visibly and audibly in a good mood" after the speech, based on a YouTube video of the event posted to Keen-Minshull's account.^[41]

On 5 February 2023, Keen-Minshull organised a "Let Women Speak" protest in Glasgow's George Square in response to the passage of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill and the Isla Bryson case; hundreds of protesters and counterprotestors attended, and the counterprotestors were organised by the Cabaret Against The Hate Speech.^[42][43][44]

United States

In January 2020, Keen-Minshull spoke at a panel organised by the Women's Liberation Front in New York.^[45]

In March 2022, Keen attended the NCAA Division I Women's Swimming Championship in Atlanta and led a group protesting the inclusion of Lia Thomas.^[46] She also appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight, a Fox News talk show, to discuss Lia Thomas.^[9] On 16 March 2022, Keen-Minshull was a panelist at an event in New York City titled "How 'Gender Equality' Cheats Women and Girls", hosted by the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network.^[47]

On 16 October 2022, Keen-Minshull began a series of public speaking events organised by Standing for Women in the United States that were intended to tour eleven cities, starting in Los Angeles.^[48] In Los Angeles and the second stop in San Francisco, few supporters attended, and there were no counter-protesters nor police at the events.^[48] Keen-Minshull said threats from Antifa led her to cancel the speakers for an event in Portland, Oregon.^[48] In a video published on Twitter, an attendee at the Portland event was hit in the face with a pie.^[48]

At an event on 26 October in Tacoma, Washington, Keen-Minshull spoke to about 30 attendees.^[49] During the event, about 20 counter-protesters were outside of the plaza where the event was held, and then as their number grew to about 200, counter-protesters entered the plaza.^[49] Pepper spray was used on several counter-protesters.^[49]

At the 29 October event in Austin, Texas, Keen-Minshull was observed to have protection from armed security guards,^[48] and at the 30 October event in Chicago, Keen-Minshull said she had uniformed Chicago police officers escort her through crowds.^[48] Counter-protestors at the Chicago event rallied at Cityfront Plaza.^[48]

On 14 November, nine people were arrested at an event outside City Hall in New York City, after a confrontation between counter-protesters and attendees.^[50]

Australia

In January 2023, Keen-Minshull announced plans to tour Australia and New Zealand in March.^[10] Stephen Bates, the Australian Greens' spokesperson for LGBTQIA+ communities, wrote to Immigration Minister Andrew Giles asking him to revoke Keen-Minshull's visa and posted the letter online but redacted her name, stating, "I won't be sharing their name because I don't want to amplify their hate speech."^[51] Keen-Minshull later said she was the subject of the letter.^[51]

A petition also launched on Change.org to oppose the visa.^[51][52] By 18 February, the petition was removed, because according to a Change.org spokesperson, the website "received a legal claim on this petition and in order to comply with Australia's defamation law, we were forced to remove it from the platform."^[53] According to LGBTQIA+ rights activist Chris Johnson, who started the petition, there had been more than 11,167 signatures.^[53]

Keen-Minshull's Melbourne event on 18 March was attended by a group of at least 30 transphobic neo-Nazis, organised by the National Socialist Network and its leader Thomas Sewell,^[54] who were seen performing the Nazi salute on the steps of Parliament House^[55] and displaying a banner that read "Destroy Paedo Freaks".^[56] Overall attendance at the event was estimated to be between 300 and 400 supporters at the anti-transgender protest led by Keen-Minshull, and about twice as many counterprotesters.^[55][56]

Regarding the neo-Nazi presence at the 18 March Melbourne event, following the event Keen-Minshull said "They're absolutely associated with me whatsoever. I absolutely love anything to do with Nazis. It's great that they exist in 2023."^[57] The prime minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, later made a statement that included, "In Melbourne on the weekend we saw an anti-trans rally, which is really disrespectful of who people are, and then it was joined by a bunch of people who were essentially doing Nazi salutes and slogans ... That of course should be condemned by all Australians".^[58]

On 23 March, Keen-Minshull held a rally outside of the Australia Parliament House in Canberra, attended by about 30 supporters, including One Nation Party senators Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts and United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet.^[59][5] The rally was also attended by a group of about 100 counterprotesters, including senator Lidia Thorpe, who on video footage of the rally appeared to be pulled to the ground by police after she approached Keen-Minshull while shouting "you're not welcome here."^[60][59][5]

New Zealand

Following her Melbourne event, Keen-Minshull's permission to enter New Zealand was put under review by Immigration New Zealand on 20 March.^[61][57] In response, the centre-right National Party's deputy leader Nicola Willis argued that Keen-Minshull should be allowed into the country on free speech grounds. By contrast, the left-wing Green Party's immigration spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March opposed Keen-Minshull's entry on the grounds that her presence would endanger the rainbow and Muslim communities.^[62] The review decided to allow her to enter New Zealand.^[63] On 23 March, a coalition of rainbow support groups filed for a judicial review of the decision to allow Keen-Minshull to enter New Zealand. The following day, the High Court at Wellington ruled the decision was lawful.^[64] Before Keen-Minshull held events in New Zealand, Immigration Minister Michael Wood described her views as "inflammatory, vile and incorrect."^[65]

On 25 March, a rally organised by Keen-Minshull in central Auckland was also attended by counter-protesters, estimated to number in the thousands, who made noise and chanted loudly before her appearance; tomato juice was poured on Keen-Minshull by intersex activist Eliana Rubashkyn, and Keen-Minshull left the area with a police escort before she could speak.^[66][67][68] The rally was also attended by a small group wearing Azov Battalion and Boogaloo Boys insignia, as well as a member of the white nationalist Action Zealandia group and members of right-wing groups including the New Conservative Party, Voices for Freedom, and Counterspin Media.^[69][70]

Keen-Minshull later said in a live-streamed video on her YouTube channel that she might not go to her Wellington event, scheduled for the following day,^[71] and Let Women Speak NZ subsequently announced the Wellington event was cancelled.^[66]

According to Radio New Zealand, "Much of the early reporting on the counter-protest also painted it as either relatively peaceful or not particularly aggressive compared to other demonstrations like the Parliament occupation", and included descriptions of confrontations between supporters and protestors, as well as Keen-Minshull being drowned out by noise from protestors, while far-right media outlet Counterspin Media promoted "claims of rampant and unchecked violence."^[70] The Weekend Collective talk show on Newstalk ZB hosted callers criticising the protestors, and commentator Chris Trotter, The Platform host Sean Plunket and Today FM host Rachel Smalley criticised the protestors.^[70] In response to the Auckland protest, Keen-Minshull's supporters in the United Kingdom called for a boycott of New Zealand products and held a protest at the New Zealand High Commission in London.^[70]

On 26 March, Keen-Minshull left New Zealand saying it was the "worst place for women she has ever visited" and described the media as corrupt and dishonest. JK Rowling tweeted that a mob “had assaulted women standing up for their rights".^[72]

After Keen-Minshull's New Zealand visit, Paul Hunt, Chief Commissioner at the New Zealand Human Rights Commission, wrote an opinion article in the New Zealand Herald about his attendance at the Wellington pro-trans rally, including his opinion that "it's possible - and crucial - to support both trans and cisgendered women" and "Given trans people's historic persecution, and as they grow in strength and confidence, it is unrealistic to expect them to stand aside and do and say nothing. The state had a human rights responsibility to make arrangements for Keen-Minshull to speak without being assaulted, intimidated or shouted down. That did not happen."^[73]

Referring to the March 25 rally in Auckland, National Party police spokesperson Mark Mitchell called for "a serious review" into the failure of police to protect Keen-Minshull from being "assaulted".^[74]

In early April 2023, Radio New Zealand reported that Keen-Minshull's New Zealand visit had led to a massive increase in online transphobia within the country. Public figures such as Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson and transgender activist Shaneel Lal, who participated in the counter-protest, were key targets of online hostility and threats. According to The Disinformation Project researcher Sanjana Hattotuwa, anti-vaccine and anti-mandate groups over the past fortnight had distributed "extraordinarily violent" content disseminated by Australian neo-Nazi, neo-fascist, and anti-Semitic groups and networks. Similarly, counter-extremism researcher Byron C. Clark observed that extremist groups in New Zealand had adopted transphobia as a "wedge issue" to exploit public fear about an already marginalised group and "get themselves closer to the mainstream."^[75]

On 12 September 2023, the New Zealand Media Council and Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) dismissed 16 complaints against local media coverage of Keen-Minshull's Auckland visit and the ensuing counter-protests. The Media Council had received five complaints against The New Zealand Herald, two against Stuff, and one each against TVNZ and Radio New Zealand while the BSA had received two complaints each against TVNZ, MediaWorks New Zealand, Warner Bros. Discovery New Zealand, and one against NZME. These complaints had alleged that media coverage against Parker and her supporters was negative, portrayed her as transphobic, and disproportionately focused on the pro-transgender counter-protesters.^[76]

On 16 September, Keen-Minshull abandoned plans to travel for a second speaking engagement in New Zealand due to safety concerns. She had planned to speak at a protest outside Rubashkyn's hearing at the Auckland District Court on 20 September.^[77] On 20 September, Rubashkyn's lawyer applied to have charges against her for assaulting Keen-Minshull dismissed. Supporters and opponents of Keen-Minshull including "Let a Woman Speak" and the Trans Liberation Alliance (TLA) group congregated in St Patrick's Court near the Auckland District Court. This protest was peaceful with Police separating the two groups.^[78][79] Parker used social media to encourage her protesters to gather near Rubashkyn's court hearing.^[80]

Political career

In September 2022, in response to Eddie Izzard's announcement of her plan to run for MP of Sheffield Central, Keen-Minshull announced her own plan to run, saying she would "campaign on the basis of repealing the Gender Recognition Act" and "erase the word 'gender'". During her livestreamed announcement, she also called the hijab "atrocious" and a "tool of oppression", and referred to Tucker Carlson as "an intelligent, really lovely, welcoming, warmly welcoming man".^[81]

Following her Auckland rally in March 2023, Keen-Minshull announced her intention to form her own party, the Party of Women, and take on Labour leader Keir Starmer in his Holborn and St Pancras constituency at the next United Kingdom general election.^[82]

Personal life

Keen-Minshull was raised in Somerset and has an older sister, a husband, and four children.^[83]

On 30 September 2018, someone created a fake social media account impersonating Keen-Minshull's husband and sharing her personal information, including her name and address.^[84]

References

External links

• Standing for Women