Massive protests swept across the US in response to the supreme court decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion.
Soon after the decision was released on Friday, reversing federal reproductive protections that have been in place for half a century, pro-choice demonstrators began gathering in major cities and smaller towns in a wide range of communities and regions.
In Boise, Idaho, a demonstrator held a sign that read, “I shouldn’t have to fight a fight my mom already won.” In Charlotte, North Carolina, activists shouted, “My body, my choice!” And in downtown Los Angeles, marchers took over the streets, chanting, “We are not your incubators. Fuck the court and the legislature!”
Drag queens reading or performing to children have been in the news of late, following numerous cases of shocking and inappropriate behaviour. This has led to a backlash, and a backlash against the backlash.
But what’s slipped a bit under the radar amid these revelations is the number of men who dress up as sexual parodies of women in order to read to, or perform in front of, children, who have been arrested for child sexual abuse offences. Until now.
On June 23 it was revealed that Brice Patric Ryschon Williams, who uses the drag name ‘Anastasia Diamond’, had been charged with 43 criminal counts, 25 of which were related to child pornography.
He was only caught after investigators found the name ‘Ana D,’ a shortened version of his drag name, on a Dropbox account that contained child sexual abuse material.
He is at least the seventh man who is either a drag queen or a sponsor of drag queens to be arrested for paedophilia offences in recent years.
In 2019 an organisation called Houston MassResistance investigated the small number of drag queens who were reading to children in public libraries – and found that two of them were convicted child sex offenders.
One of them, William Travis Dees, a former transgender prostitute, served as a ‘greeter’ for young children as they came into the library, even though he had been convicted of sex crimes against four children (aged 4, 5, 6 and 8) and is listed as a “high-risk sex offender.”
Last year, Brett Blomme, the president and CEO of the Cream City Foundation, which operates the Milwaukee Drag Queen Story Hour for local children, was arrested and charged with possessing child pornography depicting the sexual abuse of underage boys, including toddlers. He was later sentenced to nine years in prison.
In 2018 British Airways hired two drag queens to represent the national airline at Brighton Pride on a float that toured the seaside city. One of them, Darren Sewell, aka ‘Crystal Couture’, was convicted of four counts of rape of a boy under 16 in 1999 and broke a court order banning him from contact with children in 2011.
In 2013 Robert Clothier, drag name ‘Lady James’, was jailed after being caught in a police sting operation. He thought he was meeting a man and the two of them were to rape the other man’s two children, a boy of 8 and an 11-year-old girl.
When arrested, he was carrying chocolate-flavoured glow-in-the-dark condoms, girl’s underwear, Easter eggs, heart-shaped hairbands and a Lego toy.
One of the most shocking stories of them all is Kristian Churchill, aka Krystle Caress, who was reported for inappropriate relationships with boys under 16. He was so angry with this that he tried to kill two women by driving into them. Both women survived, but suffered horrific life-altering injuries.
There is one group and one group only that stands to benefit from this disturbing, fashionable trend in education.
US — Jonesport, Maine. A provider of elderly care has agreed in a landmark settlement to require facilities it owns and operates to provide “living and support services to people who are transgender in accordance with their gender identity,” including placing men who identify as women in rooms with female residents.
The United States Supreme Court has overturned Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 decision which recognised Americans’ constitutional right to abortion and legalised it nationwide, handing a momentous victory to Republicans and religious conservatives who want to limit or ban the procedure.
Key points:
The 6-3 ruling upholds a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks
Judges found Roe v Wade was wrongly decided because the constitution makes no specific mention of abortion
Individual states will now decide whether abortion will be legal
The court’s ruling goes against an international trend of easing abortion laws, including in such countries as Ireland, Argentina, Mexico and Colombia where the Catholic Church continues to wield considerable influence.
World Athletics boss Sebastian Coe praises swimming authorities for their new rules around transgender athletes, adding that the athletics policy will be reviewed at the end of the year.
Key points:
World Athletics boss Sebastian Coe said the sport’s governing body would review its policy at the end of the year
FIFA said it was in the process of reviewing its rules
It comes after FINA established guidelines for transgender women competing in elite swimming events
Fina, swimming’s world governing body, votes to stop transgender athletes from competing in women’s elite races if they have gone through any part of the process of male puberty.
The new policy requires transgender competitors to have completed their transition by the age of 12 in order to be able to compete in women’s competitions.
Fina will also aim to establish an ‘open’ category at competitions for swimmers whose gender identity is different than their birth sex.
Earlier Fina members heard a report from a transgender task force made up of leading figures from the world of medicine, law and sport.
“Fina’s approach in drafting this policy was comprehensive, science-based and inclusive, and, importantly, Fina’s approach emphasised competitive fairness,” said Brent Nowicki, the governing body’s executive director.
He said: “Fina will always welcome every athlete. The creation of an open category will mean that everybody has the opportunity to compete at an elite level. This has not been done before, so Fina will need to lead the way. I want all athletes to feel included in being able to develop ideas during this process.”
A browser extension called Shinigami Eyes has been made illegal in Norway, after a year long campaign by feminist group WDI Norge – the Norwegian branch of the organization Women’s Declaration International.
Despite the decision, WDI Norge says that the Norwegian data protection authority has interpreted the aim and purpose of Shinigami Eyes as legitimate and women who acknowlegde the reality of biological sex are still being targeted. A WDI Norge founding member is being prosecuted for saying that men cannot be lesbians.
Speaking to 4W, a spokeswoman from WDI Norge said that the group is not totally “pleased” with the GDPR decision. “Of course the Norwegian data protection authority had to ban Shinigami Eyes, as it is in obvious violation of European privacy laws,” she said.
“They are putting women in danger by claiming that surveillance of women is a legitimate activity.”
The add-on, which works on Chrome and Firefox, was created by Mr Wesley, an American man who now calls himself Laurelai Bailey, as reported by Diana Shaw for Women Are Human. The add-on aims to highlight “transphobic and trans-friendly social network pages and users.” Users can report accounts and pages on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr, Medium, YouTube, Wikipedia marking them in red if they are “anti-trans” and in green if they are “trans-friendly.”
WDI Norge spokeswoman told 4W. “At the same time, the lesbians who reject the convictions held by such men are openly targeted by campaigns to ruin their livelihoods and reputations. That men who claim to be women have protections not even afforded to the women they imitate, is clearly discrimination against women.”
BBC training instructed journalists to lobby politicians and protest for trans rights, raising questions about impartiality.
Trainee journalists were told to use their “magical ally powers” to “influence politicians” and change the minds of the media in favour of rights for people who wish to change gender.
One journalist who attended the training session, run by a trans group, said that it conflicted with the BBC’s code on impartiality and left him questioning whether he was being instructed to break those rules.
Stephen Nolan, a BBC presenter who revealed the training on his show, said that corporation staff “are not protesters, they are journalists”, adding: “If these new impressionable young trainees are being told at the beginning of their BBC careers to be lobbyists, how is your news impartial?”
