Signatories (September 27 2020). We stand with JK against hate.The Sunday Times [archive] https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/letters-to-the-editor-banish-empire-and-make-us-all-proud-5tl06tt6h
Signatories (April 10, 2022) Press pause on Conversion Therapy Bill.The Sunday Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/press-pause-on-conversion-therapy-bill-g7vbtvc7h
Claire Lehmann is an Australian writer and anti-transgender activist. Lehmann is a key figure in the so-called intellectual dark web, described as a gateway to the far right. Lehmann is founding editor of anti-trans publication Quillette, also classified a pathway to right-wing radicalization.
Background
Claire (Jensen) Lehmann was born on July 18, 1985 and grew up in Adelaide, South Australia. Lehmann earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Adelaide in 2010. Jensen married Harold M. “Harry” Lehmann at age 27 and dropped out of graduate school when their first child was born in 2013.
Lehmann worked 2011-2014 as a Policy Research Assistant at Australian College of Nursing and 2015-2016 as a Communications officerâ at National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance.
Barbara Kay is a Canadian writer and anti-transgender activist.
Background
Barbara Kay was born on November 27, 1943 and grew up in Toronto with siblings.
Kay earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Toronto and a master’s degree from McGill University in 1966.
Kay wrote opinion pieces for the National Post before becoming a columnist in 2003. Kay has also written for in The Post Millennial, Pajama, The Walrus, Canadian Jewish News (CJNews), and Epoch Times. Key briefly wrote for Rebel News in 2017 before leaving due to views held by some staffers.
Kay and spouse Ronny Kay married in 1964 and have two children, including anti-trans activist Jonathan Kay.
Anti-transgender activism
Kay opposed Canada’s Bill C-16, which added âgender identity or expressionâ to protected classes in regards to discrimination, hate speech, and hate crimes.
In criticizing the bill in the Post Millennial, Kay described it as “velvet totalitarianism” and misattributed a quotation to Voltaire: “To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” The passage was actually by white nationalist Kevin Alfred Strom describing Jewish people.
Kay told publication Canadaland:
âWith regard to the application of the quote to the Church of Gender Identity, I do not regret it at all, and here is why. The quotation makes a great deal of sense. The fact that an anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist actually believed that the Jews ârule over youâ says a great deal about his twisted mind, but it does not reflect reality. I am neither a conspiracy theorist or a transphobic. My quarrel is not with trans gender people, who â I have said this repeatedly â simply want to live their lives in peace, but with the ideologues who are bent on imposing their belief system, founded in theory, but not in evidence, on everyone in the form of compelled speech and compelled expression of belief. The words of the quotation in fact make very good sense. That the mind who thought it up was corrupted by hatred to the point that he was delusionary about who âyou cannot criticizeâ is not my fault.â
During a July 18, 2018 Rights and Freedoms Institute event, Kay used the phrase again to condemn gender neutral pronouns as “compelled speech” and “compelled expression of belief.”
Kay’s Facebook profile uses the anti-trans dogwhistle “Adult human Female.” Kay and anti-trans activist Linda Blade wrote the 2021 book Unsporting: How Trans Activism and Science Denial are Destroying Sport.
Strom, Kevin A (August 14, 1993). All America Must Know the Terror That is Upon Us. American Dissident Voices via America First Books http://www.amfirstbooks.com/IntroPages/ToolBarTopics/Articles/Featured_Authors/strom,_kevin/kevin_strom_works/Kevin_Strom_1991-1994/Kevin_A._Strom_19930814-ADV_All_America_Must_Know_the_Terror_That_Is_Upon_Us.html [archive]
Adriaans, Eric (June 14, 2018). Panel Discussion: Bill C-16 Controversy. Toronto: Rights and Freedoms Institute. https://freedom-of-expression.ca/2018/06/14/panel-discussion-bill-c-16-controversy/ [archive]
James Lindsay is an American writer and anti-transgender activist.
Background
James Stephen Lindsay was born on June 8, 1979 in Ogdensburg, New York and grew up in Maryville, Tennessee. Lindsay attended Tennessee Tech, earning a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree. Lindsay earned a doctorate from University of Tennessee in 2010. After completing the degree, Lindsay worked as a massage therapist.
Anti-transgender activism
Lindsay and Peter Boghossian published a hoax paper in 2017 titled “The Conceptual Penis as a Social Construct.” They stated the paper parodied “poststructuralist discursive gender theory.” The paper was rejected by Norma, but later accepted by Cogent Social Sciences.
Lindsay, Boghossian, and Helen Pluckrose submitted 20 hoax papers, which they submitted to peer-reviewed journals using several pseudonyms. One recommended that people challenge their transphobia by inserting sex toys into their anuses.
The hoax was uncovered by Toni Airaksinen of Campus Reform in 2018.
Lindsay is a proponent of the right-wing LGBT grooming conspiracy theory and helped popularize “groomer” as a slur directed at LGBTQ educators and activists. Lindsay considers the Pride flag to be “the flag of a hostile enemy.”
Lindsay was a featured speaker at the 2023 anti-trans Genspect conference in Denver.
New Discourses
Lindsay founded the New Discourses wesbsite, now owned by Christian nationalist commentator Michael O’Fallon of Sovereign Nations.
Lindsay published a series of anti-trans posts by contributor “Donna M.,” the pen name of Linda Kramer, “a writer who was censored by Medium when her insights on transgender issues were labelled ‘hate speech.'”
The New Discourses podcast frequently attacks the trans community. Anti-trans episodes include:
Jaschik, Scott (May 22, 2017). Hoax With Multiple Targets. Inside Higher Ed https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/22/faux-scholarly-article-sets-criticism-gender-studies-and-open-access-publishing
Linda Kramer is an American writer and unaccepting parent of a gender diverse adult child.
Kramer publishes anti-trans propaganda under the pen name “Donna M.”
Background
Linda Marie Wolfgram was born in May of 1972 and married Peter Kramer (born 1971) at age 22. They have four children: Benjamin (born ~2001), Jonah (born ~2003), Emma Grace (born ~2004), and Anna (born ~2006).
Kramer created the Travels with Children blog, posting extensively about family trips in the area.
Anti-trans activism
“Mommy bloggers” are highly susceptible to anti-transgender extremism. When one of Kramer’s children came out as gender diverse, Kramer decided to vent on Medium with a cruel “open letter” to this child, but really written for the approval of other unsupportive and anti-trans parents.
The piece was taken down by Medium as a violation of policies on anti-trans content. The piece gained some notoriety among transphobes after being taken down. It was later republished by James Lindsay on New Discourses.
The piece, titled “Youâre Not Trans. Youâre Just Weird,” repeated many anti-trans talking points from the “parental rights” faction of anti-trans extremists:
Youâre right. There is something different about you.
But youâre not trans, youâre just weird.
So weâre right here for you. Weâll always be here for you. But those online folks who urge you to âcrack your trans eggâ and rush to hormones and surgeries donât know you at all. They donât know that gifted kids and ADHD kids and Autism kids and Aspergerâs kids are slower to develop emotionally and sexually. They donât know that sexuality takes time and experience to figure out, and that the majority of trans teens seeking medical treatment havenât even masturbated or kissed someone yet. They donât know that 80% of trans children end up becoming comfortable with their birth sex if you just give them time. They donât know that there are increasing numbers of desisting and de-transitioning people in their twenties. They donât realize that hormones permanently stunt your growth, decrease your IQ, and can cause sterility. They donât know that these hormones are prescribed off-label and thereâs no research on the long-term outcomes. They donât even know that the most recent research shows that short-term outcomes are clearly worse.
They donât realize that youâre weird. But I do. Youâre weird, kiddo.
Kramer believes peer pressure and social contagion led their child to identify as trans:
Forty-eight hours after my son announced to us that he thought he might be trans, this teen girl sent me a text congratulating me on having a trans son, saying I must be so proud, and offering to help educate me if I had any questions. You might be surprised to hear that I did not take a teenage girl up on her offer of advice on the psychosocial and sexual development of my son.
Her gall continued. It was clear she had found a new venue for her deep desire to venge justice upon the world. Clearly, this was a wounded and neglected trans boy whose parents just didnât understand him. Despite her busy schedule of therapy to deal with her anorexia, cutting, and suicide attempt, she found time to provide him clothing and test out nail polish on him.
Over the next few months, we scrambled to find a good therapist, add in an anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medicine, and try to expand our sonâs world. By January, he was pulling out of his depression, desisting from his trans identity, engaged and happy, and doing well in school.
According to what appears to be a final post in 2022, “Donna M. has unsubscribed from Twitter in order to protect her privacy and move on. Parents of gender-questioning teens looking for support should visit PITTâ.
In the course of attacking 300,000 American children, Kramer publicly outed their own child, apparently feeling the best way to “protect their privacy” was to divulge deeply personal family information in order to promote anti-transgender propaganda.
References
Pfitzinger, Julie (May 28, 2011). It’s time for a family adventure.Minneapolis Star Tribune https://www.startribune.com/it-s-time-for-a-family-adventure/122695629/
“Donna M.” (September 22, 2021). A Call for a Defense of Parenting Act.New Discourses https://newdiscourses.com/2021/09/call-for-defense-of-parenting-act/
“Donna M.” (July 21, 2022). Nevertheless, He Desisted.New Discourses https://newdiscourses.com/2022/07/nevertheless-he-desisted/
Carl Benjamin, is a British far-right activist and media personality who has maintained three YouTube channels: Sargon of Akkad, The Thinkery, and Akkad Daily.
Benjamin has consistently espoused anti-transgender views and is associated with other anti-trans extremists.
Background
Carl Benjamin was born in 1980.
Benjamin was an early member of the so-called intellectual dark web, a gateway to the far right.
Steven Crowder is a conservative media personality and anti-transgender extremist.
Background
Steven Blake Crowder was born on July 7, 1987, in Detroit, Michigan. Crowder and older sibling Jordan grew up in Montreal. Crowder began acting as a child and began doing standup at age 17. Crowder attended Champlain College for less than a year before dropping out.
In 2009 Crowder began posting satirical videos on conservative platforms, including Pajamas Media and Big Hollywood. Crowder worked at Fox News from 2009 to 2013, when they ended the relationship after Crowder made negative comments about Fox News and host Sean Hannity.
In 2017, Crowder began the Louder with Crowder show on Conservative Review’s CRTV, whic soon merged with Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze. Crowder is known for a “Change My Mind” series, where he shows up on a college campus with a provocative sign. One of the most popular is “There Are Only 2 Genders,” which has been repeated many times.
In 2019 YouTube investigated Crowder regarding comments about gay journalist Carlos Maza, but determined the racist and homophobic slurs did not violate their policies. They demonetized the channel following criticism, but allowed it again on some videos about a year later. In 2021, YouTube suspended the channel for a week and demonetized the channel again. In 2022, Crowder’s channel was suspended for two weeks for violating its policy on harassment, threats and cyberbullying. In 2023, Crowder’s channel was suspended again for featuring Alex Jones as co-host. In 2021, Crowder sued Faceboook over alleged censorship.
In 2023, Crowder got in a dispute with anti-trans organization Daily Wire following failed negotiations to join the platform. Crowder moved the show to Rumble, later partnering with Alex Jones, Nick Di Paolo, and Bryan Callen for an extended show.
Crowder and Hilary Korzon married in 2012, have dizygotic twin children, and separated in 2021. In 2023, Korzon released a recording in which Crowder was angrily yelling.
Anti-transgender activism
Samantha Riedel summarized Crowder’s long history of transphobic content:
No group has captivated Crowderâs gaze more thoroughly, however, than transgender people. Crowder was an early adopter of the post-gay marriage pivot to transphobia as a conservative business model. In the late 2010s, Crowder was already hosting sham âdebatesâ on whether there are more than two genders, physically threatening trans people at work, and infiltrating trans groups to accuse them of indoctrinating children â years before Chaiya Raichik would perfect the grift with Libs of TikTok. Since then, Crowder has kept the volume on his transphobia at 11 by attacking trans public figures like Elliot Page and spreading disinformation, for which he was briefly suspended from YouTube.
[…] Virtually any story seems like a good excuse for Crowder to hop in a dress and spend several hours in a makeup chair to, uh, own the libs? He has dressed in drag to “go undercover” at an International Womenâs Day event, where he was welcomed as a trans woman by the cisgender organizers, and wore a floral dress and wig while just hanging out in the studio to kick off âCultural Appropriation Monthâ in June 2022. There was also the âTranny Bane vs. Jihadi Bondâ skit, in which Crowder managed to combine his two favorite identity cosplays into one terrible package, and my #1 draft pick: the time he tried to pose as a trans woman at Planet Fitness, where he intentionally broke gym rules by slamming weights and was quickly banned from the entire chain for life. As Twitter user @RightWingCope put it, âIâve seen Steven Crowder crossdressing more times than Iâve seen drag queens in my whole life.â
On November 6, 2023, Crowder released leaked notes purportedly written by the 2023 Nashville Covenant School shooter.
References
Campbell, Jason (August 7, 2023). Steven Crowderâs empire of hate collapses.Media Matters for America https://www.mediamatters.org/steven-crowder/steven-crowders-empire-hate-collapses
note: for the trans-supportive programmer, see Travis Brown.
Background
Travis David Brown is “a skeptic and free-thinker” who lives in Portland, Oregon and has been a videographer since 2009. Brown claims to explore themes of “dogma, faith and credulity.”
Brown was a camera operator and cinematographer on several small projects. Brown co-directed the 2018 film All Too Human with Mandy Stockholm.
Anti-transgender activism
Brown is closely associated with anti-trans extremists at Genspect. Brown raised $450 on a $29,500 goal to travel to Ireland to film a 2023 Genspect conference.
Hello. My name is Travis Brown, and I am a documentary filmmaker out of Oregon. For a few years now Iâve been covering topics around woke ideology and how to improve dialogue between people who have diametrically opposed views.
In my upcoming documentary, Iâll be tackling the very important and sensitive topic of gender ideology. Thereâs so much confusion and frustration when it comes to discussing trans issues, but I hope to help paint a clear picture of what is going on, why, and what can be done about it to protect young people, keep families intact, and keep womenâs spaces from being overtaken by men.
If youâve been following the trans debate, youâll know why itâs crucial to have clear and concise explanations and advice on this topic without hyperbole. With the spread of gender ideology, we have so many young people, and even some adults who are fooled into thinking that the only solution to their distress is to take hormones or get life-altering surgeries. But this often just makes their problems much worse and can increase suicidal ideation. And thatâs just the tip of this problematic iceberg.
In my docuseries called The Woke Reformation, Iâve covered topics of critical race theory, woke capitalism, the roots of this ideology, in neo-Marxism and postmodernism, and more. Iâve been lucky enough to work with Peter Boghossian, who has produced this series, and to have interviewed Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Douglas Murray, Vivek Ramaswamy, Niall Ferguson, [onscreen: Mark Pellegrino, Benjamin Boyce] and so many more incredible people.
For this documentary, Iâll have more amazing guests like Helen Joyce, the author of TRANS, and some pediatricians, counselors, detransitioners, and other important voices. In order to make this my best documentary so far, I need your help. I have a great opportunity to fly to the UK for some exciting interviews and to film an important conference put on by Genspect. Most of the costs are covered, but Iâm still about $6,000 short.
I donât do interviews over Zoom because Iâm committed to creating very high-quality content, and filming in person is always much better than recording virtual interviews. Iâm really concerned about whatâs happening in our society, and I believe we have to be honest about biology, the differences between men and women, the importance of single-sex spaces, and the safety of our children.
So I could really use your help. If you can contribute any amount, it would be very grateful. Or if you can share this video and GiveSendGo link around, that would be awesome. Please help me bring some sanity to the discourse around gender ideology. Thanks for watching.Â
“Arty Morty” is the stage name of a Canadian anti-transgender extremist. “Arty Morty” is best known for being sidekick to anti-trans extremist Graham Linehan and for co-founding LGB Alliance Canada.
Background
“Arty Morty” is a pseudonym that refers to a Sherlock Holmes case.