10/08/2020
One woman’s experience of a “peaceful, non-violent” trans rights march. Horrific.
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The organizers of today’s “March 4 Trans Rights!” rally today in downtown Denver promised ahead of time, “This is a non-violent event.”
I wish that had been true.
As I sit here writing this, I have a loud ringing in both ears, my face is tingling from the feel of pepper spray, and I’m nursing a bruised lower-right rib, all the result of being assaulted by a mob of huge men. My crime? I was quietly holding up two signs on a public sidewalk. Not blocking anybody. Not yelling slogans. Not doing anything but quietly holding up two signs. And I was violently attacked for it, all while hundreds of “peaceful” trans-rights protestors watched and shouted encouragement to my attackers.
I am also quite literally afraid … afraid for myself and my family should the psychopathic “peaceful” activists I encountered today discover my name and address. Today was a wake-up call for me regarding just how out of control the men behind the trans-rights agenda truly are … and why women should rightly fear them.
The day started off mostly uneventful. I came wearing a “Radical Feminist” t-shirt, but I had it under another shirt at first. I kept hidden in a bag my two signs: “Women don’t have pen*ses. Get over it.”, and “Protect fairness for females. Keep biologically male transwomen out of women’s sports.” And the brim of my hat, emblazoned with “ ”, remained carefully out of sight.
Soon after I arrived at the rally site (the Colorado capital front steps), an organizer approached with a smile and gave me a pink-and-blue transgender flag to wave. I was even given free snacks and water. Everything seemed calm, and I was hoping that the hatred shown by many trans-rights activists online was purely an internet phenomenon, and in the flesh the TRAs would possibly be nice, and maybe even peaceful.
My first concern was with a biological woman holding a sign that said, “H*CK THE CIS”. I asked what it meant, and she told me, “It means “F**k all non-trans people … because trans people throughout history have been so marginalized by cis-people.”
Once the rally began, a group calling themselves “The Parasol Patrol” spread out around the outer edges, and opened their umbrellas to block attendees from being exposed to the messages of potential counter protesters. I seemed to be the only counter protester there, so I simply walked over to the nearby intersection of two busy streets that ran by the capital -- and displayed my signs, shirt and hat unhindered to the multitude of cars that passed or stopped near my corner. I got a few thumbs up, and one elderly woman angrily raised her middle finger at me, but I was largely ignored – strengthening my feeling that (for good or bad) the average person really doesn’t know or care about the trans-rights agenda.
After about an hour the attendees filed away from the capital and began marching down the street, shouting trans jargon interspersed with chants of “Black Lives Matter!”… which was ironic considering something that later happened to me.
They made their way past my corner … and they finally started to show their true colors. As they went by, people started yelling “F**k you!” and giving me the finger, and I was called a “TERF” so many times I lost count. Then, out of the blue, a guy about a foot taller than me ran up, shoved me and pulled one of my signs out of my hand. I yelled at him to give it back and ran at him, making sure he saw my can of pepper spray … and his eyes turned wide, he dropped the sign, and ran off, disappearing into the crowd. Picking up my sign, I hoped that was the worst of it … but realizing there could be more to come, I steeled myself, held up my retrieved signs, and followed the marchers.
As I walked toward them, one guy repeatedly tried to block me and asked what my message was. I told him to read my signs … to which he grinned and replied, “I can’t read, so tell me what’s on them. What’s your message? Why are you here?” Instead of engaging in useless conversation, I shrugged and told him, “I’m here to hold up signs.” He seemed upset at that answer, called me an “instigator” and ran off to a group of TRAs across the street.
A couple of blocks later I caught up and passed the marchers, and stood silently on the sidewalk ahead of them, making sure they could all see me and read what I was holding. That’s when the Parasol Patrol decided to spring into action, and I was surrounded by umbrellas of all colors as they desperately tried to prevent the marchers from seeing my offensively accurate words. Instead of getting mad, however, I started to laugh, and made it into a game of finding holes in their defense, into which I would hold forth my signs … with me merrily waving my hands up and down and back and forth as they fumbled around like maniacs trying to put a wall of cloth between me and the rally attendees.
They succeeded in holding me up to allow the marchers to turn the corner and move down the block, so I took the opportunity to display my signs to the curious passengers of all the cars being held up on the street by the event.
Then things got a bit more menacing. A guy ran up and threateningly told me, “If you march with us, your safety can’t be guaranteed,” then ran back to the crowd.
Maybe I was brave. Maybe I was stupid. Maybe I was naïve. Maybe I saw it as a challenge. Either way, I ignored his warning, and proceeded to walk confidently up the sidewalk, weaving in and out of the attendees, until I reached the front of the group. Then, turning to face them defiantly, I quietly stood on the public sidewalk … and lifted up my signs a last time.
The next thing I knew, I was very literally under attack. I was tackled by a mob of huge guys, who yanked my signs away and ripped them up. I pulled out my pepper spray and tried shooting at them, but I was grabbed and pulled to the ground, with at least three men on top of me.
One held my face to the dirt, and they didn't stop even when I yelled, "I can't breathe!" (I guess they didn’t recall the reasons behind the “Black Lives Matter” movement with which they only minutes earlier were shouting their solidarity.)
I tried to pepper spray the thugs surrounding me, but they grabbed the canister out of my hand (ripping off the strap holding it to my wrist) and used my own pepper spray against me.
One guy pulled my arm painfully behind my back while I was on the ground, and another twisted one of my feet until I was screaming in agony ... and when I tried to pull my foot away, he yelled, "You kick me one more time and I will punch your face so hard!"
My glasses were pulled off and bent. One of my sandals was torn and ruined.
Finally an organizer came, helped me up, and ... instead of apologizing, told me, "You'd better get out of here, or you'll face more violence. We can't guarantee your safety." And so I left, all while the "peaceful" marchers were yelling things at me like, "You fu***ng bitch!" and "Go home, TERF!"
Thankfully, they didn’t follow me, and I made it back to my car out of their sight, and drove safely home.
It was so weird, because I didn’t feel frightened during the attack, while I was at my most helpless, when I was painfully under the power of a vicious gang of hostile men. I just felt angry. Extremely angry. The fear came later, however, after I had collected my wits … and it’s the fear I feel now.
Despite the numerous boot prints covering my arms and legs, I came out for the most part physically fine. My bruised rib will heal. My glasses have been bent back into shape. A shower will remove the dirt and grime inflicted upon my skin.
But I can’t discount the possibility that down the road I’ll have nightmares about this.
And I know I’ll never look at TRA’s the same way again … especially when I encounter them on the street.
TRAs are NOT nice people. They are to be feared. They proved today to me, once and for all, that they hate the truth … and they hate biological women.
And they are never to be believed.
The “March 4 Trans Rights!” site just posted the following after-rally message: “SO PROUD of everyone who helped the March 4 Trans Rights today be successful!! Our car brigade, security and medic teams who kept everyone as safe as possible.”
Yeah. Everyone safe. Except for non-trans people, that is.
Keep the faith, sisters. 💖♀✊
