Cllr Rawlinson said that Cllr Phoenix Adair "deserved" the online transphobic attacks which lead to Adair shuttering their Twitter account
A ‘transgender row’ that was precipitated by Preston Councillor Martyn Rawlinson retweeting a TERF, and his abhorrence to be remotely responsible for raising the trans flag on the TDoV has escalated to online hate crimes against a fellow Council member.
In a tweet, Cllr Rawlinson said that fellow Cllr Phoenix Adair They/Them “deserved” the online transphobic attacks which resulted in Cllr Adair shutting down their Twitter account.
We published about Martyn Rawlinson Platforming TERF Transphobia Monday hoping to gently educate Cllr Rawlinson about the inevitable fallout of his actions, but to no avail. Rawlinson has doubled down on his attacks going from easily dismissable retweets to composing tweets himself.
Galop UK’s LGBT+ anti-violence charity 2020 poll reveals that transphobic hate crime has doubled in the last three years – and only 1 in 7 trans people are reporting their experiences.
Four out of every five transgender people in the UK experienced a form of trans hate crime in the last 12 months, Pink News reports.
Fourteen teenagers have been arrested by police in connection with a serious assault and a transphobic attack in Lancaster. – Lancaster Area Police Facebook
The teenagers, all aged between 14 and 17 and from the Lancaster and Morecambe areas, were arrested on suspicion of assault. The individuals were arrested on Wednesday (December 16) and Thursday (December 17) by officers.
Police launched an investigation following the incidents in October.
On October 3, around 10 pm, a man and woman were walking with friends in Penny Street when they were approached by a group of youths who started to verbally abuse them.
The man, 19, was then punched to the face, suffering a fractured eye socket, while the woman, 20, was also punched before being dragged to the ground and kicked several times. She suffered a bloodied nose and lip. Both went to Royal Lancaster Hospital for treatment.
Galop recommends four remedies to the increase of transphobic hate crimes in the UK, one of which Cllr Phoenix Adair undertook this morning:
“Take action to challenge and reduce transphobic prejudice within the mainstream press and on social media.”
Cllr Phoenix Adair pronouns They/Them, told us this morning that they were shocked at the response by Preston Councillor Martyn Rawlinson
“It’s really upsetting,” said Cllr Phoenix Adair, “because it gives some sort of consent in the public eye”.
Cllr Phoenix Adair made clear that hate crimes in his area were not directly the result of the recent “transgender row” there is cause and effect.
“I think that local politicians showing transphobic hatred could result in the change of public opinion,” said Cllr Adair.
Read this article in full at Planet Transgender.com
