What’s Current: Dispute over gender identity splits Stonewall, creating LGB faction

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  • Europe’s largest LGBT organization, Stonewall, divided over concerns about the transgender movement. The LGB Alliance, a group formed with the support of Simon Fanshawe, who co-founded Stonewall, launched in London with the aim to “counteract the confusion between sex and gender which is now widespread in the public sector and elsewhere”. Kate Harris, a former volunteer fundraiser for Stonewall, told The Telegraph:

“The main difference is that lesbians, gays, and bisexuals have something in common because of our sexual orientation, that has nothing to do with being trans.

We welcome the support of anyone — gay, straight or trans — as long as they support our commitment to freedom of speech and biological definitions of sex. So we are a very broad and accepting group. We will be called transphobic, but we’re not.”

  • Nearly 200 Spanish women footballers voted to strike for improved pay and working conditions. According to the Association of Spanish Footballers, a union representing the women, one of the challenges for increased salaries regards women being viewed as full-time athletes as opposed to being employed through part-time contracts.
  • Rose McGowan launched a new lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein, alleging he initiated an unlawful smear campaign and hired a team to malign, intimidate, and silence her. In the lawsuit, McGowan states:

“This case is about a diabolical and illegal effort by one of America’s most powerful men and his representatives to silence sexual-assault victims. And it is about the courageous women and journalists who persisted to reveal the truth.”

  • A movie adaptation of a best-selling feminist Korean novel was released, prompting backlash. Jung Yu-Mi, who plays the titular role in Kim Ji-Young, Born 1982, received thousands of hate comments on social media in a single day.
Genevieve Gluck

Genevieve Gluck is a writer and advocate for women's sex-based rights and creator of Women's Voices, an audio library dedicated to bringing awareness to feminist texts and speeches.