Trans Activists Hurl Abuse at Feminists, Clash with Police at New York City Hall Protest

Trans activists disrupted a protest to preserve women’s spaces at New York City Hall on Monday morning, threatening the assembled feminists and scuffling with police.

Soon after the protest began, counter-protesters crashed the “Let Women Speak” event and started pushing against a police barricade that was erected to protect the feminist demonstrators. The U.K.-based group — whose mission, according to its website, is to “foster a community in which all women feel empowered to speak” — held the Manhattan protest to cap off a fall tour of the U.S.

The NYPD confirmed to National Review that nine people were arrested amid the mayhem, with charges pending, though the department would not reveal whether those arrested were feminist protesters or transgender activists intent on disrupting the event.

“This is the New York City police department. You are unlawfully obstructing pedestrian traffic. You are ordered to disperse now to promote the safe flow of pedestrian traffic. If you do so voluntarily, no charges will be placed against you,” the NYPD announced on a loud speaker, according to a video captured by journalist Oliya Scootercaster that shows trans activists attempting to break through the police barricade by force.

Both parties yelled angry slogans and marched with signs accusing the other of “erasure.”

“I will f**k you up,” a trans-identifying man, who was trying to climb over the metal barrier, told a feminist protester on the other side.

“Nazi scum,” one shirtless trans-identifying man screamed. Trans protesters banged drums and played instruments like tambourines and flutes in an attempt to “drown out the hate.” An Instagram infographic posted days earlier appears to have mobilized trans supporters in advance.

“Your hatred isn’t cute, every fascist gets the boot,” an African-American trans-identifying man said. “Stone wall was a riot, transphobes keep quiet,” he rhymed in reference to the 1969 police raid of New York City’s Stonewall Inn, the famous gay hangout. The crowd echoed his chants. He said that cops “were hitting trans people,” though National Review did not witness any police violence.

The participants advocating for “sex-based rights for women and girls” held signs that read, “Gender Clinics Are Sterilizing Our Youth,” “Keep Men Out of Women’s Sports,” “Female Lives Matter,” “Self-Love Not Surgery,” and “Stop Lesbian Erasure.”

Prominent U.K. feminist Kellie-Jay Keen, also known as “Posie Parker,” was reportedly denied entry to the protest to deliver her keynote speech by police, she alleged in a video statement. She claimed a cop told her he didn’t want to “risk” his officers.

“Females are not a gender identity, get it through your damn heads,” a feminist protester said into a microphone behind the wall of police.

Later in the afternoon when the event ended, trans activists confronted the feminist protesters as they were escorted away by police. One black-clad trans activist pushed a feminist protester, after which a police officer intervened. Another trans activist told an exiting protester: “come here, come here, do something bitch,” as he shook his fist menacingly.

“Bio sex is real and immutable. That is now a criminalized statement. Did you know that there is a law on the books in New York City where you can be fined $250,000 for misgendering? It was passed by deBlasio and it has yet to be repealed,” Karen Davis, an African-American woman who joined the rally in support of defending women’s spaces, told National Review. She has a Youtube channel, You’re Kidding, Right?, that she calls an “exercise in sanity” amid today’s “Gender Fracas.”

In 2015, the New York Commission on Human Rights released a new set of guidelines, applying to employers and landlords, banning “misgendering,” or addressing a person with the wrong pronouns. It also barred preventing people from using bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity as well as gender-specific specific dress codes. Penalties range from up to $125,000 for ordinary violations to up to $250,000 for “willful, wanton, or malicious conduct.”

“Women in New York City do not have the right to single-sex restrooms, nor do they have the right to single-sex accommodations. They’ve been raped at Riker’s Island and impregnated by men who impersonate women,” she said of the documented incidents of sexual assault perpetrated by transgender women at prisons.

She sounded off as the protesters walked away: “Empathy? Empathy for pedophiles. I do not have empathy for men who lie about their sex. You’re a man and you’ll always be.”