Fact Check on Gender Law Reform forum

From Isla MacGregor – Freedom of Speech and Press Freedom Advocate

Matty Wright’s letter (Mercury, October 11) in response to Charles Wooley’s article (Mercury, October 8) continues the misinformation generated by Kenji Sato’s article of October 3 headed ‘Offensive’ anti-trans forum sparks outrage.’ Of note is that the online version of the article was headed ‘Women Speak Tasmania forum to go ahead despite public backlash’.

This typically sensationalist beat up by the Mercury is one of those fine examples of sloppy journalism where lack of research results in a series of stories which compound the misinformation and re-inforce the ongoing bias women have come to expect from the Mercury on this issue. 

Firstly, the event has not been organised by Women Speak Tasmania but the Coalition for Biological Reality. Secondly it is not a meeting but a public forum, the title of which, not mentioned by Sato or Wooley, is 

Gender Identity in Law – Impacts on Women, Children and Transgender People Balancing the Conversation

Further, Sato erroneously stated that Dr Geoff Holloway, a sociologist,  would be speaking at the forum yet this is not the case.  

Given these numerous errors, and that’s just for starters, readers may well be wondering just what research Kenji Sato actually did for this article.  And, how and why Charles Wooley would refer to such a journalist as a ‘brave young Mercury reporter, who waded in this week, where angels might fear to tread’ is even more curious. And this from a journalist we have come to expect as competent at doing ‘his’ homework on stories he writes or speaks about. But then, Wooley did not contact for comment any of the 3 women Sato interviewed for his article, let alone any woman from Women Speak Tasmania. Why would Wooley go on to then ‘nominate’ Kenji Sato, who he claimed to have ‘already done his research’  to be that needed ‘strong and unbiased moderator’ for the forum to make ‘sure everyone gets a fair hearing?’ Sato did not, as Wooley asserts, assemble ‘a diverse and interesting cast of characters and opinion’. What Sato wrote amounts to little less than biased and sloppy journalism.

Maybe Wooley had been made aware of the four complaints received by the Mercury seeking corrections to numerous errors in Kenji’s article – but who is to know?

As for Matty Wright’s call for balance at the forum, Sato’s lengthy quotes from transgender person Pauley Jonson, appear to have escaped his notice. Pauley Johnson, a supporter of both trans rights and women’s sex based rights is billed to speak at the forum. Yet again Sato gets it wrong, incorrectly describing Pauley, as a ‘detransitioned trans woman’. What Pauley did say to Sato was that he had detransitioned ideologically and that “gender is being pushed as this pseudo-religious inner soul of a person which is unchangeable. I don’t go along with that anymore.”

Curiously, no mention in either Sato or Wooley’s article was made about the line up of other high profile medical, legal, academic and political figures billed to speak at the forum: Professor Dianna Kenny, Kath Deves (lawyer from Save Women’s Sports Australasia), Dr Holly Lawford-Smith (University of Melbourne) and Professor Patrick Parkinson (University of Queensland Law School).

Having noted Kenji Sato’s corrections to the online and print versions of his article, and the Correction printed in Letters Mercury, October 4, amending Matty Wright’s pronouns in response to his complaint, I do wonder how long it will take for the Mercury to publish Corrections to all the other biased and misleading statements from Kenji Sato. 

While Charles Wooley is entitled to his opinion, his ‘warning’ and advice to readers who might want to understand the issues and attend the forum, to ‘just bring along compassion, common sense and an open mind.’ could equally be applied to him.

From a public interest perspective, these two articles leave readers scratching their heads. Well might they be asking ‘but what is the forum going to be about and why was no woman from the Coalition for Biological Reality quoted by Sato or Wooley? ‘ The answer is quite simple. The forum is about the impacts of gender law reforms on women, children, transgender people and essentially the whole community. Gender law reforms have been fast tracked through the Tasmanian Parliament without proper consultation, without any risk assessment, without any research on matters concerning law and conflicts over rights. At the heart of this matter is two opposing views that biology is real, that biology does not change according to feelings, that biology can not be changed by laws.

Mercury Editor Jenna Cairney asked Kenji Sato to interview Isla MacGregor, at her request, to discuss the RTI documents she obtained through Hobart City Council. The documents included 18 letters of complaint by members of the public calling on the Council to deplatform the ‘Women Speak Tasmania’ forum and to cancel the venue. Curious again, of those who Kenji quoted in his piece who oppose gender critical views, including former Anti DIscrimination COmmissioner Robin Banks and Matty Wright, both carefully endorsed the right for the forum to go ahead. It’s a better look not to be publicly opposing free speech. But, this belies previous attempts by Matty Wright and Robin Banks to have members of Women Speak cancelled from speaking at public events or meetings. On 20 November 2019 Robin Banks sent an email to the Secretary of the Women’s International Legue for Peace and Freedom to pursuade her to no platform Women Speak Tasmania members from speaking about gender law reforms at their Human Rights Week event. Banks email also suggested that if WILPF did go ahead and host our talks then WILPF would potentially suffer reputational damage. 

‘I am writing out of concern for WILPF, having just seen the invitation to your human rights week event at which you have Women Speak Tasmania as the speakers.

I anticipate that the reason you have invited this group is their apparent promotion of women’s rights. Sadly, this is not a group that support human rights for all.

They have, at present, a nasty and untruthful campaign targeting members of Tasmania’s gender diverse community. They do not support the human rights of people who are gender diverse. Indeed, they deny their very humanity and existence. 

The giving to this group a platform for their hateful views by WILPF will be seen by many in the LGBTIQ community as an endorsement by WILPF of those views. This is the very real potential to damage the reputation of an extraordinary and compassionate long-standing human rights group.

If there is any way that I can help you to negotiate what I think is a very difficult situation, I am happy to do so.

Robin Banks’

The final error is Kenji’s piece yet to be corrected, ends this opinion piece on a humourous note, Satos’ reference to Hobart CEO Kelly Grisby, as ‘Mr Grisby’.

Last week Abigail Shrier, investigative journalist and author of ‘Irreversible Damage – The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters’ released a bomshelll from two whistleblowers in the US.

Two board Members of the World Professional Association of Trans Health (WPATH) gender surgeon Dr Marci Bowers and child psychologist Dr Erica Anderson, have spoken out about the serious and significant surgical and sexual dysfunction as a result of puberty blockers. Bowers and Anderson also spoke out against their own organisation for excluding doctors have have questioned current medical trans medical protocols. Tasmanian media was alerted to this story by Women Speak Tasmania and their call on Health Minister Jeremy Rockcliff to review current guidelines at the Tasmanian Gender Service. But the Tasmanian media remained schtum to the growing evidence that the trans child medicine train is falling off the rails and our children are being harmed – especially girls. 

I would have expected a more impartial piece from Charles Wooley. Rather than repeated promotion of Susan Stryker’s ‘early and informative’ “Transgender History” he might have suggested for readers to dip into Professor Emeritus Janice Raymond’s ‘The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male’ or the more recent ‘Gender Hurts – A Feminist Analysis of the Politics of Transgenderism’; by Professor Sheila Jeffreys. 

While Sato and Wooley’s articles might satisfy the requirements of the Editor at the Mercury, I would have hoped for more homework on an issue that many health professionals and journalists are now describing as the worlds worst health scandal. I would have expected at least an attempt at some investigative and fact based reporting that could show that press freedom is still alive and well in Tasmania. Sadly this is not the case.