Trans comic shares video of herself being abused at LGB Alliance conference

Trans comedian Jen Ives feels ‘vindicated’ after shocking and distressing footage emerged showing she suffered transphobic abuse at the 2021 LGB Alliance conference.

The controversial conference was held in October at the Queen Elizabeth II Center in London and brought together many supporters of the LGB Alliance and so-called ‘gender-critical’ lobbyists, including Graham Linehan, Labor MP Rosie Duffield and Conservative MP Jackie Doyle-Price.

Panels were held on ‘transgender ideology’ and although the group’s hero, JK Rowling, was unable to attend, LGB Alliance paid for a cutout of her to be brought to the conference center so that participants can pose with.

Since its launch in October 2019, LGB Alliance has been called an “anti-trans hate group” by leading LGBT+ figures, charities and organizations including Pride in London, gay SNP MP John Nicolson, the journalist Owen Jones and Scottish gay actor David Paisley. . Strong criticism has also come from people like It’s a sin creator Russell T Davies and openly gay footballer Josh Cavallo.

Shadow Labor Minister for Women and Equality, Taiwo Owatemi, said the group “should be rejected by anyone who believes in equality”. LGB Alliance continues to deny being transphobic.

Ives, a bisexual trans woman and comedian, decided to buy a ticket and attend the conference.

While in attendance, she suffered severe transphobic abuse, which she publicly discussed at the time, but Ives has now said PinkNews she has spent the past five months being branded a liar by supposedly gender-sensitive activists.

This week she said she felt ‘vindicated’ after footage of her being confronted by LGB Alliance supporter Alexander Bramham and her boyfriend Brad. – Bramham a confirmed they started dating after meeting at the LGB Alliance conference.

“Obviously, a testimony is harder to believe than a live video posted by the person who did it,” she said. “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

The voice behind the camera, widely identified as Brad, including by Bramham himself, can be heard repeatedly abusing Ives by saying, “You are a man. You are a man… You are trying to use feminine spaces. You are not a woman, you are a man. You are a man. You are an adult, human male.

He then compared being trans to a fatal psychiatric illness, adding, “Pro-anorexia websites are banned, but your bullshit is posted everywhere, promoted everywhere.”

He said, “You’re a mentally ill autogynephilic pervert.”

Part 2. Saying I was worried about the legal ramifications of releasing MY recordings and those morons just put them back on a platter. pic.twitter.com/6wHXXKJPYB

— 🅹🅴🅽 🅸🆅🅴🆂 (@jenivescomedian) March 23, 2022

A friend of Ives was “hiding in a genre-critical forum” when he discovered that the video, recorded by Brad, had been “circulated” in genre-critical “circles” for about four months.

During those months, Ives says she was repeatedly described as a “liar” by anti-trans activists.

Linehan accused Ives of lie in a blog post, and said she “hung around waiting for a chance to demand to be let in the women’s bathroom”.

Ives said Rob Jessel, who was then LGB Alliance press officer, apologized to him during the conference.

“He was like, ‘It’s not appropriate, it shouldn’t have happened,'” Ives said.

“It gives a lot of face to the public.”

But after speaking out, Jessel took to Twitter and also accused her of lying. For unrelated tweets, Jessel was later permanently banned from Twitter for “abuse and harassment”.

Rob Jessel’s denials pic.twitter.com/xLixHepi3e

— 🅹🅴🅽 🅸🆅🅴🆂 (@jenivescomedian) March 23, 2022

TW: horrible transphobic abuse

I even balked at RT because I think we see enough transphobic abuse here, but overall I think it’s important for cis people to see what LGB Alliance supporters really look like.

Here’s what their “legitimate concerns” look like. This. https://t.co/r7c7xK5EUb

— Max Morgan 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ (they) (@SpillerOfTea) March 23, 2022

Despite the video evidence of abuse, LGB Alliance supporters have sought to defend it.

Since the footage was released, Ives has been accused of filming women in the restrooms at the conference, and of “bullying” and “tricking” Brad, who has autism.

This is a real problem because they will do anything they can to label trans women as perverted or aggressors. It’s a risk to joke around as an avtrans woman because these people will take everything at face value. The catch is – I was harassed AGAIN later downstairs for trying to use the toilet

— 🅹🅴🅽 🅸🆅🅴🆂 (@jenivescomedian) March 23, 2022

Ives says she didn’t film anything at the event and didn’t record any sound inside the restroom.

She added: “As far as I am concerned, [Brad] was there with an LGB Alliance t-shirt, he’s an adult, he was there in a professional capacity and I didn’t know he had autism.

“I’ve worked with autistic people for five years and I don’t like that accusation.”

Please do not use autism as an excuse for transphobia, as this only further stigmatizes people with autism. Your boyfriend wasn’t “framed” and didn’t say anything I didn’t read in GC’s tweets, blogs and videos.

It’s only “shocking” because he said it directly to a trans woman. https://t.co/zNvvQMZ2ap

— The Countless Aidan Comerford (@AidanCTweets) March 23, 2022

After the event, Ives filed a complaint with the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, a government-owned building, over alleged security inaction.

She said: ‘They said that in their view security acted in a timely manner and everything was done as it should be. They scratched me a bit. »

Ives said site staff seemed unwilling to take responsibility for the event.

“It seems as far as the members of the LGB Alliance, that day on that floor, it was critical gender legislation,” she said.

PinkNews has contacted LGB Alliance and the Queen Elizabeth II Center for comment.