FIGHTING THE GENDER WARS STATESIDE: A 2021 TERF YEAR IN REVIEW
December 28, 2021
2021 was a big year for radical feminist advocacy, grass roots organizing, and campaigning in the U.S. Let’s look at a few developments. This list is, of course, not meant to be exhaustive. Countless women worked so hard throughout the year to bring an end to gender madness, and I look forward to working with all of them again in 2022.
January
The year started off on a grim note, as the incoming Administration blithely announced its intention to redefine sex to include “gender identity” throughout federal administrative law, thus signaling how little it cares about the rights, privacy, and safety of women and girls, or about the material reality of sex. The President had previously announced that one of his top priorities was getting the so-called “Equality Act” enacted into law within 100 days of taking office (a goal that he would not achieve – skip to April and December for details).
February
In February alone, the U.S. chapter of the Women’s Human Rights Campaign (WHRC USA) submitted written testimony in support of bills to save women’s sports in seven separate states, including Texas. We also testified in support of a bill to prohibit pediatric “transition” in Utah. All of WHRC USA’s written testimony throughout 2021 can be found on its website.
WHRC USA also put out a statement opposing the confirmation of Rachel Levine to serve as Assistant Secretary of Health on the ground that he supports the off-label use puberty blockers for children.
March
The U.S. House passed the Equality Act, sending it to the Senate.
WHRC USA sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Schumer, signed by over 1500 women all over the world, explaining how dangerous the Equality Act would be for women and girls. WHRC USA Vice President Lauren Levey, a constituent of Senator Schumer, had worked to develop a relationship with one of his staff members. We had a meeting with her, and then sent the letter directly to that staff member, who confirmed receipt and assured us that she would deliver it to Senator Schumer personally.
WHRC USA also submitted written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee in opposition to the bill and received confirmation that it had been received by every member of the Committee, on both sides of the political aisle.
Professor Nicholas Meriwether won his case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in a decision holding that teachers at public universities may not be punished for using accurate-sex pronouns and titles. The Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) had submitted an amicus brief in support of Professor Meriwether.
April
President Biden failed to reach his goal of getting the Equality Act passed within 100 days.
A new U.S.-based grassroots group called TERF Collective, which describes itself as a “syndicate of GCs and RadFems working to end the international campaign of female erasure,” hit the scene and has been growing in numbers and in visibility ever since. Jesika Gonzalez is heading up the effort.
May
On Mother’s Day, volunteers with WHRC USA took to the streets to educate people about WHRC USA’s mission and the Declaration on Women’s Sex-Based Rights, and to support mothers everywhere. Thanks to Jennifer Thomas and others for organizing!
Women’s Liberation Radio News (WLRN) had its five-year anniversary of creating a monthly feminist podcast to break the sound barrier women are blocked by under the status quo rule of men. Congratulations to all the great women at WLRN!
June
Beth Stelzer at Save Women’s Sports has testified in countless states all over the country in her tireless pursuit to keep men out of women’s sports. In June, she testified before the Wisconsin state legislature: “There are two sexes … We have a dimorphic human species. That means there are two sexes and we cannot change them. You cannot make a male a woman by lowering their testosterone. Women are not a hormone level.”
July
A group of feminists held a protest in New York against the Olympics’ inclusion of men in women’s sports. Video and photos are available here and here and here, and Graham Linehan also covered the event.
RevFem Rebellion launched a campaign of boots on the ground resistance, trauma informed care, and feminist street activism, with Joy Gray and Jennifer Thomas leading the way.
August
Sovereign Women Speak held a series of events in Tacoma, including several days of workshops on a variety of topics, a protest at Purdy women’s prison, and a public panel event. The public panelists included Amy Sousa as MC, Dr. Suzanne Forbes-Vierling, myself, Beth Stelzer, and Kat Yang (The Deprogrammer). Massive congratulations to April Morrow for organizing.
Karen Davis has been killing it on her YouTube channel, “You’re Kiddin’ Right?” all year long. One of my favorites is her tune “This Guy Over Here,” out in August.
September
The 11th Hour Blog went global, expanding its reach and allowing it to cover the “gender identity” industry all around the world. Jennifer Bilek is changing the world with the work that she has done to launch and run the blog, to take a stand for the material reality of biological sex, and to expose the vicious and dangerous industry for what it is.
Feminist Thistle Pettersen was charged with a hate crime for allegedly placing a TERF Collective sticker on a public media box. Those charges were subsequently dismissed on First Amendment grounds.
October
WHRC USA filed an amicus brief before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee in a case called Tennessee v. Department of Education, where twenty states are suing the Biden administration over a series of orders and memos issued during the first half of 2021. I had previously written about many of those orders here. In our brief, we argued that redefining sex to include “gender identity” constitutes unlawful sex discrimination, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Thanks to Elisa Turner for her help in writing the brief.
WoLF held an event at the Austin Public Library called Women Against Gender. Video of the event is available here.
Thousands of women marched for abortion rights, in protest of an effective ban that Texas had enacted earlier in the year, and which the Supreme Court refused to stop. Many women marched in Austin, the epicenter of Roe v. Wade, carrying signs that said things like “OUR BODIES OUR TERF” and “ONLY WOMEN NEED ABORTIONS.” Many of us, myself included, did the same thing in Washington, D.C.
Several of us turned up in Loudoun County, Virginia, to stand up for the rights, privacy, and safety of women and girls in schools there. We held signs that said things like “THIS DEMOCRAT SUPPORTS FEMALE-ONLY SPACES” and “THIS DEMOCRAT SAYS BOYS OUT OF GIRLS SPACES” and “PROTECT GIRLS NOT GENDER.” You can read about it here and here.
Comedian Dave Chappelle defended J.K. Rowling and stated that he is “Team TERF” in a Netflix comedy special. Subsequent efforts to have his special pulled from the streaming service were unsuccessful.
November
On November 8, I had the honor of publishing The Abolition of Sex: How the ‘Transgender’ Agenda Harms Women and Girls. The global Women’s Human Rights Campaign hosted me in formally launching it later that month, as did Deep Green Resistance.
The Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) filed its complaint in Chandler v. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, complaining that California’s law mandating the housing of male convicted rapists and murderers in a women’s prison violates numerous provisions of the U.S. Constitution. Lauren Adams, Legal Director at WoLF, oversaw the effort. Amie Ichikawa, who founded Woman II Woman (an organizational plaintiff in the suit), connected WoLF with women inside who were willing to be named as individual plaintiffs.
December
Thousands of women attended an abortion rights rally outside the Supreme Court during oral arguments in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. Ten of us were there holding proud TERF signs and chanting things like “ONLY WOMEN NEED ABORTIONS!” Footage appears in this video, at around 7:57.
WHRC USA met its fundraising goal to send a copy of The Abolition of Sex to all 535 members of Congress.
I went on Tucker Carlson Tonight several times throughout the year. This particular appearance from December, titled “Feminist rips ‘gender identity’ as meaningless,” had over 1,366,000 views as of writing.
The U.S. Senate adjourned for the year, meaning that the entirety of 2021 has passed without enactment of the Equality Act. This is a huge loss for President Biden and for gender ideologues everywhere, and a win for feminism and sanity.
Nice work, U.S. terves.
I’m looking forward to TERFing it up with everyone in 2022!