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We, a group of lesbians, bisexuals and gay men, were proud to found the LGB Alliance, Ireland, last month. Imagine our surprise, then, to read Emma Kelly’s article expounding we were a transphobic hate group. We are writing this to ask a simple question; why is it so awful to come together to advocate for our rights as same-sex-attracted people?

We are part of a growing international movement, with branches in the USA, Canada, Spain, Brazil, Russia, Australia, the UK and other countries. We believe that sexual orientation is different to gender identity and we believe the needs of lesbian, gay and bisexual people are different to the needs of transgender people.

For holding this belief, we have received a wall of death threats, racism, bigotry, homophobia and general name-calling. We have been called “terfs” and “transphobes”. Multiple pornographic videos and images have been posted on our social media accounts, both at LGB Alliance Ireland and on founder’s personal accounts. We were accused of not being an Irish movement and told to “go back where you came from".

LGB Alliance Ireland campaigns for the rights of same-sex-attracted people, based on our sexuality.

All our committee members are living in Ireland, with representation in each of the four provinces. There are several organisations in Ireland that campaign for trans rights, based on the gender identity of their members. We respect the rights of those organisations to do so; we do not hate or abuse them for excluding LGB people from their organisations. However, we stand firm in our right, as lesbian, gay and bisexual people, to form an organisation that centres our needs rather than other groups’ needs. There is a conflict between LGB rights and trans rights; gender identity ideologists believe that biological sex does not even exist as a binary, and that sexual orientation based on biology rather than gender identity is transphobic.

If we are ever going to resolve these issues, in a civil society, this must be done in open debate, and in a civilised fashion. This is alarmingly difficult in the current climate.

Gender dysphoria is a strong discomfort with your biological sex. It is often associated with the wish to live as the opposite sex. It is most often treated with transition; the “affirmation model” recommends that if somebody questions their sex, they should be supported to transition medically, as their first, best option. They are “affirmed” in their gender by medical professionals. LGB Alliance Ireland supports the right of adults who live with gender dysphoria to access medical transition; however, we feel that alongside the possibility of transition, individuals should be offered other options to deal with their dysphoria. We feel that the affirmation model is damaging, as it closes out those other options.

We are increasingly dismayed at the impact that radical gender identity ideology has on LGB people and our communities. Gender identity ideology holds that some people are born ‘trans’ and should therefore transition as young as possible. Gender identity ideology holds that infant children can be called ‘trans’ because they act in a manner that is stereotypically associated with the opposite sex.

We at the LGB Alliance are critical of stereotypes and believe that girls should be able to climb trees and play sports and boys should be free to wear princess dresses and wave fairy wands without being labelled ‘trans’. We believe that girls should be free to be ‘masculine’ and boys should be free to be ‘feminine.’ Research shows that roughly 80pc of children with gender dysphoria grow out of this condition before adulthood; crucially from our standpoint, most of these children end up being LGB.

Twenty years ago, there was a warm and supportive LGB community. Now, there is a whole plethora of other letters being added to this acronym every day. While other people are welcome to organise groups that meet their needs; we should also be free to form our group without being written off as ‘transphobic terfs’. One of our members, a butch lesbian who posts ‘butch pride’ pictures on social media, is regularly told she is transphobic just for existing as a masculine-presenting woman, for daring to live with gender dysphoria, without choosing to medically transition.

In recent years, a dogmatic entry requirement has seeped into the LGBTQIAAPK2S+ movement; you must accept the tenets of radical gender identity ideology, or face public shaming and vilification. Those tenets, by definition, undermine same-sex-attracted people as hateful bigots and transphobes. Lesbians suffer the most. On some lesbian dating apps, half the profiles are of transwomen. Lesbians are routinely banned from dating apps for saying they are same-sex-attracted, not same-gender-attracted.

What troubles us most are the heart-breaking accounts from young men and women who were diagnosed trans as children, but who later detransitioned. Most of these detransitioners are lesbian or gay. They talk about giving “consent” to puberty blockers, without a genuine understanding of how this will impact their adult fertility and sexual pleasure, as well as their physical and mental health. We hope Irish people can see our mission to support the LGB community is not a nefarious plot to ruin trans people’s lives, but a protective bid to save ourselves.

Lauren Black co-wrote this article. Both authors are representatives of LGB Alliance Ireland

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