Anti-transgender activists are planning a day of activism for December 19 to honor the two-year anniversary of when J.K. Rowling made it clear to the world that she doesn’t like trans people. The event – which they’re calling Gender Critical Coming Out Day – is close enough to Christmas that some of them are calling it “TERFmas,” complete with a “12 days of peaking” advent calendar.
British transgender exclusionary radical feminists, or TERFs, have a plan for making December 19 particularly unbearable for the people around them. They have created a webpage explaining how people can “come out” about their antipathy for trans people, with suggestions that include ranting about transgender people at Christmas with family.
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“Everyone needs to assess their own situation as to how open they can be, in terms of safety or impact saying or doing something might have,” the website explains. “You don’t have to make any big announcement if that’s not right for you. There are subtle ways to signal to others with similar views.”
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The website suggests transphobes – or “gender critical” people – post on social media about #GenderCriticalComingOutDay to say #IStandWithReality; that is, the idea that gender is exclusively determined by genitalia at birth, which they consider reality. It also says people should “use your real name/photo” on social media “to engage in the debate.”
The site has some suggestions for email signatures and social media bios that are needlessly confrontational, like “My pronouns are based on my biology.”
“Ask friends/family if they’ve heard of ‘gender critical,'” the site says, suggesting people buy merchandise and books “for friends and family” as Christmas presents. Because what person who doesn’t spend their entire lives on internet forums spreading hate about trans people wouldn’t want a “Trans activism is misogyny” pin or an “adult human female” sweater?
According to LGBwiththeT, “TERFmas” was thought up by Graham Lineham, a British anti-transgender activist who was banned from Twitter for “hateful conduct.” He picked December 19 because that’s the two-year anniversary of author J.K. Rowling’s infamous tweet where she effectively came out as a transphobe, saying that she supported Maya Forstater, a British TERF who lost her job at a social justice non-profit due to anti-transgender comments she made in public.
Lineham has reportedly confirmed that there will be a “12 days of peaking” advent calendar, possibly a reference to reaching “peak transgender,” but it could refer to a number of other things since TERFism is like QAnon in that it has its own language and conspiracies and it’s hard for outsiders to keep up.
He goes on to confirm there will also be a '12 days of peaking' advent calendar, and leaflets.
— LGBwiththeT (@LGBwiththeT) November 10, 2021
