‘I’m no Nazi; just public enemy No. 1’, says transgender law critic Kellie-Jay Keen
The British activist, who led an anti-transgender reform rally, says the neo-Nazis who ambushed the event are ‘sad, pathetic men’.
A British activist who led an anti-transgender reform rally alongside a Victorian Liberal MP says the neo-Nazis who ambushed their event are “sad, pathetic men” and she has no links to the far right, as Anthony Albanese and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews condemned her cause.
Kellie-Jay Keen, speaking to The Australian on Tuesday after her Hobart rally was overrun by hostile transgender rights activists, said it was “bonkers” she had become “public enemy No. 1” in Australia and New Zealand.
Accusations she was associated with neo-Nazis were “preposterous”, and she had no time for the men in black who disrupted her Melbourne rally on Saturday.
“Men have tried to silence me since I started talking and the latest silencing weapon is to accuse me of being a Nazi to distract me,” said Ms Keen, also known as Posie Parker.
“Once you accuse someone of being a Nazi that’s it – you forever have to address the question. It’s not true. Nazis are predominantly sad, pathetic men who aren’t going very far in their lives.
“I cannot let it stop me talking about little girls in this country (transitioning gender) … and women having their rights completely decimated.”
Ms Keen, who advocates for excluding trans women from female-only spaces and services, travels to Canberra for another rally on Thursday, although her next destination – New Zealand – flagged a potential ban on her entering the country.
The divisive political fallout spread to the capital ahead of her arrival, with the Prime Minister and senior Labor figures seizing on the issue.
“Why would people attend an anti trans rally?” Mr Albanese told Nova radio. “It’s really disrespectful of who people are, and then it was joined by people doing Nazi salutes.”
Earlier in question time, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus accused Peter Dutton of failing to condemn the neo-Nazis and state Liberal MP Moira Deeming’s appearance at the anti-trans reform rally, prompting the Opposition Leader to “condemn” the Labor frontbencher for referencing Nazis in a partisan political attack.
“The slaughter of Jews and the treatment by the Nazis ... is an abomination ... that it would be used for political purposes in this place is a very poor reflection on you,” Mr Dutton said.
Federal Labor’s attempts to weaponise Mrs Keen’s event against Mr Dutton came after Mr Andrews said the rally on women’s rights and trans reforms was “a nasty, hateful event even before anyone offered up a Nazi salute”.
Throughout her years campaigning for women’s rights and against transgender reforms. Ms Keen has been accused of links to the far right.
Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto – in a dossier justifying his moves to expel Ms Deeming – has accused the British activist of taking selfies with a leader of Norway’s far-right movement, Hans Jørgen Lysglimt Johansen, and said she was using a profile picture of a Barbie doll wearing a Nazi swastika on her social media pages.
Ms Keen said the Barbie picture was a “joke” and she did not know Mr Johansen when he asked for a photograph.
Tasmania’s parliament on Tuesday created a volatile situation by allowing two competing rallies to proceed on its lawns, one organised by Ms Keen’s Standing For Women group and a far larger counter gathering held by transgender activists and supporters.
The Keen rally was quickly besieged by the larger, younger crowd, which chanted “Go home Posie, go home” and “You’ve got Nazis on your side”, drowning out the activist and other speakers.
When Ms Keen moved her group closer to the steps of parliament in response, her opponents – in their hundreds – soon followed, with only 10 police officers on the scene initially.
While the number of officers doubled, it was not enough to keep the groups apart and there were several violent scuffles.
The smaller group was effectively surrounded, with police breaking up several altercations.
Ms Keen said police had failed to enforce permit conditions designed to keep the two groups apart and to ensure her supporters were safe. She was concerned for safety of the women supporting her and said a person lunged at her as she was trying to leave.
“Once I start thinking about how surrounded we are, I do worry about being able to leave and as I was leaving a man … tried to get me,” she said. “He pushed in front of my security and tried to get to me.”
Ms Keen said in Melbourne she was trying not to be distracted by the men in black, who were not part of her group. “It wasn’t until we saw the Nazi salute that I realised they were Nazis,” she said.
She defended Ms Deeming against attempts to expel her from the Liberal Party for attending Saturday’s rally. “Moira is a really courageous politician and on this issue she has asked questions of MPs that nobody else will ask,” she said. “Moira is a really resilient and brilliant woman. No matter what they do, I don’t think this will be the end of her political career. It might well be very much a boost and the beginning, because women across Australia will see a true leader.”
Ms Keen said she did not plan to take any action against Tasmanian Greens leader Cassy O’Connor, who touched her arm during a discussion at the Hobart rally.
Ms O’Connor accused Mrs Keen of being a “vile … fake feminist” and hailed the rally as “a resounding show of love and support for transgender Tasmanians … It made me proud to be a Hobartian. Kellie-Jay Keen had to scuttle away from the crowd, taking her all-man security detail with her.
“We hope she never returns.”
Transgender rights activists said Ms Keen’s views were discriminatory, hurtful and offensive. It is not yet clear whether she faces prosecution under Tasmania’s anti-discrimination laws, which make it an offence to offend or ridicule people on the basis of their gender identity.
Ms Keen said suggestions she could be barred from taking her speaking tour to New Zealand were concerning. “I really do fear for the women in NZ if somebody talking about women’s rights is seen as so dangerous they cannot be allowed to come into the country,” she said.
Equality Tasmania said people had defied its directive not to engage or confront Ms Keen, but the rally was a positive show of support for transgender people.
“The large turnout in support of trans and gender-diverse people shows Tasmanians embrace inclusion and repudiate hate,” said an Equality Tasmania spokesman. “Tasmanians are tired of a small minority stirring up unfounded fears about trans people and undermining our progressive discrimination and gender recognition laws. The takeaway message … is the majority of Tasmanians support trans and gender diverse people.”
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