THE anti-trans campaigner who goes by the name Posie Parker has reportedly ended her tour of New Zealand after protests saw her heckled and doused with tomato juice.
Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, who recently made headlines by holding a rally in Glasgow’s George Square, was unable to speak at a planned rally in Auckland on Saturday as she was outnumbered by thousands of counter-protesters.
As well as founding the Standing for Women group, Keen-Minshull has been accused of having links to far-right anti-LGBT groups. In 2021, she used her platform to suggest that armed men should go into women’s bathrooms to protect them from trans people.
The campaigner’s New Zealand tour had been highly controversial before it even began, after white supremacist groups joined one of her rallies in Australia.
While some LGBT+ groups attempted to have her denied entry to New Zealand, the high court found it was lawful to allow her in – with the country’s immigration minister saying while he found her views “repugnant”, the case didn’t meet the threshold for ministerial intervention.
On Saturday morning in Auckland, Keen-Minshull was met by a huge number of counter-protesters and after booing and heckling from the rowdy crowd had to be escorted away from the event.
She also had tomato juice poured over her by one counter-protester.
According to reporters, both the protest and counter-protest was at times violent – with the Green party’s co-leader, there to support trans rights, being hit by a motorbike. She did not require hospitalisation, the party confirmed.
After being escorted away from the event, Keen-Minsull tweeted: “For wanting to make space for women to speak I genuinely feared for my life today. My activism is simple, we #LetWomenSpeak. Why does that make anyone so angry? We showed the world what happens to women when they try to speak. No one can pretend they don’t see the salivating misogyny.”
She later added: “I genuinely thought if I fell to the floor I would never get up again, my children would lose their mother and my husband would lose his wife. My security saved my life today, no words can express my gratitude.”
Campaigners expressed pride in their efforts to disrupt the rally, with the co-founder of the Conversion Therapy Action Group Shaneel Lal sharing a video of themself with a siren and adding: “Counterprotestors have taken over the Albert Park Rotunda and Posie Parker didn’t get to say a single word. That’s us, Auckland. That’s us.”
Counterprotestors have taken over the Albert Park Rotunda and Posie Parker didn’t get to say a single word. That’s us, Auckland. That’s us. pic.twitter.com/LZFmE7AZwu
— Shaneel Lal 🧚🏻 (They/Them) (@shaneellall) March 24, 2023
Trans broadcaster India Willoughby said the scenes were “really moving me”.
Auckland Pride’s executive director added: “And with thunderous applause from thousands of human rights defenders, the Posie Parker tour of Auckland is over before it again. Trans rights wins.”
