25/04/2022
An anti-transgender feminist studying at the University of Bristol has failed in her attempt to use a court case to rule against the protests of trans advocates. Grazia magazine reports that the woman, named Raquel Rosario Sanchez had her case against the University of Bristol thrown out by Judge Alex Ralton. Sanchez was involved in an anti-transgender rights group called Women’s Place UK, which has been alleged to have strong links with right wing organisations such as the LGB Alliance and even anti-abortion protesters. Sanchez claimed that the University had failed to protect her from trans advocates, one of whom had been disciplined by the University. However, Judge Ralton said that whilst some remarks made about Sanchez were rude and uncouth, it was not in the scope of his remit to rule on whether protests against Women’s Place UK were permissable. Ralton slapped down Sanchez’s claims saying “it was apparent in evidence that Ms Rosario Sanchez perceived behaviour as unacceptable to her which may nonetheless be permissible in the form of free speech - albeit offensive and rude - such as the use of the acronym terf." The ruling was welcomed by some activists for LGBTQIA rights. They said that it was clear legally that the term “TERF” was not a constructed hate term, but that it was a legitimate acronym standing for “trans exclusionary radical feminist”. The BBC News website added that all of Sanchez’s claims against the University were thrown out. Online, the responses to the court case were mixed. Whilst Sanchez thanked her supporters, others hit back, one quoting the anarchist philosopher Bob Black, whose 1985 essays on ideologies remarked “Radical feminism is a ludicrous, hate-filled, authoritarian, sexist, dogmatic construct which revolutionaries accord an unmerited legitimacy by taking it seriously at all.”.
