05/02/2023
The profoundly anti-transgender newspaper The Daily Telegraph got its proverbial pants in a pickle at the beginning of the week, when it reported that at a rally in support of the Scottish government and gender recognition reform in the country had included someone carrying a placard reading “Decapitate TERFs”. TERF is an acronym standing for “Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist” and refers to what is a minority faction within contemporary feminism that opposes trans civil rights. It is not the position of most established feminist groups. The right wing paper was suitably angry about the placard, but was quickly called out by trans social media. One person remarked “Given that the Torygraph breathlessly reported with approval the famous arson attack on (newspaper) “Capital Gay” in 1987, they should be able to spot what is a joke and what is real incitement to violence”. Another twitter user said “The things that TERFs say about trans women on social media every day are far worse than one person’s home made placard”.
