September Update
Dear friends and supporters,
We are about to start our third week in Court: 15 – 19 September. Our Expert Witness Ramon Das, will appear on Friday afternoon but for the other days, and Friday morning, there will only be Pride’s witnesses no doubt stating their beliefs that LAVA’s views are harmful to people who identify as trans and that Pride made the correct decision in refusing LAVA a stall at the Out in the Park event in March 2021.
Week 2 (1-8 September) was interesting as we watched Pride’s witnesses disagree with each other over the definitions of sex and gender, some saying they were the same and others clear there was a difference.
All repeated the refrain that transwomen are women. There was no room for discussion and certainly no room for any acknowledgement that the demand of trans identified men to have a right to be treated as women in every situation and to have a right to enter women’s spaces is just that - a demand. There are no rights involved in this. No one has a right to demand access to single sex spaces reserved to preserve privacy and dignity and safety for women.
LAVA has never denied the right of trans identified people to live their lives as the sex they believe they are and wish to be seen as. What we object to is their demand that everyone else must believe their ideology and treat them as women (or men) IN ALL WAYS AT ALL TIMES. This is an unreasonable demand which places the wishes of men who identify as women as more important than the legally protected rights of women.
Gender Identity is a subjective feeling with no objective measure and no basis at all in fact. The point of view of Pride and its supporters says that everyone has a gender identity. This is a belief not a fact. We are quite sure that no one in LAVA has a gender identity and we suspect none of our supporters do either – in fact the only people who seem to have this nebulous identity are the small number of devout believers in Gender Ideology or Gender Theory as it is sometimes called. It’s much like believing that everyone has an immortal soul. You can believe all you like but it’s faith based not evidence based and needs to be understood in that context.
For not subscribing to this belief we are called transphobic and hateful and are told we are causing harm to individual trans identified people. That’s a bit like telling an atheist that they are causing harm to Christians by not believing in God. Not even the most devout Christian is going to say that!
LAVA is clear that our views and our actions in support of our views, such as writing opinions, posting on Facebook or X (formerly Twitter) and protesting on occasions are not harmful. No one is harmed by other people’s beliefs and it is time that we put an end to this allegation. People might be offended or hurt or feel uncomfortable or upset, but they have not been harmed. Learning to live with other people’s opinions and beliefs with which you disagree, is part of living in a pluralistic democratic society.
Asserting as Pride does, that views based in science about the reality and importance of sex cause harm to trans identified people is to endorse the view that they are excessively fragile and vulnerable. Surely a healthier approach is to support them to develop resilience and strength.
The first step in this would be to encourage and acknowledge the diverse communities that exist under the rainbow umbrella and for Pride to once again mean pride and respect for the L, the G and the B, not just the T.
Wouldn’t that be something to celebrate.
The banner LAVA displayed at the protest against our exclusion from the Pride Fair
All supporters are welcome to join us in the public gallery
Room 501, Fifth Floor, District Court, 49 Ballance St, Wellington
We would love to see you there.
15-19 September - Week 3
6-10 October - Week 4
And if you can, please donate to help us with our legal costs. We have raised over $90,000 to date, but the way Pride have structured their case, and the large number of witnesses they have, mean our final costs will be substantially more than the
$100,000 we estimated at the beginning.
Read more about our case and donate here:
https://www.lava.nz/our-case
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT