Another anti-trans billboard appears in Birmingham… above a sex shop
Anti-trans group Standing For Women has installed a second billboard above a sex shop in Birmingham—coinciding with the Conservative Party Conference in the city—after a similar billboard was removed in Liverpool last month.
The three-screen digital display above was installed above the Adult Shop, a sex and fetish store, in Oxford Street opposite Birmingham Coach Station.
The shop is marketed as “The Book Exchange Adult Shop” on Google. A Yelp review notes: “They sell the typical gear that you would expect from these outlets. DVDs, magazines, videos, toys, kinky clothing to fetish wear and accessories.
The digital billboard is the latest stunt by anti-trans group Standing For Women. (Aperrrrr/Twitter)
“They advertise that they are also The Book Exchange club, but I didn’t see any books in here.”
‘Adult human female’
Like the billboard in Liverpool, the electronic display shows the Google definition of a woman, as an “adult human female,” but also includes the Venus symbol, which is used to represent the females.
Standing For Women regularly posts anti-transgender content on social media and opposes the government’s proposed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act 2004, which is currently out for consultation.
The government has said it wants to de-medicalise the process to legally change genders, moving towards self-identification, which is used in other countries like the Republic of Ireland.
An email sent out on Tuesday by Posie Parker, who runs Standing For Women, to supporters of her group, states: “A new digital billboard went up in Birmingham today, opposite the coach station, so if any of you are local please take a photo for me and tweet!!”
It comes after the billboard in Liverpool, paid for by supporters of Standing For Women, was recently taken down by Primesight, the advertising company that put it up, following a complaint from LGBT+ activist and doctor Adrian Harrop.
An anti-trans billboard in Liverpool was taken down by the advertising company that put it up. (kiwibirdxx/Twitter)
Harrop has condemned Parker, whose real name is Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, and her group for their latest stunt in Birmingham.
“Mrs Keen-Minshull, the leader and architect of the Standing for Women campaign, knows exactly what she is doing,” Harrop told PinkNews.
“She is directing a campaign of hatred against trans women, and her lack of insight, empathy and self-awareness is quite staggering.”
He added: “I stand by my previous messages regarding this billboard and the message displayed upon it. This is a hateful message of hostility, created with the intent of making trans women feel unsafe and unwelcome in their own community.
“This has never been about the dictionary definition of ‘woman’—it is completely absurd to suggest that this was ever the reason for my objection.
“My objection comes from the fact that Mrs Keen-Minshull, who has an established record as an overtly and unapologetically transphobic individual, and who has led a relentless and persistent campaign to dehumanise and to invalidate the identities of trans women, has chosen to weaponise this word, and to use it as an instrument of abuse.”
Speaking to PinkNews, Keen-Minshull said: “We will continue our campaign until we are assured that every woman and girl in this country feels safe, can assert her boundaries and that her sex based protections are in tact.
“We will not capitulate, we will not submit and we will not stop. In 2018 the fight to protect our rights has landed square at our feet, this is not a fight we will lose.”
