Katie Hopkins mocks Transgender Day of Remembrance for murder victims
Katie Hopkins at Politicon at Pasadena Convention Center on July 29, 2017 in Pasadena, California. (Joshua Blanchard/Getty for Politicon)
Former MailOnline columnist Katie Hopkins has stirred anger by mocking a day of remembrance for murdered transgender people.
Hopkins, who writes for far-right Canadian outlet Rebel Media, posted a message making light of the Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual day where the transgender community mourns those killed over the past year.
This year’s Transgender Day of Remembrance list includes 310 victims across the world, including 22 in the United States.
On November 20, the Transgender Day of Remembrance, Katie Hopkins took to Twitter to write: “Today is #TransDayOfRemembrance
“Most people will be wearing red testicles. But I am wearing mine white as a symbol of cis-testicular peace. #RockOnCowboys”
Katie Hopkins sent a tweet criticising the Transgender Day of Remembrance
Other anti-transgender users joined in, with one writing: “It’s worth remembering today all the people who have had their lives destroyed by gender dysphoria because fanatical Leftists and pseudo-scientists sanctioned their mental disorders rather than help them seek a cure.”
Another chimed in with a claim that trans people need “psychiatric help.”
Katie Hopkins at UKIP conference (Ian Forsyth/Getty)
The posts were met by revulsion from trans people and allies, given the purpose of the day.
One wrote: “If you just opened up your mind a teeny tiny bit and read what it’s about, perhaps you’d refrain from posting such juvenile tweets in the context of people dying every day because of lack of tolerance.”
Transgender Day of Remembrance faces anti-trans hostility
This year, several Transgender Day of Remembrance events in the UK have chosen not to publicly advertise their locations, due to fears of disruption following a year of unprecedented hostility towards the transgender community in the UK.
Anti-transgender protesters hijacked the Pride in London march in July, shouting anti-trans slogans and distributing offensive literature in an effort to disrupt the march.
On internet forum Mumsnet, which is used by anti-transgender activists as unofficial online organising hub, a thread criticising the Transgender Day of Remembrance has more than 400 posts.
Mumsnet users criticised the Transgender Day of Remembrance
Users attacked events as “absolute nonsense” promoting a “false narrative” that transgender people are at risk of discrimination.
One Mumsnet user claimed the day was a “political favouring of one group (transwomen) with the intent to prioritise it over others (women).”
Another Mumsnet user described murdered transgender women, who are disproportionately likely to have engaged in sex work due to poverty, as “prostituted men.”
The comments in the thread were so extreme that several were removed by Mumsnet moderators, while several of the site’s users weighed in to denounce its content.
“It is utterly unreasonable and disrespectful to carp over a day of remembrance for people who have been murdered.”
— Mumsnet user
One commenter wrote: “It is utterly unreasonable and disrespectful to carp over a day of remembrance for people who have been murdered. It is absolutely possible to display courtesy and respect to people with whom one fundamentally disagrees.”
What is the Transgender Day of Remembrance?
Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20 is an annual day of remembrance for trans murder victims across the world.
The Transgender Day of Remembrance was first held on November 20, 1998, following the murder of Rita Hester, a transgender African-American woman in Massachusetts. Organised by volunteers from the transgender community, it has since grown into an international commemoration.
Vigils are held across the world where a full list of victims is read.
Transgender people take part in a candle light vigil for the Transgender Day of Remembrance in Bangalore on November 20, 2015. (MANJUNATH KIRAN/AFP/Getty)
A list of transgender murder victims published by the Remembering Our Dead Project includes 310 known victims in the past year.
Katie Hopkins has criticised transgender people before
In August, Hopkins sided with the trans-exclusionary radical feminists who had been putting “women don’t have penises” stickers around cities across the UK.
After Merseyside Police launched a vandalism investigation connected to the stickers, Hopkins wrote: “I stand with #StickerWoman Women do not have penises.
“It is often mums who suffer when society experiments with kids’ minds.”
