Angry, But Determined

I have had to wait several hours before writing this, to allow my incandescent rage to cool to mere fury.

As I write this (although it probably will not be published until the day after), it is Sunday 11th February 2024, the day of a vigil marking a year since the brutal hate-inspired murder of Brianna Ghey.

I was there, in Warrington today, in girl-mode. But I was there alone in the crowd, and the reasons for this are what has ignited such anger within me.

On This Day, Of All Days

A friend of mine, whose own girl-mode is Claire, was going to meet me there. We felt that it was important to turn up; to show our faces, to be our alter-egos, to be visible, to be difficult to ignore.

Claire was attacked today in broad daylight within a mile of the location of Brianna’s murder by a group of SEVEN men (late 20s/early 30s) in the car park of a fast food establishment. She had been sitting quietly in her car eating. She was dressed neatly and respectfully, ready to attend the vigil.

She was spat upon, shouted & screamed at, called a paedo, kicked repeatedly, and had her wig ripped from her head and kicked around the car park. Threats of serious and violent injury to her person involving knives were made. She was left with ripped clothes, a damaged car and utterly shocked. Claire is well over 183cm (6″) in height, well built, and (unlike, I suspect, these people) has served her country in the Armed Forces including dangerous overseas deployments. But a mob of SEVEN men?

Claire did not make it to Warrington. A single policeman turned up, and she had to speak with him to convey basic details with the group of men still shouting abuse at her from a distance. She then had to take herself to a place of safety, because there were other incidents taking place nearby and no other officers seemed to be available – and, quite correctly, the single officer present felt that he could not guarantee her safety by himself.

Words do not often fail me. They do so here. Anger. Intense, indeed incandescent, is what I have had today.

Join The Dots

Personally, I draw a straight line between hate-crime attacks such as these and the pathetic, juvenile, immature imbeciles we have as certain MPs, Cabinet Members, Home Secretaries, and Prime Ministers cracking jokes about penises and giggling in dark corners of the House of Commons, and even in PMQs this week. What an utter shitshow.

Words MATTER. These flippant and disrespectful behaviours are taken by certain individuals, such as the group of 7 thugs today, as permission to act in the way they did. There is power in the words used which tacitly encourages intolerent behaviours – even violence – and those speaking them should know better, act their ages instead of their shoe-sizes, and stop using hate as a political tool. I would say that I hope that they are ashamed, but I know that they are not. Punching down is second nature to them, and they think nothing of it – indeed, they express shock at any suggestion that they have done something wrong.

Well I’ve news for them. I consider them personally accountable & responsible. Most people find their behaviours in these matters despicable. This time around, I’m actually looking forward to a certain local politicians’ canvassing teams knocking on my door – I guarantee that they will not enjoy the experience.

Fear

I did make it to the vigil. But not without a great deal of trepidation, and some fear.

When first I embarked upon going out in girl-mode, my biggest fear was being ridiculed.

Now, instead, I worry about the potential for being attacked and murdered. Think about that for a minute.

It certainly makes me think more carefully about where & when Sophie goes places.

Is this the sort of society that is acceptable? Not in my name, and not whilst I retain breath in my body.

Loathing

I absolutely loath the populist and lazy thinking that leads some of our politicians to act in the ways they do.

I hope that people remember events like these when it is time to vote.

Tolerence & Being Oneself

Whilst driving this weekend, I passed a group of mopeds, á la Mods, trundling along. It made me smile to see a group of individuals expressing themselves together as a group, and there was I driving along in girl-mode expressing myself too. A happy moment, before the traumatic events of Sunday.

All in all, it has been quite a weekend – and not in a good way. That is all from me for today; I am exhausted and angry, and I have no simple answers except to ask that you share this account if you feel able, because for this to be happening today of all days is such an utter disgrace.