An event hosted by the Women’s Rights Network of Northern Ireland (WRN NI) has gone ahead to a sold-out crowd in Belfast despite being pulled from its original listing of events at this year’s taxpayer-funded Féile an Phobail.
As Gript previously reported, their event, ‘Respect, Rights, and Reality’, was billed as a discussion exploring sex-based rights, single-sex spaces and fairness in women’s sports – issues which have come to the fore as transgender activism has led to clashes with women’s rights. However, the scheduled panel was cancelled earlier this week, sparking online outcry.
Speaking to BBC Northern Ireland, Nora Caldor of WRN NI said, “We were obviously very disappointed at the cancellation from Féile. We don’t believe that women should be silenced for having an opinion in a democratic society, an opinion that the majority of the population in Northern Ireland agree with: that biological sex is immutable, and it matters when it comes to women’s rights.”
Féile an Phobail pulled the group’s event from its line-up after representatives of both organisations held a meeting in Belfast, as an agreement as to the contents of the event was not reached.
At the time, a spokeswoman for the group told Gript that the festival “had a long, proud history of supporting free speech. It historically fought back against censorship. It appears that WRN NI are the first censored group in Feile’s history, and this is where they’ve drawn their line in the sand. Terrorists are welcomed, criminals are feted, but women’s rights are beyond the pale.”
Today the event went ahead in Belfast after organisers announced yesterday that tickets had sold out.
Caldor took to X earlier today, saying, “Attempts have been made to silence us. They have failed. Whilst one woman is denied female intimate care, we won’t be silenced. Whilst one lesbian is told she must include men in her dating pool, we won’t be silenced. Whilst one woman seeking help from a rape crisis centre is told to reframe her trauma, we won’t be silenced. Whilst one female police officer is told she must intimately search a man, we won’t be silenced.”
“Whilst women are told that our rights,”Our privacy, Our dignity, And our safety, must come second, we will not be silenced,” she said.
After the cancellation, the group announced that it would initiate legal proceedings against Féile an Phobail, with Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling pledging financial support for the action.