Thread by @SpeakUp4WomenNZ

The danger of silence: As we’ve toured the country we’ve seen the young age of those who oppose us, and the radical and unscientific beliefs they hold. They believe that trans identified males are literally female and that even to say sex matters politically is hateful. 1/10

A protest has been organised to confront women entering our meeting this Thursday at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington. The organisers use inflammatory language. Look at this screenshot - they are telling young vulnerable kids who will read this that we hate them 2/10

Irresponsible adults are weaponising the emotional vulnerability of children - they know what they are doing. But the responsibility for the toxicity and heat in this debate rests with the @nzlabour government… 3/10

We have asked @jantinetti to meet with us at least 4 times in the last year. We’ve either been ignored or declined. @govtnz identified us as key stakeholders, yet Jan has refused to even meet us. 4/10

Into the void of @jantinetti’s silence our political opponents have rushed to denigrate us. Jan doesn’t need to agree with us to make a statement calling for calm and supporting our right to participate in the democratic process. 5/10

Here is a message we received today from a young teacher @jantinetti. It’s indicative of the types of message we get daily from people who are too scared to say that they believe sex still matters, and shouldn’t be replaced by the theory of gender identity. 6/10

This the message she was responding to 7/10

https://twitter.com/speakup4womennz/status/1414166106726563840

Women are scared to attend our event, many have decided to leave their children at home and brave it alone. Does this sound like a health democracy to you @jacindaardern ? Where women are scared to say what they think and scared to go to public meetings about legislation. 8/10

All @jantinetti needs to say is ‘women have the right to talk about women’s rights’ Or ‘asking questions about the impact of new law on the rights of women and girls is not hateful’ Will you say something? 9/10

It’s not just women that are scared, young transgender people are scared too and it’s all totally unnecessary if you would just show some leadership. 10/10