Thread by @JoPhoenix1

THREAD:
1/ A year ago today, at nearly 10 pm at night, @Uni_of_Essex emailed @GoonerProf and myself in which the VC apologised for the unlawful treatment we received.

As much as everyone welcomed the #ReindorfReport, it turned my life upside down - and @GoonerProf's

https://twitter.com/JoPhoenix1/status/1394604603300253696

2/ To recap: in Dec 2019, a seminar I was due to give - one which I was invited to give and where the subject was negotiated in advance was postponed then cancelled by a group of academic staff & students accusing me of transphobia. I was then blacklisted by Sociology Dept.

3/ The seminar was based on research that was later published in the Howard Journal.

4/ I was engulfed in a media storm I was ill-prepared for given that I had only just had major spinal surgery 5 days previously and my mother had passed away less than 5 weeks previously.

And @bindelj introduced me to @GoonerProf

5/ I was told by ex-colleagues not to discuss/email about the apology because it might upset them. Strange because I would have thought that an external report vindicating me and saying that it was not reasonable to conclude that I was transphobic would have been good news.

6/ My podcast interview with @julianvigo about it and the overreach of @stonewalluk was later used against me in a public harassment campaign that eventually lead to my claim against @OpenUniversity

savageminds.substack.com/p/jo-phoenix?s…

7/ I came on to the radar of several repugnant twitter accounts and received tweet replies saying that my views were the same as being a holocaust denier along with other accusations and claims that were beneath contempt.

8/ Then later @Uni_of_Essex VC apologised to his LGBTQi community for apologising to me during Pride Month.

FFS, I am a lesbian and it was MY month too.

9/ @Uni_of_Essex invited me back but the original invitation was without much notice and for a zoom seminar only. Further invitations were made, but the conditions placed on them were such that they were not commensurate with the original invitation.

10/ Between the hollow apologies from an institution that took pride in "going beyond the law" (sarcastic thanks to @stonewalluk for corrupting UK public institutions and genuine thanks to @BluskyeAllison for taking them to court) and....

11/ ... the silencing, harassment, discrimination and eventual constructive dismissal from academic colleagues at @OpenUniversity, I lost faith in myself, academia, my colleagues and everything I thought I had worked so hard for.

12/ Now, a year later, I offer these thoughts:

@stonewalluk is a cancer corroding women's and lesbian lives.

Academics putting @stonewalluk's HR policies above ethics & their responsibilities to ensure academic freedom are children playing with matches in houses of tinder.

13/ Those at @Uni_of_Essex who cancelled me played the worse possible hand because their misogynistic tactics only served to strengthen my resolve.

14/ Because like the Phoenix I rise. But this time, I have an army of women and men at my back. I join the ranks of The Claimants. I've been buoyed along by the like of @jk_rowling @bindelj @8RosarioSanchez @JamesEsses @BluskyeAllison @jk_rowling @joannaccherry @Womans_Place_UK

15/ @LesbianLabour @Docstockk @HJoyceGender @FiLiA_charity @GetTheLOutUK @GoonerProf @SexMattersOrg @NoXYinXXprisons @fairplaywomen @helensteel12 @James_Treadwell @jamesmurray88 @ProfAliceS @selina_todd @HWistrich @janeclarejones @luluchops1 and far too many others to mention.

16/ And not matter what, I still stand by this image

17/ And apparently, I still do not know how to proof read. Apologies for the typos.