Police in England have apologized after asking a 74-year-old woman to remove a blog post in which she did nothing more than say what she thought was obvious: Gender is biological, not a psychological construct.
According to The Times of London (subscription required), Margaret Nelson, a former teacher and journalist, was contacted by Suffolk Police. Her crime? Saying that “gender is fashionable nonsense.”
Nelson made the remarks in a blog post discussing her decision to donate her body to science after she dies, noting that “pathologists and medics” would only see her biological sex, not her gender identity.
“So no, in life or in death, trans women are not women, no matter how many times you say it’s so,” Nelson wrote, according to the U.K. Daily Mail. “It’s simply impossible to change your sex.”
She’s also made similar comments on her blog and social media, like a tweet that said “Gender is BS. Pass it on.”
Even if you don’t believe those things, most people believe you have a right to say them. In the United Kingdom — land of the super-injunction, where a mere hashtag can get you charged with a crime — it’s enough to invite the intervention of the bobbies.
The Ipswich Star reported Nelson “said she received a phone call on Monday morning from police, warning that her comments, and some of her Tweets, had caused offense.”
According to a blogger for the U.K. Spectator, Nelson described the conversation like this:
“The officer said she wanted to talk to me about some of the things I’d written on Twitter and my blog. She said that some of the things that I’d written could have upset or offended transgender people. So could I please stop writing things like that and perhaps I could remove those posts and tweets?”
It didn’t take long for Nelson’s defenders to decry the police action. Among those were rapper and podcaster Zuby, who tweeted, “This is not a comedy sketch. This is appalling.”
After the incident went viral, Suffolk police were quick to apologize.
“We accept we made a misjudgment in following up a complaint regarding the blog,” a statement read, according to the Ipswich Star.
“As a result of this we will be reviewing our procedures for dealing with such matters. We are sorry for any distress we may have caused in the way this issue was dealt with, and have been in contact with the woman who wrote the blog to apologize.”
In an interview with ITV, Nelson told the broadcaster that it was disturbing that the police were brought into it at all.
“I think it’s unfortunate they’re being asked, because they’ve had training along these lines, to police free speech,” she said.
When asked if she thought her comments might be offensive to many in the transgender community, she said that didn’t trump her right to state what she believed to be the truth.
“I accept that people might find them offensive and hurtful because of their mindset, but I’m entitled to an opinion about whatever it is they believe in,” she said. “And if they state something that is totally untrue, then, you know, I will challenge it.”
That should be one’s right. Unfortunately, free speech is heavily qualified in the U.K., qualified to the point where police seem to think it’s part of their mission to urge a pensioner to take down her post regarding transgenderism.
Yes, they apologized. They shouldn’t be in the business of policing politically incorrect speech in the first place.
Apologies are one thing, but safeguards to prevent this from happening again are quite another.
Evangeline
February 11, 2019 at 1:06 am
It’s more important today that society stifle free speech and lift up “hurt feelings” above all else.
Diana
February 11, 2019 at 2:01 am
She is teiiing the Truth can’t help these people that are living in lala land and these governments need to get their head on straight quit trying to push these perverted freaks agenda we all know it is WRONG
Eddie
February 11, 2019 at 2:56 am
When you begin to take flak you know you’re over the target !
Nell
February 11, 2019 at 4:24 am
The U.K. is slowly turning communist. They don’t allow their Bobbies (police officers) to carry guns for crying out loud! It might offend criminals if an officer shot them in the act of raping or murdering someone! Now, this lady isn’t allowed to state her opinion on a very controversial subject. She never made a threat or used vulgar language. I’ve seen some outrageous things on Facebook that I reported and of course they said it didn’t violate ‘community standards’ which is a joke because they don’t have any standards! By the way, she was 100% right in what she said!
Hillbilly
February 11, 2019 at 4:32 am
Another woman was ARRESTED in front of her child for misgendering a woman pretending to be a man on social media. If mentally ill people are so sensitive they can’t deal with reality they should isolate themselves somewhere with others like them. They can live peacefully without fear since misgendering is considered an act of violence. Yes words are a violent criminal act
Larry
February 11, 2019 at 2:00 pm
It’s not free speech if someone is “policing” it.