Statement by The Countess CEO and Founder Laoise de Brún BL
The arrest of Graham Linehan by five Met police officers in Heathrow airport, ironically, as he returned to the UK to face charges of criminal damage and harassment brought by the State at the behest of another trans activist, is the culmination of a long and shameful attempt by British trans activists and their allies to exploit the law and politicise the police to their cause. Graham has fought previous vexatious claims brought by serial litigants using lawfare to try to silence him and now we see the criminal law being harnessed in this manner.
The charge is incitement to violence but the context, as Graham has explained, is male incursion into female space and he says therefore, self-defence.
The UK Supreme Court ruled in an 88-page crystal clear and unanimous judgment that trans rights do not extend to use of the female-only spaces including toilets. The Labour government has asked English Human Rights and Equality Commission to investigate adherence to this ruling in public policy. Whether trans activists like it or not, this is the law in the UK. The arrest of Graham Linehan – when he could have easily been answered the charge by appointment – is a flex by the trans movement which not only makes the Metropolitan police a laughing stock, it does reputational damage to the force and the UK as a liberal democracy. But it is not the power move it may seem. It will backfire badly, like all other incidents of overreach. Graham is a comedy writer and his style is bullish but his arrest by five armed officers reeks of totalitarianism whereby the criminal law is used to police opinion expressed in the public sphere. Graham has said he will sue the Met for unlawful arrest and detention.
In Ireland, we fought hard at a grassroots level to defeat the equivalent legislation on hate speech and won but in the UK their legislation can still be used by activists to target outspoken dissidents like Graham. We must have free speech and equality before the law. No one group should be treated differently to anyone else. Without doubt the hate speech legislation being insisted upon by the EU is an attempt to quash dissent on trans.
There are many contentious social issues that need open debate, not managing and silencing. In addition, we are being asked to become the hub of censorship for the EU Digital Services Act whereby US Tech companies who are all based here can be fined up to 6% of their annual profits if they fail to comply with orders to remove content. Ireland is trapped in the cross hairs of an increasingly totalitarian EU and a US administration which is explicitly threatening sanctions should its citizens’ First Amendment rights be infringed. We must push back and come down on the side of freedom of expression and equality before the law, both enshrined in Bunreacht na hÉireann.
The farcical and horrifying arrest of Graham Linehan is a stark reminder of the end goal of this creeping totalitarianism, the sort of action one would expect of perhaps Russia, China or North Korea not the oldest constitutional democracy in the world. It is embarrassing for Britain and we do not want to follow this trend.