Patrick Strudwick, former LGBTQ editor for BuzzFeed News, last week accused attendees of the anti-transgender Let Women Speak rally of being neo-Nazis.
“In Melbourne this March, an anti-trans rally organized by British ‘gender-critical’ campaigner Kellie Jay-Keen staged a mass Nazi salute,” wrote Strudwick in an op-ed for i Newspaper.
Author J.K. Rowling defended Jay-Keen and other rally attendees on Twitter, stating that Strudwick published a “brazen” lie and claiming a “resembl[ance]” between trans activists and Nazis.
“Actual Nazis have turned up on the fringes of Let Women Speak events for exactly the same reason aggressive, narcissistic trans activists are there,” Rowling tweeted. “Both [groups] are rife with misogynistic opportunists who’re using a clash of rights to push their own agendas, both are there in the hope of violence, and neither gives a damn about the women who’re there to speak out in their own voices, about their own lives, on their own behalf.”
According to Padraig Collins, a reporter for the Daily Mail, “The rally was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis who performed the Hitler salute and clashed with transrights activists.”
In a response to one tweet accusing the rally attendees and Nazis of collaboration, Rowling tweeted: “You lie and smear, assuming you’ll live out your days as a hanging judge and never find yourself in the dock. No cultural moment lasts forever.”
You lie and smear, assuming you’ll live out your days as a hanging judge and never find yourself in the dock. No cultural moment lasts forever. Yesterday’s fanatics realise they joined the wrong mob. Populist movements shrivel and fall apart. Robespierre ended on the guillotine. pic.twitter.com/mlQhd22s2i
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 30, 2023
The neo-Nazis wore identical black clothes and matching headgear that covered their faces. Their appearance eerily resembled other neo-fascist groups in the United States, such as Patriot Front.
According to Australia’s 9News, Melbourne police have not charged any of the neo-Nazis associated with the protest.
After the backlash on Twitter, i Newspaper removed Strudwick’s accusation from the article — without issuing a public correction.
Elizabeth Crawford is a rising senior at Hillsdale College studying politics. A member of The American Spectator‘s 2023 intern class, Elizabeth enjoys drinking good tea and plans to pursue a career in journalism.