Transgender defendant must be ‘she’, rules judge
Feminist told to refer to person accused of attacking her at gender recognition rally as woman
A RADICAL feminist was yesterday warned by a judge to refer to the transgender defendant as a “she” during an assault case.
Maria Maclachlan, 61, was giving evidence against Tara Wolf, 26, whom she claims tried to attack her at a rally, knocking her to the floor.
She told Hendon magistrates’ court: “A hooded figure suddenly ran at me, ran past me from left to right, knocking the camera from my hand.
“They swatted it. Although it was knocked out of my hand it was caught by the strap so it didn’t hit the ground, which I thought was the intention.”
District Judge Kenneth Grant warned Ms Maclachlan to refer to Miss Wolf as “she” while giving evidence.
He said: “The defendant wished to be referred to as a woman, so perhaps you could refer to her as ‘she’ for the purpose of the proceedings.” Ms Maclachlan, replied: “I’m used to thinking of this person who is a male as male.”
The brawl took place in September at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park, ahead of a gender recognition talk. The meeting had been scheduled for a community centre in New Cross, southeast London, but the venue cancelled it citing safety concerns.
The event was arranged by a panel of Trans-exclusionary Radical Feminists (Terfs), who believe that transwomen should not be given the same rights as those born female. Around 80 had gathered in the park when Ms Maclachlan, who describes herself as a “gender critical feminist,” was allegedly punched.
She was filming a group who were chanting “When Terfs attack, we strike back” and claimed she simply thought she might get some “amusing footage”.
Ms Maclachlan has admitted that following the event she sent out a tweet featuring a close-up of the defendant’s face with the words: “Hiya, got any hair restorer while I’m in hiding? Love Tara.”
Miss Wolf, who faces one charge of assault by beating, admitted being involved in the fracas but insists she was acting in self-defence. She said Ms Maclachlan was shaking her partner “like a rag doll” when she struck her.
She described the event as a hate rally and said the fight broke out because she feared Ms Maclachlan planned to out her as transgender online. “Terfs have a history of taking people’s pictures and posting them in pages like Genderidentitywatch.com, a database that makes us a target for the far-right,” she said.
The two factions have repeatedly clashed over the issue of men who selfidentify as female, are allowed in women-only spaces and take on roles reserved for women.
The group of radical feminists, including Ms Maclachlan, had gathered to discuss changes to the Gender Identity Act which will make it easier for people to define their gender themselves. Transgender activists were holding a counter demonstration when the two groups clashed.
Ms Maclachlan argued that she was not even aware the group were trans, saying she thought they were all male.
“They were not easily perceived as trans. I don’t mind going through them face by face if you want to argue the toss,” she said. “When I started filming I didn’t have any particular intention of what I might do with the footage. I might have shown it to my husband, I might have posted it on my Facebook page, or I might have uploaded it on my blog.” She denied she was trying to make the protesters feel “scared, uncomfortable or unsafe”.
Miss Wolf admitted posting on Facebook ahead of the event: “I wanna f--up some terfs. They’re no better than fash (fascists).” She claimed she made the comment out of bravado and wanted to protest peacefully.
The trial is due to last two days.