Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull



Kellie-Jay Nyishie Keen-Minshull, also known by the pseudonym Posie Parker (not to be confused with actress is a British anti-transgender activist and founder of the group Standing for Women. Initially a controversial figure within TERF circles, kicked out of Woman's Place UK and condemned as a "bigot" by Julie Bindel, she eventually won over the likes of J.K. Rowling, becoming known for her inflammatory rhetoric and flamboyant style. She once infamously called for "men with guns" to patrol women's toilets to protect against the imagined threat of trans women.

Background
Kellie-Jay Nyishie Keen was born in June 1974 and grew up in Somerset. Keen has stated that she was "raised in an atheist household", and she remains an atheist. She earned a bachelor's degree in theology from Leeds University and thereafter studied to become a teacher. However, she ended up in a sales job at an events-planning company, where she has claimed that she "did very well in a mostly male environment, excelling past [her] peers." Through this job, she met company president Ryan Minshull (a.k.a. Max Ford), describing their connection as "love at first sight." The couple married and had four children. Keen has described herself as a "full-time mother" and "housewife."

Finding and rejecting feminism
In a 2010 Times profile, Keen stated that she "grew up believing that feminism was a battle that had been won," but questioned this conclusion after "read[ing] a thread on Mumsnet about rape." At the time, Keen reported that she was raising her children with the goal of counteracting gender stereotypes, letting her sons play with dolls and giving her daughter "books where the female character doesn't needs [sic] rescuing." She stated that she rejected the idea that "boys are more violent," elaborating that she and her husband had "taught [their children] that hitting is not acceptable," and never excused behaviour with "boys will be boys." In a 2011 Mumsnet post, Keen expressed conflict over her feminism, writing that she "feel[s] like a feminist and then turn[s] around and feel[s] like a failed feminist," and that "many of my relationship issues, which I bury, are deeply unfeminist."

Mumsnet was likely Keen's entry point to transphobia. The site's role in the radicalization of British women into anti-trans bigotry is well-documented. Edie Miller of The Outline observed in 2018 that "Mumsnet is to British transphobia more like what 4Chan is to American fascism." Katie J. M. Baker of LUX wrote in 2021 that Mumsnet reminded her of the "toxic online 'manosphere.'" Keen was a prolific poster on Mumsnet under the handle "ThePosieParker" from 2011. This later developed into her nom de guerre "Posie Parker" and is thought to be a play on nosy parker (British slang for "busybody").

In 2019 interview on a tradcath YouTube channel, Keen stated that, "I no longer identify as a feminist, and I use 'identify' with a very heavy heart, 'cos I really have begun to loathe that word." Keen reaffirmed this shift in her worldview in a 2022 TikTok clip later reuploaded to YouTube, stating, "I'm not a feminist, but I know what a man is." She clarified in the video that she doesn't think people "need any label to be part of [the anti-trans movement]." This sentiment was repeated in a tweet in an February 2023: "FYI I'm not a feminist, I'm not gender critical, I'm a women’s rights campaigner. I don't speak for women, I speak to them."

Booted by Woman's Place UK
Keen revealed on her blog that she was contacted by West Yorkshire Police in February 2018. A complaint had been filed in July 2017 by Susie Green, then the CEO of the UK trans youth charity over several tweets by Keen attacking her for supporting her daughter's transition. Keen was interviewed by the Wiltshire Police in 2019 after Green lodged a second complaint over two YouTube videos. The first complaint was closed without further action.

The TERF group (WPUK) invited Keen to discuss the first incident at a planned meeting. However, in May 2018 they announced that they had withdrawn their invitation, explaining that they objected to Keen's "stated views on race and religion." In their official statement, the group expressed that "many women of colour" felt uneasy about joining the "debate" on trans issues, as they feared being "caricatured as illiberal by a society which already alienates and discriminates against them." The group added that they reject "generalisations or misrepresentations of Muslims & other faith groups" as contributing to "alienation of these communities from the public discourse."

WPUK published another statement in 2022 to "clarify our own political ground" for those "demanding justification" for their 2018 decision. The statement included screenshots of a number of since-deleted tweets by Keen expressing Islamophobic sentiments. In a July 2017 tweet, Keen described seeing a group of primary-age schoolgirls, claiming that "only 2/15 weren't wearing hijab". Another tweet from April 2018 labelled Bradford an "awful place for women" due to its Muslim population and alleged that there are "pockets of [the city] where the culture isn't British." WPUK maintained that Keen's "connections, statements and actions" since 2018 have "only strengthened [their] decision not to work with her."

Joining the WoLF pack
On January 30, 2019, Keen and fellow anti-trans activist Julia Long livestreamed themselves storming in on Human Rights Campaign press secretary as she was working in the  in Washington, D.C. and proceeding to hurl transphobic abuse at her. McBride, who was on Capitol Hill as part of an HRC campaign to pass the, had participated in a panel discussion earlier that day between U.S. Congress members and a trans-rights group. In the video, Keen can be heard demanding, “Why don't you care about lesbian girls at 14 getting double mastectomies? Why don’t you care about that, Sarah?", and also ordering McBride to "Tell the entire LGB community how much you hate lesbians, Sarah." Keen also asserted that McBride (whom she misgendered) was "paid probably quite a lot of money" to lobby for "women and girls hav[ing] no right to any space anymore."

The HRC released a statement condemning Keen and Long in the wake of the stunt: "It is disturbing but not at all surprising that anti-transgender extremists brought to the United States at the behest of the Heritage Foundation would stoop to harassing a transgender woman and parents of transgender youth." In response, a spokesperson for the Heritage Foundation denied that the organisation had anything to do with Keen and Long's presence in the U.S., stating it had "no contact with them before or after our Jan. 28 event, and have zero connection to anything they did afterward." The January 28 event in question was a panel entitled "The Inequality of the Equality Act: Concerns From the Left" that was hosted by the Heritage Foundation in D.C., and included Jennifer Chavez, Kara Dansky, and Hacsi Horvath of the astroturf TERF group WoLF.

WoLF recruited six TERFs including Keen and Meghan Murphy for "An Evening With Cancelled Women" in 2020. The event was supposed to take place in a room in the New York Public Library on January 17, but ended up being held at an alternate venue on the same date when the NYPL rejected the booking. Keen's participation in this event lead Julie Bindel to tweet: "Posie Parker is a thick feck who is a bigot and NOT a feminist. She has taken the Heritage Foundation coin. NONE of the ACTUAL feminists I work with can bear her." Keen denied Bindel's allegations in a response to PinkNews, maintaining that the "privacy, dignity and safety of women and girls" were "too important to wait to find politically pure working partnerships." Keen chastised Bindel for "tweet[ing] nasty defamatory comments in the early hours," but noted that this shouldn't "discount the outstanding work [she] has done for women."

Billboards and merchandise
The "adult human female" slogan frequently used by TERFs was popularised by Keen. In September 2018, she had a billboard featuring the text "woman, wʊmən, noun, adult human female" put up in Liverpool, telling the BBC it was in response to the city's mayor expressing support for trans rights. Media company Primesight took the billboard down after an LGBT-rights campaigner lodged a complaint about the covert transphobic message. In a statement, the company explained it was "unaware of the motive behind this campaign" and that "at first glance, this [ad]  copy did not raise a red flag the way it should have done." Asked for comment by PinkNews, Keen stated she was "disappointed that a [sic] NHS doctor would object so strongly to the definition of woman, however his Orwellian and misogynist response has lead to a huge swell in support for the campaign and so I am delighted at the predictable own goal." , the UK's largest LGBT-rights charity, responded to the controversy with a statement that the "lives of trans people" were being worsened by "increasingly frequent attacks in the media, online and in public spaces." An identical billboard erected by Keen in Leeds in October 2018 was also removed after complaints.

Keen began selling merchandise featuring "adult human female" and other transphobic slogans through her Standing for Women website around the same time. In May 2019, a sticker produced by Keen reading "Women only. This is a single sex service under the Equality Act 2010" was found on the door of a bathroom at a railway station in Dundee, Scotland. ScotRail said in a statement that "the sticker is not official ScotRail signage and is being removed," and affirmed that it is "committed to making the railway open and accessible for all." Keen denied that Standing for Women had placed the sticker but stated it was "fed up that the protected category of sex in the Equality Act is routinely ignored." In May 2021, Awesome Merchandise banned her from using its print-on-demand services, releasing a statement declaring they "wholeheartedly stand by the trans community." HelloPrint followed suit in February 2023, cutting ties with Keen after five years and stating that "If we had been fully aware of her beliefs earlier, we would earlier have refused to print for her."

In late July 2020, Keen paid for a digital billboard bearing the phrase "I ❤ J.K. Rowling" at an Edinburgh train station, stating it was intended to celebrate the author's birthday. The poster was taken down the day before Rowling's birthday, with the Scottish branch of Network Rail stating this was "owing to its political nature," as the company did not allow ads "likely to support or promote one viewpoint over another." It lasted longer than a copycat print billboard put up in Vancouver, Canada in September 2020, which was taken down after just one day (and was pelted with paintballs during that time).

Early rallies in the UK
Keen began holding Standing for Women (SFW) rallies throughout the United Kingdom in 2020. The first event held in of London's Hyde Park was on the 19th of July. A few days prior, Keen had been due to join a rally in Dublin, Ireland protesting a government proposal to make it easier for teens to legally change their gender. The rally, which was ultimately cancelled due to COVID restrictions, was billed by organiser Anne Brennan as being in opposition to supposed government plans to "Introduce [the] Paedophile Charter - oops I mean the Minor Attracted Persons Charter and groom our Children." Brennan once threatened to vote against repealing the 8th amendment of the Irish constitution (the one banning abortion) because she valued thwarting trans rights more than the "convenience of women with unplanned pregnancy."

An "ugly confrontation" transpired between Keen's supporters and a group of Black Lives Matter protestors at the second SFW event in Hyde Park on August 30. The BLM protestors were passing through the park as part of the Million People March against police brutality when they encountered Keen's rally. During the confrontation, a black woman tried to explain to Keen, "Where I'm coming from – I'm being honest now – this is hate, I'm seeing hate," prompting Keen to respond, "I'm seeing misogyny where you can't even understand what a woman is." Another video shows a TERF identified as Venice Allan repeatedly screaming "go wash your dick!" at the same woman. In 2017, Venice Allan was kicked out of the Labour Women's Network Christmas party for springing TERF talking points on guests, including then-19-year-old trans Labour woman's officer. Allan was suspended from the Labour Party in January 2018 for tweeting a photo of Madigan secretly taken at the Christmas party and for posting transphobic memes on social media.

One of the speakers at the August 30 rally was Kay of the far-right Christian group Soldiers of Christ Online. Keen was interviewed by Kay at the time of the rally and the video was uploaded to Kay's YouTube channel SOCO Films the following day. The slogan of the channel is "Deus Vult Est. 1095" and its logo is a Crusader cross. Keen has claimed that she was unaware of Kay's political leanings at the time.

Keen staged a rally in Leeds on September 20. West Yorkshire Police shut it down, determining that it wasn't covered by a protest exception to lockdown rules, since Standing for Women "failed to meet the legal definition of a political organisation." Keen and two other attendees were arrested. Keen reportedly "knew [she] was likely to be arrested" and refused to co-operate with police in the hope of having "the opportunity to voice her concerns in court." In a comment to the The Yorkshire Post, a police spokesperson explained that they had "received short notice about the proposed event, which initially did not appear to conform to existing regulations." SFW countered that they believe everyone from "senior police officers", "local authorities", "the educational establishment," and "large multi-national corporations" have been "captured" by the "intolerant woke ideology" of trans rights.

Manchester, May 2022
On May 15, 2022, the Standing for Women transphobia tour rolled into Manchester. The rally was held in front of an art installation called I Am by Allie Crewe showcasing photos of domestic violence survivors. Crewe expressed her disapproval on Twitter, remarking that she was "greatly saddened" to see her work "re-appropriated," and adding that she does not support SFW's views.

Keen has stated that the planned site was a statue of suffragette that could not be accessed since it was surrounded by counterprotestors. The counterprotest was organised by local activist groups Manchester Trans Rise Up and Anarchist Federation. Many of the participants were wearing black bloc to protect their identities. Tensions erupted when Keen's supporters turned up at the statue looking for her rally. As recounted by Aleks Kovacevic in The Telegraph, Keen's supporters "thought there was space [near the statue] and we would go and stand there," explaining that "we all have our rights to peaceful assembly." Kovacevic climbed onto a stone ledge surrounding the statue to display her suffragette flag, at which point she said counterprotestors "clung on to my leg and tried to pull me off, but when I jumped off the wall three of them just attacked me." In response, trans-rights activists circulated videos of physical confrontations at previous protests involving Kovacevic, including a March 2022 incident in which she had to be "peeled off of choking a young trans woman by other TERFs" according to Mallory Moore. Greater Manchester Police drew criticism for their handling of the May 15 altercation, with Kovacevic alleging that an officer "came and told me that I needed to move," and then threatened to arrest her for "causing a breach of the peace" when she insisted "I don't have to move, I have the right to sit here" on a friend's advice. A police spokesperson responded that an officer on patrol approached Kovacevic after noticing an apparent "disturbance," and in the process "encouraged her away from the area to discuss the incident, which she didn't wish to do."

The counterprotestors' black bloc (as well as their violation of the Law of Dibs) provoked fevered condemnation from Britain's anti-trans commentariat. Keen told the Daily Fail that "masked men preventing women from speaking next to the Pankhurst statue" was emblematic of "the assault on women's rights." J.K. Rowling tweeted that the counterprotestors had "scored an unintentionally hilarious own goal" by getting "dressed up as ninjas to block public access to a statue of a suffragette." Suzanne Moore blasted the "gimps in masks [who] believe themselves to be 'progressive' rather than cowardly anonymous misogynists" in an op-ed in The Telegraph. Stephen Knight of Spiked wrote of goading the "masked ayatollahs of Manchester" to "blink once for yes, two for no" to answer his invitation to "chat" in an exchange that became a viral video. TERFs coined the insult "Black Pampers" (a play on Black Panthers) to refer to the Manchester counterprotestors. At another SFW event in Hyde Park two weeks after the Manchester rally, a man wearing a black and an adult diaper staged a bizarre skit mocking "Black Pampers," a display widely condemned as reminiscent of a blackface minstrel show.

Missing from the furor over women being "silenced" was any reference to the cis woman who took the microphone toward the end of the rally when Keen invited last-minute speakers. The woman delivered a short speech in support of trans rights, declaring, "I recognise trans women in women's spaces as alright, and I don’t think we need to protest that, I don't think we need the vitriolic hate." Alex Bramham chased after the woman and retrieved the mic after a "short struggle." In an interview with Tke Media afterward, the woman stated that Bramham had hit her, leaving her with "marks on [her] hand." Bramham gave an interview to the same outfit, unironically castigating "somebody assaulting a woman [Keen] here, seizing a microphone out of her hand." A viral clip shows Bramham's then-partner blundering groin-first into a bollard while shouting "LGB drop the T!" as the pair were leaving the rally. The couple had a "gender critical"-themed civil union ceremony complete with a dinosaur cake labelled "adult human males" in early 2023. Bramham once called being gay a "choice" and has stated he opted for a civil union because he believes "marriage is between one man and one woman." In June 2023, Bramham announced that he and his partner had separated, declaring himself to be ex-gay and born-again. He was also suspended as a Tory candidate for Manchester's city council in April 2022 for a tweet likening the trans-rights movement to Nazis.

Brighton, September 2022
On September 18, 2022, Standing for Women held a rally in the seaside resort of Brighton, sometimes hailed as the "British San Francisco" for its vibrant LGBT community and mild climate. Counterprotest organisers Reclaim Pride Brighton published a tweet two weeks prior to the event urging people to "fight fascism when it attempts to enter our communities" and "fight Posie Parker by any means you see fit." This tweet was investigated as one of several "alleged threats of violence" against Keen by Sussex Police. Keen hit back in a comment to the Daily Mail: "Isn't this just what we expect from Trans [sic] and their supporters?"

Three arrests were made during the event. Craig Thomas was charged with one count of assault and two counts of possessing a bladed article. Thomas told the Mail that he initially joined the counterprotest but "switched sides" because he thought "the other side just sounded a bit more sensible" after listening to Keen's speech. When counterprotestor Oliver Waterhouse called him a "fascist," Thomas, by his own omission, grabbed the man's testicles. Waterhouse's solicitor reported that Thomas "squeezed and pulled", causing Waterhouse to fall to the ground in "excruciating" pain. In a victim impact statement, Waterhouse stated that he hasn't been able to work, suffers from sleep issues, and worries about potential infertility. Thomas was ordered to pay a shockingly paltry £75 in compensation to Waterhouse in January 2023. Reactions from transphobes predictably ignored Waterstone's assault and focused on the alleged misdeeds of couterprotestors. J.K. Rowling accused the "Be Kind brigade" of "hiding behind their black masks, throwing smoke bombs, screaming 'scum' at women speaking up for their sex-based rights." Andy Ngo charged "violent #Antifa & militant trans extremists" with trying to "shut down the women's rights event."

The rally was livestreamed by far-right group Hearts of Oak. Notable gender-critical attendees included Maya Forstater and Helen Joyce. Joyce posed for a photo with lesbian activist Jo Campbell proudly holding a Progress Pride flag with the chevron representing trans people, people of colour, and intersex people cut out and lying on the ground. Rowan Fortune of Anti-Capitalist Resistance called the image "emblematic of the evolution of the Gender Critical movement," writing that it "no longer hides its contempt for marginalised communities, but shamelessly provokes and intimidates." Canadian TERF Eva Kurilova praised Campbell for cutting the "intrusive triangle out of the pride flag" in the "lovely photo."