TRAging - Let Women Speak Auckland, 25/03/23
Let Women Speak in Auckland was set to be the second to last stop on Kellie-Jay Keen's tour of Australia and New Zealand. It was supposed to be held in Albert Park, an expansive stretch of land adjacent to the University of Auckland, on 25th March 2023 at 11am local time (10pm on the 24th UTC).
Before
Just a week earlier was Kellie-Jay's Melbourne event, which by the time of the New Zealand tour was infamous in the media for a group of neo-Nazis who gatecrashed it. Kellie-Jay and the other women in attendance were smeared as Nazis, which may have been what prompted such large protest from trans rights activists during her Hobart event, and Lydia Thorpe's attempted disruption in Canberra.
Not long after the Melbourne event, Immigration New Zealand conducted a review into Kellie-Jay. The investigation concluded with general manager Richard Owen stating that "there is no reason to believe that she is, or is likely to be, a threat or risk to the public order or public interest".
Unsatisfied, three transgender organizations filed for a judicial review of this decision. One of these was InsideOUT, who created a fundraiser which amassed $17,707. Unfortunately for them, that was all for naught, as the case would be dismissed the next day - the day before the Let Women Speak event was set to occur. Kellie-Jay's flight from Australia landed later that evening.
Calls for a protest had been circulating throughout the week leading up to the Auckland leg of Let Women Speak, with many of them coming from Shaneel Lal, a self-described they/them. He was the main organizer of the protest, though a man called Max Tweedie is said to have contributed as well.
Interestingly, Lal said to 1News that despite being "incredibly scared of being there", he would be among the protestors.
The usual talk of drowning out the speakers was rife, with a couple of activists even calling for a brass band. One man asked what weapons were legal in New Zealand, and curiously enough, included dildos on that list. This talk went as far as a false obituary for Kellie-Jay being posted online, which could potentially be foreshadowing on the transactivists' part.
Trans activists arrived in Albert Park the day before the Let Women Speak event to write chalk messages onto the sidewalk, such as "trans joy is resistance" and "fuck TERFs". Others put stickers in the gazebo where the women were supposed to speak, and they're visible in Kellie-Jay's event livestream.
In the leadup to the event, the security firm which had been hired for Let Women Speak was reportedly intimidated into withdrawing from the event. A man also sent an email to Standing For Women's address, hoping for her death in great detail.
During
People began showing up at Albert Park thirty minutes before Let Women Speak was set to begin, though it's unconfirmed if these were protestors. The main body of protestors arrived at around 11am, and this video of the transactivist group clapping and making noise was shared only a few minutes later.
Women, some of whom were elderly and/or disabled, began showing up to the park at the same time as the protestors. There were barricades separating them from the Let Women Speak event, but seemingly no police. The astounding lack of a police presence would be noticed on social media, by attendees and livestream viewers alike.
The crowd became more and more riled up after Kellie-Jay arrived, as can be seen on her livestream. She went up into the gazebo just under ten minutes into her stream, and almost immediately, a man in a dress walked up to her and dumped a bottle of tomato soup onto her, the woman she was greeting, and her security. The security man managed to get him away from the two women, and it's rumored that he slipped in his own spilled tomato soup.
Only thirty seconds after getting up into the gazebo, Kellie-Jay can be heard telling another woman "we can't do this" several times. A couple of minutes later, a male voice - presumably security - can be heard saying "we need to get out of here now".
Despite this, Kellie-Jay and her security stayed in the gazebo for another fourteen minutes, likely because the protesters were ramping up their antics. By now, they had thrown down the barricades separating them from the Let Women Speak event, and one of them headbutted an elderly woman before punching her several times. She was later pictured by the gazebo with a black eye, and after the event, it was revealed that her skull was fractured.
At another point, a man threw a woman to the ground, and a different man was spotted wearing metal forearm protectors, with wrapped fists. There are also allegations that a man slapped a 13-year-old girl who was recording the event.
Roughly around 11:30am, Kellie-Jay finally says that the "police aren't coming", and leaves the gazebo surrounded by security. By now, the protestors had completely surrounded the gazebo, and many of them tried to get at her while she was being escorted through the throng.
A clip from Kellie-Jay's livestream began circulating, with some believing that the object being held to her throat about 20 seconds in was actually a knife. However, as the camera continues moving, it's able to be seen that this is actually a cell phone. The hand around her neck is said to be that of her security guiding her through the mob.
A different video angle shows the mob pressing around where Kellie-Jay was being escorted. Note the man in the black jacket who is being held back by the woman in the neon green vest. Seconds before, a man in drag attire had pushed him in the jaw with his forearm. At the end of the first video, you can see someone dangling the Maori flag down into Kellie-Jay's face while the crowd surges after her.
Yet another video shows her being assisted through the crowd, while someone throws water onto her multiple times. The water splashing can be seen more clearly here at around 20 seconds in. Also in this second video, a few people can be seen being pushed to the ground, most notably a man holding a sign reading "SLAY" at 25 seconds in, who was trying to get at Kellie-Jay just a moment earlier. At 32 seconds in, he can be seen on the ground next to an older woman in black. At the 35 second mark, an elderly person in red with a black cap can be seen stumbling, presumably over fallen barricades which are shown a couple of seconds later.
Throughout these videos, the one thing that's consistent is a lack of police presence. They only showed up to help Kellie-Jay once she was almost out of the mob, and she was escorted to a police car before being driven to a station. During the drive, she asks the officer up front if he thinks it'll be worse in Wellington, to which he answers "Yeah". She would also reveal that someone had slid a threatening note under her hotel room door that morning.
In a Spectator article which Kellie-Jay penned a week after the event, she would reveal what the rest of her day was like. "They took me to the nearest police station where I was guarded for six hours before I had an escort of three officers to the airport," she wrote. "They didn’t leave until my plane took off." Indeed, she was seen in an airport on the night of 25th March, saying that she was advised to go home.
Going back to the park after Kellie-Jay left, some protestors, seemingly led by Shaneel Lal, took over the gazebo. They were said to have given their own speeches in place of Let Women Speak. Thankfully, it seems as though all of the women in attendance were able to get out safely, with a couple of ladies with crutches being escorted out of the park by police.
After
The reaction to the assaults was imminent from gender critics, particularly on Twitter, where live updates from Kellie-Jay's livestream were being shared. As video footage was spread in the days after the event, the process of identifying the assailants began.
The drag queen who pushed another man was revealed to be Trinity Ice, best known for appearing on the first season of House of Drag. He was spotted at the event before the barricades were pushed over, and posed for a photo with someone. He was found to have been involved with Auckland's Pride Festival 2022, being part of a Pride Rhymetime and Storytime Sessions for children.
The man who headbutted and punched the elderly woman was seen in other videos of the event, and clearer pictures of his face were shared. An update on the victim, who takes the pen name Emily, was posted, containing a fundraiser as well as an update that police had identified the suspect. The New Zealand Herald wrote on him being charged as well.
Kellie-Jay Keen's assailant was quickly identified as Eliana Rubashkyn, a trans-identifying man famous for his refugee struggles in Hong Kong. He was recorded later on the day of the event, verbally harassing an elderly man with a friend, and was also photographed holding an intersex pride flag, with a red stain clearly on his right hand.
Rubaskyn would be recorded giving a statement on his attack to 1News, in which he described it as "dropping a juice". He explained that the tomato juice represented "the blood of our people", who Kellie-Jay was supposedly inciting violence against with her words. When asked how he got into the gazebo, Rubashkyn told 1News that he was "intersex and trans", therefore nobody would be able to tell that he shouldn't be there.
Digging into Rubashkyn's social media history revealed that he had recently been invited to the United Nations for International Women's Day. He [continued) to brag about this after assaulting Kellie-Jay.
In the days following 25th March, Rubashkyn posted a video in which he cried about people wanting to kill him. He also supposedly posted an apology to Kellie-Jay, stating that she was "1000 times the woman I will never be". However, he retweeted many tomato juice memes and continued to joke about assaulting Keen over the course of this, leading many to believe that his apology is fake.
Rubashkyn would begin to post pictures and video of him in Sydney, and bragged about being a fugitive after being told that a warrant was for his arrest was likely to be issued. A warrant was indeed issued on 29th March; however, by this time, Rubashkyn was posting about being on a plane en route to New York. A fundraiser for legal costs and personal security expenses was set up on his behalf, and as of 7th May, it has amassed $19,960 of the $30,000 goal.
It was announced on 6th April that Rubashkyn's lawyer would be entering a not guilty plea on his client's behalf, and that he would appear in court in July of 2023. As of writing, Rubashkyn's Twitter account appears to be deactivated.
The actions of the protestors received quick condemnation in a joint statement from several organizations, among them LGB Alliance, Keep Prisons Single Sex, the Free Speech Union, and Fair Play For Women. Speak Up For Women, a New Zealand-based organization, issued a media release regarding the incident, in which it was revealed that the Wellington event set to take place the next day had indeed been cancelled. Despite this, a crowd of several hundred still showed up to protest.
Auckland Pride, one of the three organizations which had filed for judicial review before Kellie-Jay came to Auckland, released a statement on the event. They claimed that the event being aborted because of threat of physical violence was a narrative being spread by anti-trans groups, and stated that they "reject that there was any further physical threat from our community towards [Posie] Parker", in spite of the numerous photos and videos showing clear physical threat.
Kellie-Jay Keen would become the subject of many tomato soup-related memes from transactivists, and Rubashkyn's assault on her was even parodied by a drag queen. In contrast, many of her fans chose to donate tomato soup cans as a show of support.
In addition to all of this, a petition was started, calling for Shaneel Lal to be fired from his position as a New Zealand Herald columnist due to his involvement in the protest. The petition managed to come close to reaching its signature goal of 2,500; however, it has since been taken down or deleted.
Kellie-Jay was interviewed a couple of times following the botched Auckland event. TalkTV from the United Kingdom had her on their platform, and Holly Lawford-Smith with Quillette would interview her as well, though the article is behind a paywall. Sean Plunket, founder of The Platform, did a talk with Kellie-Jay, and would also host a call line for other women who attended the event to share their experiences. In addition, Plunket would interview the woman who talked with police to set up the event.
A multitude of media outlets covered the event, each with their own takes on the violence which had occurred. A write for The Spinoff who attended the protest described the crowd as "joyful, life-affirming, and full of love", while Brendan O'Neill at The Spectator painted the picture of a "deranged, heaving crowd". Other outlets which covered the event included Newshub, The Guardian, Daily Mail, Spiked, Feminist Current, and Reduxx. It was also written about on a couple of Substack publications, with one woman in particular detailing how she had attended the event and escaped the gazebo.
Odds and ends
Odds and ends are interesting morsels of information which reside here due to me being unable to fit them into the story.
Shaneel Lal, the main organizer of the protest, called a gay man the f-slur - and stated he would do it again.
Gender Minorities Aotearoa, one of the organizations which filed for judicial review before the Auckland event, had some rather interesting merchendise on their Redbubble page.
A small group of men wearing black clothing, masks, and hats showed up, seemingly in the group of protestors. One of them is wearing a baseball cap with "A3OB", which stands for the Azov Brigade, on it. Another is carrying an unknown green flag with gold lettering.
It has been alleged that eggs were among the things thrown at Keen. However, I have been unable to find video evidence of this.
There were many calls to boycott New Zealand's tourism in the aftermath of the event, with a Pure New Zealand advertisement being given a little makeover
It should be mentioned that the day before the event, World Athletics ruled that transwomen would not be allowed to compete in female sports, and it is possible that that this contributed to the eventual high turnout.
Cartoonist Rod Emmerson would create two illustrations referencing Kellie-Jay in the week after the Melbourne and Auckland events. One of these was a large finger pointing down at Kellie-Jay, while the other was her face drawn onto a Trojan Horse with men performing a Nazi salute in front of her.