I reside in the same city from which the charity Mermaids emerged. This is also the city that spawned Jimmy Savile. Jimmy Savile, for overseas readers, was a TV celebrity who hid his sexual predation by camouflaging himself as a charity fundraiser. He was very well connected to the local police, hospital and also had links to royalty. It was “known” on one level, locally, but many people refused to believe it. He was so arrogant he left instructions, in the event of his death, for his gold casket to be kept at a fancy Leeds hotel so that people could make a pilgrimage. I managed a team of 55 staff at the time and so many wanted to go I had to staff the phones myself. I remember daring to express my misgivings about him, as a person, and people found it very disrespectful. They did not want to know. Sound familiar?
Leeds was also the city that led the investigation into Peter Sutcliffe; a serial killer dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper. The investigation came under a lot of criticism for seeming to ignore the first deaths, all prostituted women, and only gearing up their investigation after there were “innocent” victims. I was too young to have lived through much of this but my older sisters socialised in Bradford, where he found many of his victims.
The police also came under a lot of criticism for urging women to self-impose a curfew during Sutcliffe’s crime spree. It was this advice that spurred the thriving radical feminist community to set up the first Reclaim The Night march to be held, in England. It took place in November 1977. I was involved, as treasurer, for a brief period in the 2000’s. At that time it was female only and male allies were only allowed to join a meeting point at the end. It mad no sense for women to have male chaperones in a march to reclaim the streets for women. Sadly the last one was spoiled for me because they allowed men, who identified as women, to attend. I objected to this and was subject to disapproving noises from the women’s officer of my local branch of the Labour Party!
Leeds also would like to be recognised as a “woman friendly” city but Leeds City Council are notorious for setting up a “prostitution” zone in one of the poorer parts of the city. Punters were given free reign to abuse women within set times. They continued with this even after one woman had been murdered during the pilot scheme! Many allegations of rape were disregarded.
More on this here by Meghan Murphy.
Leeds also hosted the first event for men who like to cross dress. It was put on by the Beaumont Society which was set up for heterosexual and excluded any man attracted to his own sex. As explained by Christine Burns who is a heterosexual, married, father and who identifies as “trans”.
Here is a flyer for that conference. The men dressed in “female” attire and used the women’s toilets. This was in 1974. The conference was billed as for transvestites (TV) and Transsexuals (TS).
So, am I surprised that Leeds spawned the charity that promotes the idea that kids can be born in the wrong body? That they hid a trustee from their public records and, lo and behold, he turns out to believe that paedophiles should be destigmatised and rebadged as “Minor Attracted People”?