#52: LESBIAN BAR SHUTS DOWN AFTER DEATH THREATS FROM TRANS ACTIVISTS
Scottish police chief admits his force is systemically racist + French mayor wants to replace religious holidays with pride celebrations + study finds far-left authoritarians are psychopaths + MORE!
LESBIAN BAR SHUTS IT DOORS AFTER DEATH THREATS FROM TRANS ACTIVISTS
A feminist bar that caters to lesbians and the gay community in Rennes, France, called La Part des Anges, has been forced to shut its doors after a campaign of threats and harassment from transgender activists.
The bar faced a boycott campaign and was even vandalized by protestors over accusations of transphobia.
At the height of protests against French President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms in April, trans activists descended on the bar breaking a window and attacking a waitress.
The protestors then tagged “fuck TERF” on the store property.
According to bar manager Orane Guéneau, she faced death threats including notes slipped under her door that read: “A bullet, a terf.”
Guéneau has had to fire her three employees and says she is financially pressured to close the doors of the establishment which opened nine years ago as a “feminist bar.”
“The bar has always been inclusive,” said Guéneau. “We have never refused trans people.”
Despite this assurance, Guéneau has been accused of “misgendering” trans people and has faced heat for standing up to male-born trans women who came to the establishment to flirt with young lesbians.
“It was the big clash several times. If the young woman said: I prefer women, then the trans woman was offended and cried transphobia. But this young woman is not transphobic, it's just a matter of consent, she doesn't like penises, since she's a lesbian,” said Guéneau.
“It reminds me of the heterosexuals who came to flirt with us saying: if you're a lesbian, it's because you haven't met the right guy…”
SCOTTISH POLICE CHIEF SAYS HIS FORCE IS INSTITUTIONALLY RACIST
In a surprising and unprecedented statement, the chief constable of Police Scotland, Sir Iain Livingstone, has admitted that the force is institutionally racist and discriminatory.
He said that acknowledging these issues was essential for becoming an anti-racist service and leading wider change in Scottish society.
"Police Scotland is institutionally racist and discriminatory. Publicly acknowledging these institutional issues exist in our organisation is essential to our absolute commitment to championing equality and becoming an anti-racist service,” said Chief Livingstone.
"It is also critical to our determination to lead wider change and support wider change in society."
This makes Police Scotland the largest force in the UK to make such a public acknowledgement, although some smaller forces have done so before.
Sir Iain, who is retiring in August, stressed that the force should now "move beyond words and focus on action". He said that a four-year strategy called "Policing Together" had been launched to tackle discrimination in the force and in the community.
FRENCH MAYOR WANTS TO REPLACE RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS WITH PRIDE CELEBRATIONS
Green politician and Mayor of Grenoble, France Eric Piolle wants to remove religious holidays from being officially recognized by the state and replace them with LGBT celebrations.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Piolle called on France to “declare secular holidays” like days dedicated to LGBT people and the rights of women.
“Let's remove references to religious holidays from our republican calendar: let's declare secular holidays that mark our common attachment to the Republic, to revolutions, to the Commune, to the abolition of slavery, to the rights of women or LGBT people,” tweeted Piolle.
Piolle was commenting in response to an article about a census attempting to survey staff absences on the feat of Eid-el-Fitr and Ramadan.
“Inadmissible. Religious holidays are a valid reason for absence, according to the calendar published each year by the Ministry of National Education. This census wanted by Darmanin is a terrible authoritarian drift. Le Pen couldn't have done better,” tweeted Piolle.
TOWN FORCED TO ABANDON HOUSING MIGRANTS IN CASTLE AFTER OUTCRY FROM RESIDENTS
A town was forced to abandon plans to temporarily accommodate migrants in the historic Château de Varey – a castle built in the 12th century.
After facing a series of protests from residents and right-wing political groups, the castle in Saint-Jean-le-Vieux, France will no longer be open to housing migrants.
The decision to pick the site as a potential housing complex was shrouded in uncertainty. Residents did not know exactly how many people would be coming to their community or if there were unaccompanied minors who would have to attend local schools.
“Is it the population of 115 or migrants dislodged from Paris because of the future Olympic Games? All these questions are unanswered,” said Mayor Christian Batailly at an April council meeting.
Batailly, who claimed that the ultimate decision was not up to him called on people to start a petition “making it understood that Saint-Jean-le-Vieux is not suitable. We do not have a refusal of migrants, but the place is not appropriate. An isolated castle cannot meet their expectations.”
STUDY FINDS THAT FAR-LEFT MORE LIKELY TO BE PSYCHOPATHS
A recent study published in the peer-reviewed journal Current Psychology investigating the relationship between adherence to left-wing authoritarianism and its relation to dark triad personality traits found that supporters of the far-left were more likely to show signs of psychopathy and other derangements.
“Further, as individuals with leftist political attitudes can be assumed to be striving for social equality, we expected left-wing authoritarianism to also be positively related to prosocial traits, but narcissism to remain a significant predictor of left-wing authoritarianism above and beyond those prosocial provisions,” the study abstract read.
Some of the indicators of adherence to far-left authoritarianism highlighted by the study included top-down censorship and willingness to use violence.
“Indicators of authoritarianism on the political left are anticonventionalism (ie, the absolute endorsement of progressive moral values), top-down censorship (ie, the preference for the use of governmental and institutional authority to suppress any speech that is considered as offensive and intolerant ), and antihierarchical aggression (ie, the motivation to use force and aggression to overthrow established hierarchies),” the study authors explained.
One of the conclusions arrived at was that those on the left who endorse such methods like using violence to achieve political goals indicated signs of psychopathy.
