What you need to know about the anti-trans activist coming to NZ
Wednesday, 22 March 2023
Controversial anti-transgender activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull will be allowed into New Zealand.
Also known as Posie Parker, the Briton will soon be on her way to Aotearoa from Australia.
Across the Tasman, her visit was controversial – culminating in members of the far-right giving Nazi salutes in the streets of Melbourne.
Members of the Kiwi Rainbow community and members of Parliament have spoken out against her coming to these shores.
So who is the woman in bright clothing with the Marilyn Monroe-style hair? And what’s going on?
**READ MORE:
* Anti-trans activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull allowed into New Zealand
* 'Trying to get a headline': Chris Hipkins on anti-trans activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull
* Tasmania follows Victoria in pushing to ban Nazi salute
**
Who is Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull aka Posie Parker?
Keen-Minshull, who also goes by the pseudonym Posie Parker, is a British self-described transphobe.
She regularly delivers anti-trans rhetoric at speaking engagements and online.
She has appeared in videos with far-right YouTube personality Jean-François Gariépy, as well as posting a selfie with Norwegian neo-Nazi Hans Jørgen Lysglimt Johansen.
Why do we keep hearing about her?
She has been making headlines amid strong opposition to her Let Women Speak tour.
After being supported by masked men giving Nazi salutes in Melbourne over the weekend, Keen-Minshull was met by a large group of protesters at her speaking engagement in Hobart, Tasmania on Monday.
With her tour heading to New Zealand, debate has been raging over whether she should be let into the country. On Wednesday, Immigration New Zealand decided she will be allowed entry.
What is she doing in NZ?
She will be at venues in Auckland and Wellington where she is expecting to speak over the weekend.
Auckland Council has said it will allow Keen-Minshull to use its venue at the city’s Albert Park.
In response there is now a movement to counter-protest Keen-Minshull’s speaking event, by pro-trans supporters, in Albert Park on Saturday morning.
Some involved in that protest are calling for brass and bagpipe musicians to gather in an apparent attempt to drown Keen-Minshull’s speech out with noise
What’s the controversy?
Keen-Minshull’s supporters see her as a campaigner for women’s rights, as opposed to being anti-trans.
She was recently critical of a member of Britain's House of Commons mentioning murdered US transgender teen Brianna Ghey in an International Women’s Day speech.
But it’s not just the trans community in her sights, she has also taken aim at migrant communities in the UK, where – in now-deleted social media posts – she called Bradford an “awful place for women” because of its high population of “Pakistani Muslims”.
Her situation echoes the case of far-right Canadian pair Stefan Molyneux and Lauren Southern, who were set to speak at Takapuna’s Bruce Mason Centre in 2018.
That event was called off when the council-controlled organisation Regional Facilities Auckland revoked their booking.
What has she said?
Keen-Minshull called out Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and told him if he revoked her visa it would be “at your peril”.
“Let’s see what happens when you stop a woman who is a women’s rights campaigner, when you stop her from being able to come and facilitate the speech of women in your country.”
Hipkins has tried to steer clear of the issue. In response to a question about Keen-Minshull calling the visa review “Orwellian”, Hipkins said it sounded like a statement of someone just “trying to get a headline”.
On Wednesday afternoon in a statement, Immigration Minister Michael Wood said like many New Zealanders, he would prefer it if Keen-Minshull “never set foot in New Zealand”.
Wood has condemned her “inflammatory, vile and incorrect world views”.