It’s a common refrain from transphobes: they want to keep trans people out of women’s restrooms, in order to keep cis women comfortable. But one TERF accidentally poked holes in her own beliefs after a chance encounter in a bathroom.
A user on X going by Red Robin (whose location on their profile is set to “Terf Island”) recalled a not-so-harrowing experience she had with nonbinary and trans activist Katy Jon Went. “Just encountered a cross dresser in the women’s toilet, confronted him and EVERY SINGLE woman took his side,” Robin lamented in a post that’s since garnered 13 million views.
Somehow, Robin didn’t seem to get the message: If every other woman in the bathroom supported Went being there, maybe you’re the one making people uncomfortable with your bigotry. “It’s almost like most women don’t hate trans people,” reads one viral response.
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In a separate thread, Robin went into more detail about what went down in the bathroom, which she claimed was in the Norwich Millennium Library during a children’s event. It boils down to Robin making a scene despite no one else questioning or complaining about Went’s presence in the bathroom: “Not a SINGLE woman supported me, all told him how sorry they were, how awful I’d been, and how he belonged in the women’s toilets,” Robin wrote.
After using the cubicle for a remarkably long time, causing a queue of women and children, I confronted him, asking him what the hell he was doing in the female toilets
— Red Robin (@redrobin9000) October 26, 2024
He tried to tell me he was a woman, then how he was intersex, and then that he was disabled! All his reasons for using the women’s loos. He refused to leave the women’s toilets when I asked..
— Red Robin (@redrobin9000) October 26, 2024
Not a SINGLE woman supported me, all told him how sorry they were, how awful I’d been, and how he belonged in the women’s toilets
— Red Robin (@redrobin9000) October 26, 2024
But Robin’s version of events differed from what other folks said, including the Norwich Millennium Library itself. “We don’t have toilets in the library and the only children’s events we ran that day were up on our second floor away from where you were, so we’re unsure why we have been mentioned in your post,” replied the library’s official social media account.
Hi there – we don’t have toilets in the library and the only children’s events we ran that day were up on our second floor away from where you were, so we’re unsure why we have been mentioned in your post.
— Norfolk & Norwich Millennium Library (@MillenniumLib) October 27, 2024
Ultimately, images of the space show that there is indeed no bathroom inside the library, only outside its doors in The Forum, the community space that houses the library. Long story short, Robin had no idea what she was talking about.
Went, for their part, hasn’t directly responded to the discourse, instead resharing their friend Sara Rocha’s post about Robin’s comments. “If your ‘activism’ is to threaten and harass other women, you are not protecting us!” Rocha wrote. “Women are ACTUALLY abused and violated at an epidemic level in the UK, not by trans people in toilets, and I don’t see these sad little terfs and keyboard heroes fighting on that.”
My friend is a safe haven for a lot of LGBTQIA+ and disabled people, including me, in Norwich and she welcomed me when I didn't know anyone in the city. She is kind and loving and so fun to be around. Other women defended her and they are also being dragged 2/
— Sara Rocha (@Sara_R_Rocha) October 27, 2024
If your "activism" is to threaten and harass other women, you are not protecting us! Women are ACTUALLY abused and violated at an epidemic level in the UK, not by trans people in toilets, and I don't see these sad little terfs and keyboard heroes fighting on that. 3/3
— Sara Rocha (@Sara_R_Rocha) October 27, 2024
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