A petition calling for Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to revoke the visa granted to British women’s rights campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen has been removed by Change.org after they received legal threats.
Keen, who appears online using the moniker Posie Parker, is a self-described women’s rights campaigner who argues that transgender people should not be allowed in single-sex spaces, and that transgender youth should not be able to access medical treatments.
The petition on the online platform was launched by Melbourne based LGBTIQA+ rights activist Chris Johnson and it had attracted over 11,167 signatories before it was pulled.
A spokesperson for website told OUTinPerth, “Change.org received a legal claim on this petition and in order to comply with Australia’s defamation law, we were forced to remove it from the platform.”
Chris Johnson said he was surprised to see his petition deleted. After it disappeared; he found a warning email from Change.org in his junk mail folder. Just days earlier staff from Change.org had reached out to him commending him on the petition’s popularity and had offered ways to make it gain more traction.
Johnson’s petition outlined comments Keen has made in public and also highlighted her links to far-right groups during her tour of the USA.
Speaking to OUTinPerth Johnson said he hoped Immigration Minister Andrew Giles would still take action.
“I thought if anybody is going to fail the character test, it would be somebody who’s stigmatising transgender people, fear mongering about them.”
Johnson says the communication he received from Change.org called on his to prove and provide evidence that every statement made about Keen was true and substantiated.
Stephen Bates, The Greens spokesperson for LGBTIQA+ issues, has written to Immigration Minister Andrew Giles asking him to revoke the visa.
Keen, whose full name is Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, appears online as The Posie Parker. In January via her Twitter account, she announced that in March she’ll be coming to Australia.
“We are coming to Australia and New Zealand.” Keen announced on social media, outlining that she’ll be in Sydney on 11th March, before appearing in Brisbane the following day and then heading west to Perth for an appearance on 14th March.
She’ll then travel to Adelaide for an appearance on 16th March, and then will follow up with an appearance in Melbourne on 18th of March, Hobart on 21st March, and finally a Canberra appearance on 23rd March. Keen will then head to New Zealand for appearance in Auckland and Christchurch.
This week on Perth radio station 6PR it was announced that her Perth appearance will be held at Parliament House.
This week on her Twitter account Kellie-Jay Keen appeared to comment on the World Pride celebration’s taking place in Sydney this month saying, “After the rainbows, we are bringing a storm.”
Immigration Minster Andrew Giles has not responded to a request for comment from OUTinPerth.
Graeme Watson
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