Media Release: Rights Aotearoa utterly condemns the Free Speech Union for bringing anti-transgender campaigner Helen Joyce to New Zealand

Wellington — Rights Aotearoa has strongly condemned the Free Speech Union's decision to bring UK anti-transgender campaigner Helen Joyce to New Zealand next month, describing it as a cynical attempt to import divisive rhetoric that targets one of our most vulnerable communities.

The organisation's Chief Executive, Paul Thistoll, said the tour has nothing to do with legitimate policy debate and everything to do with platforming dehumanising views about transgender people under the guise of "free speech."

"The Free Speech Union is not bringing Helen Joyce here for constructive dialogue. They are bringing her here to amplify rhetoric that treats transgender people as a problem to be eliminated, their healthcare as criminal abuse, and their very existence as an ideological contagion," Mr Thistoll said.

"Joyce's record speaks for itself. She has publicly stated that society should 'keep down' the number of people who transition. She has characterised rising numbers of trans youth as 'social contagion.' She has described gender-affirming healthcare for young people as 'sterilising gay kids' and called it 'evil.' She has advocated that clinicians providing this evidence-based care should face lengthy prison sentences."

"These are not the words of someone engaging in good-faith policy discussion. These are the words of someone campaigning to erase transgender people from public life and criminalise the healthcare that saves lives."

Mr Thistoll said Joyce's characterisation of gender identity as a "godless neo-religion" and a "rights-destroying belief" reveals the true nature of her project: not to protect anyone's rights, but to strip transgender people of recognition, dignity, and access to care.

"When someone argues that fewer trans people should exist, when they liken life-saving healthcare to child abuse, when they advocate criminal penalties for doctors following international best practice — that is not debate. That is dehumanisation. That is a campaign of eliminationist rhetoric dressed up in the language of concern."

Rights Aotearoa noted that transgender New Zealanders already face disproportionate rates of harassment, discrimination, and violence. International evidence is clear that hostile public rhetoric intensifies these harms, particularly for young people.

"Joyce's previous speaking events have sparked protests, walk-outs, and significant distress among trans communities and their allies. The FSU knows this. They are bringing her here precisely because she is divisive, precisely because she generates conflict, and precisely because controversy is their currency," Mr Thistoll said.

"What Helen Joyce offers is not evidence. It is invective. It is not care. It is contempt."

Additionally, a court in Australia found she had no expertise in matters of transgender rights or healthcare when she was put forward as an expert witness.

Mr Thistoll said Rights Aotearoa would continue to defend the dignity and human rights of transgender, non-binary, and intersex people against campaigns designed to undermine them.

"The Free Speech Union claims to defend open debate. What they are actually doing is platforming speech that forecloses the possibility of trans people living openly, safely, and with dignity. That is not freedom. That is oppression rebranded."

"We call on the FSU to account for the harm this tour will cause. We call on the media to report Joyce's views accurately, not as mere 'controversy' but as the anti-trans campaigning they represent. And we call on all kiwis who value inclusion, evidence, and human dignity to reject this rhetoric for what it is."

ENDS

Media contact:
Paul Thistoll
CEO

About Rights Aotearoa:
Rights Aotearoa is Aotearoa New Zealand's leading non-governmental organisation devoted to promoting and defending universal human rights, with a focus on transgender, non-binary, and intersex rights.