Women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen has been threatened with arrest should she not submit to a voluntary interview with Sussex Police over an alleged hate crime.

During a phone call on Monday, PC Gannon of the Sussex Police Department informed Keen of a report made against her one month earlier, pertaining to her September Let Women Speak rally in Brighton. Gannon specified the alleged crime was the “use of words or behaviour to stir up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation.” Trans-identified male “Freda Wallace” has taken credit for filing the report as part of his goal to “have Kellie-Jay Keen arrested.”

Keen was told that if she does not submit to a voluntary police interview in Brighton, the Sussex Police will “[get] Wiltshire Police to come and arrest” her. Keen has declined the voluntary interview. Brighton is the most dangerous city in East Sussex, with a crime rate above the national average. It’s most common crimes are violence and sexual offences.

Police intimidation of women’s rights activists has become a UK trend. This is Keen’s fifth contact with police over her work to protect the sex-based rights of women and girls. In 2018, she was contacted by West Yorkshire Police for tweeting about the publicly documented fact that Mermaids UK CEO Susie Green brought her 16-year-old child to Thailand for castration.

Keen was arrested by West Yorkshire police for hosting a Let Women Speak event in 2020. In July of this year, she was visited by Wiltshire Police following a complaint that her YouTube video on child safeguarding was “untoward about paedophiles,” which had been recorded as a “hate crime.”

In October, following “allegations of malicious communications and harassment” by a trans-identified male, journalist Caroline Farrow, was arrested in her home by South Wales Police Cardiff without a warrant. They also seized all of the mother of five’s electronic devices, including one designated for her autistic child, and the work computer of her husband, a Catholic Priest. Farrow is pursuing a civil action against SWPC.

Following a complaint by the same trans-identified male, Dr. Louise Moody, a disabled lesbian, is being threatend with arrest by North Yorkshire Police if she does not submit to interview under caution. In November, following a FiLiA women’s rights conference in Cardiff, two activists were arrested by SWPC at a nearby pub due to their objection to the presence of a male in the women’s bathroom. They were released without charges, conditional on an apology.

“This will be my fifth interaction with British police: two interviews under caution for saying it’s wrong to castrate a sixteen-year-old boy; one arrest for daring to speak in public about women’s rights, and one visit to my house for being untoward about paedophiles. I have absolutely no intention of assisting the police with their latest fishing exercise. I hope they understand what they’re doing, as

I’m willing to see this all the way through.” – Kellie-Jay Keen, Founder of Standing for Women.

Keen has hosted dozens of Let Women Speak events across the UK and America. Her September event in Brighton saw hundreds in attendance. In addition to verbal abuse, trans rights activists hurled smoke bombs at the speakers and their supporters. At least three arrests were made, including one man carrying a bag of knives. Ten arrests of trans rights activists were made during her Let Women Speak 2022 USA Tour, which ended this month.