An LGB Alliance conference held in Westminster was thrown into chaos today after ‘trans activists’ reportedly released cockroaches, meal worms and crickets inside.
The charity says it ‘promotes the rights of lesbians, bisexuals and gay men, as recognised by biological sex’.
When the group was made a charity in 2021, several furious trans rights groups appealed the decision.
Today, the gay rights group held a conference at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in central London but videos on social media show bugs at the event.
Posts on X by those in attendance claim they saw seven young trans right activists dump two bags of the insects.
Videos show hundreds of the bugs crawling over the purple chairs at the hall.
Jamie Reed, a speaker at the event, posted: ‘Two minutes before I was supposed to speak on the stage a TRA just dumped a bag, full of cockroaches and bugs all across the auditorium and ran out.
‘Please take note: I will not be silenced. You can try everything to intimidate me into silence. It will not work. As I was to take the stage at the @AllianceLGB conference a TRA dumped bags of live bugs.
‘We went through two layers of security, including metal detectors.’
Another post read: ‘Trans activists have just disrupted the annual Conference being held by LGB Alliance by releasing insects in the main hall.
‘These nasty individuals who seek to disrupt a peaceful conference of lesbian and gay people show themselves up to be the real bigots.’
approached the LGB Alliance for more information.
A Met Police spokesperson told : ‘Police were called at 16:24hrs on Friday, 11 October to a report of a protest at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Broad Sanctuary.
‘Four protesters were reported to have released a number of insects inside the venue.
‘They were detained by security and escorted from the premises by appropriate adults.
‘Police have their details and an investigation into the circumstances remains ongoing.’
The gay rights group has a controversial past, clashing with trans rights charities.
In July last year, the transgender charity Mermaids today its case to have LGB Alliance stripped of its charitable status in what is believed to have been the first case of its kind in the UK.
The attempt by the trans group was branded ‘profoundly homophobic’ at the tribunal and Mermaid’s case was thrown out.
Mermaids launched the legal action arguing that the LGB Alliance should be stripped of its charitable status, alleging the organisation is merely a front for transphobia and political campaigning to prevent changes on gender self-identification in the law.
The two charities fundamentally disagree on issues of trans rights, with the LGB Alliance taking the view that people cannot change their biological sex while Mermaids argue they can.
The judgment found in LGB Alliance’s favour and said: ‘We found Mermaids has no legal right to operate free of criticism.’
LGB Alliance director Kate Harris called it a ‘vanity project’ by Mermaids and LGB’s co-founder Bev Jackson said that the case had cost them £250,000, calling it a ‘victory for everybody in the UK’, a ‘civilised society’ and ‘freedom of thought’.
She said: ‘Why on earth was this necessary? How can this happen that we find ourselves in court having to defend, for instance, what a lesbian is. When everyone knows what a lesbian is. It is extraordinary all the money we have spent in order to defend our existence as the only charity that stands up exclusively for people who are attracted to others of the same sex. How is it possible?’
‘It’s huge win, not just for the LGB Alliance but for gays, lesbians and bisexuals all around the world.’
LGB Alliance described itself as a charity which promotes the rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual people ‘on the basis of sex rather than gender and believes that gender transition is largely driven by homophobia’.
During hearings previously LGB Alliance co-founder Bev Jackson said the organisation shared the view of Harry Potter author JK Rowling that ‘without sex there is no same-sex attraction’.
Ms Jackson said: ‘Anti-lesbian prejudice and fear is leading many teens, especially lesbians, to believe that they have ‘gender identity’ issues when they are in fact grappling with their emerging lesbian/gay sexual orientation.’
Dr Belinda Bell, chair of trustees at Mermaids, accused LGB Alliance of trying to ‘undermine’ the work of charities such as Mermaids and Stonewall.