As it is a matter of some significance to her employment tribunal, I have reproduced a transcript of Sara Morrison’s speech at the Let Women Speak event in Belfast on 16 April 2023. You can also watch the speech on youtube. Sara starts 1hr 4mins in. It’s only four minutes long.
The transcript immediately below has been lightly edited for readability. The transcript below that is (to my ears) an exact transcript. There is very little difference between the two, and I appreciate the importance and primacy of the exact transcript over the one immediately below.
Lightly edited transcript for readability:
“Thank you everyone. Every single woman, every single man that has turned up today. I know so many people who have not been able to turn up today because they are frightened.
Today, however, the women of Belfast have gathered here and they are saying no. We do not consent.
Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business and eventually degenerates into a racket.
So apparently there is no place for hate. Let me tell you a story. The same tactics that are being used by the anti-abortion campaign across Ireland are being used now by Alliance For Choice. Then it was a deliberate campaign of harassment and intimidation against women. This resulted in women being shamed and silenced and this is currently being repeated by those in Writer’s Square and those over right over there.
Alliance For Choice wanted women to speak up about their private experiences. These are same women they wish to silence. Do you think this is fair? This organisation has had tens and hundreds of thousands of pounds generated through funding, donations, charitable donations, taxes… who knows? How does this make you feel? Do they serve you as a taxpayer?
Again, every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business and eventually degenerates into a racket.
Do these so-called women’s organisations speak for you? Do these self-styled messiahs represent us? These organisations are paid thousands of pounds through the public purse to sing songs to silence women speaking. Is that where you want your money going? These organisations, these women’s organisations: WRDA, Alliance For Choice, Women’s Policy Group Northern Ireland, The Women’s Sector Lobbyist, Rape Crisis Nl.
I started this new iteration of Rape Crisis Nl. This is not the Rape Crisis I wanted. We need to keep men out of women’s spaces. They have morphed into a deliberate campaign of bullying and intimidation into silence through harassment and bullying the very women they should be protecting and exalting.
These organisations do not represent me. Your vote counts on the 18th of May. I see we have some elected representatives up on the bridge. You might want to take note of them and not vote for them. They are here to silence women.
Ask your local representative what they are doing to support women. Not through these organisations. Ask them how the women and children of Belfast and across Northern Ireland are safe on the streets and in their homes and how our safety, privacy and dignity is being protected. We pay their taxes.
These so-called women’s organisations are getting so much money. How much money will it take to silence women? How much money will you approve?
They say they represent women but women with different and equally legitimate views. Women who do not believe the sacred tenets that sex work is work and surrogacy does not exploit women. These are the women they silence. Those women they turn their backs on.
Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business and eventually degenerates into a racket.”
Exact transcript (to my ears):
“Thank you everyone. Every single woman, every single man that has turned up today. I know so many people who have not been able to turn up today because they are frightened.
Today, however, the women of Belfast have gathered here and they are saying no. We do not consent. I am going to tell you a quote: every great cause begins as a movement, begins as a business and eventually degenerates into a racket. Do you need me to repeat it? Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business and eventually degenerates into a racket.
So apparently there is no place for hate. Let me tell you a story. The same tactics that are being used by the anti-abortion campaign across Ireland are being used now by Alliance For Choice. Then it was a deliberate campaign of harassment and intimidation against women. This resulted in women being shamed and silenced and this is currently being repeated by those in Writer’s Square and those over right over there.
Alliance For Choice wanted women to speak up about their private experiences. These are same women they wish to silence. Do you think this is fair? This organisation has had tens and hundreds of thousands of pounds generated through funding, donations, charitable donations, taxes… who knows? How does this make you feel? Do they serve you as a taxpayer?
Again, every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business and eventually degenerates into a racket. Do these so-called women’s organisations speak for you? Do these self-styled messiahs represent us? These organisations are paid thousands of pounds through the public purse to sing songs to silence women speaking. Is that where you want your money going? These organisations, these women’s organisations: WRDA, Alliance For Choice, Women’s Policy Group Northern Ireland, The Women’s Sector Lobbyist, Rape Crisis Nl.
I started this new iteration of Rape Crisis Nl. This is not the Rape Crisis I wanted. We need to keep men out of women’s spaces. They have morphed into a deliberate campaign of bullying and intimidation into silence through harassment and bullying the very women they should be protecting and exalting.
These organisations do not represent me. Your vote counts on the 18th of May. I see we have some elected representatives up on the bridge. You might want to take note of them and not vote for them. They are here to silence women.
Ask your local representative what they are doing to support women. Not through these organisations. Ask them how the women and children of Belfast and across Northern Ireland are safe on the streets and in their homes and how our safety, privacy and dignity is being protected. We pay their taxes.
These so-called women’s organisations are getting so much money. How much money will it take to silence women? How much money will you approve?
They say they represent women but women with different and equally legitimate views. Women who do not believe the sacred tenants that sex work is work and surrogacy does not exploit women. These are the women they silence. Those women they turn their backs on.
Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business and eventually degenerates into a racket.”
© Sara Morrison, 2023
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