I could not attend Women’s Rights Network Do No Harm lobby day in Parliament on Tuesday, but my friend Susi could, and did. I am grateful to her for writing up the experience for the GenderBlog:
“10th March 2026, and an unfamiliar ball of fire was hanging in the sky above Westminster Palace. A sky that looked almost… blue? Mad times indeed. And none madder than the reason we were here – a lobby day to persuade MPs to stop the large-scale child medical experiment known as the Pathways trial.
The trial, originally due to start around now, was already on pause following an intervention by the MHRA. Our aim was to make that pause permanent. Additional drama had cropped up in recent weeks, including (in no particular order) the recusal of Dr Jacob George, an application for judicial review brought to the High Court, and the new ban on cross-sex hormone prescription to under-18s, so it was a live and complicated issue that most MPs would be at least vaguely aware of.
Whether because of these complications, or from a more mundane calendar reshuffle, the planned parliamentary debate on the trial had been moved from the 9th March to the 23rd, so we were in a great position to brief our MPs in good time for them to sensibly participate.
I’d managed to secure a meeting with my MP in Portcullis House over the road, so headed straight there to start off with. He’d kindly set aside a good 20 minutes for our chat, which was friendly and productive. My distinct impression is that a lot of ‘on the fence’ MPs are desperately hoping for a solid scientific reason to pull the plug without having to put their heads above the parapet, and using Wes Streeting as their avatar and shield for this approach. Silent support is there, somewhere, but it’s the courage to act on it that’s missing.
After the meeting, I had the delight of being escorted through the secret underground tunnel to Westminster Palace, where the rest of the lobbyists were gathered. Hundreds of women had signed up to attend, but by this point in the afternoon, only a few dozen were left, shivering in the giant stone vault of the lobbying hall, waiting to see if their MPs were available. Much of parliament was busy with the debate on jury trials, and every now and again we’d hear a tannoy announcement that so-and-so MP was unavailable, or had left the country. Surely we weren’t that scary?!
The various badged organisers from WRN moved through the crowd to offer assistance, but otherwise it was just a good chance to mingle and chat about where we’d travelled from, how we’d got on, or listen to Mr Menno regale Rosie Duffield with a tale about being attacked with a giant metallic dildo.
I headed out to warm up and find the location for the planned group photo on College Green, a name which appears on no maps. A few other protests were going on outside, one in support of the Iranian monarchy and another championing jury trials, but eventually a crowd coalesced on a nearby lawn that looked like it was probably the right place, everyone following the nearest woman in a suffragette scarf.
Some MPs, lords and ladies joined us for the photoshoot behind the big “Do No Harm” banner. The group was so large, it was hard for the short photographer to fit everyone into the photo. And then it was time for the pub!
The pub location had been kept secret for most of the day to minimise interference from hostile parties, but word successfully got around and we all made it to the right place. Hostile forces were still afoot though, as the card machines went down within minutes of our arrival, leaving everyone scrambling through pockets and bags for any cash.
Once we were all sufficiently beveraged-up, there were several great speeches from the organisers, MPs, ex-MPs, doctors and detransitioners, to much cheering and booing as our various triumphs were celebrated and villains were listed.”
My thanks once more to Susi for her report.
Leave a Reply