Editorial: All women must be heard - and parties like Sinn Fein need to stand up to trans activists

​The cancellation of a women’s rights event, and the subsequent reaction to it, shows just how far Northern Ireland has to go to catch up with the rest of the UK on the issue.

A discussion planned ​by perfectly reasonable women, with perfectly reasonable opinions on how to protect their rights, was cancelled after howls of indignation by trans activists.

That the event was cancelled by Féile an Phobail – an organisation not known for censoring offensive content at its events – made it all the more extraordinary.

Except, there is nothing offensive about women demanding that the sex-based rights they already have are protected or enhanced.

For far too long, trans activists – who often shout the loudest – have managed to frighten all manner of groups into submission by claiming everything they disagree with is “transphobic”.

There was perhaps a time when that was understandable. After all, this is not an issue the vast majority of people wake up thinking about.

However, this discussion has moved on considerably in recent years. The Supreme Court has clarified that when the law talks about men and women, it means males and females. It doesn’t get much simpler.

So the idea that women might be able to meet in public and discuss how they protect that should not be remotely controversial. However, yet again, it has been made so.

It is unclear why Sinn Fein has allowed itself to have become so wedded to the trans movement that it can’t even back the rights of GAA women to argue for fair play in their sport, in the heart of West Belfast.

Sometimes, political parties have to admit they got things wrong. Sinn Fein won’t be able to do that until it calls out the trans lobby and decides it supports free speech for all women.