Sarah Brown (UK politician)
"Sarah" Brown born male 1976, is a transgender activist and Liberal Democrat politician in the UK, who identifies as a "transwoman". He was the Cambridge City Councillor for Petersfield ward between 2010 and 2014,[1]serving as Executive Councillor for Community Wellbeing since 2013[2] and currently also serves as a member of the LGBT+ Liberal Democrats executive.[3]
He has publicly described himself as having "fragile mental health".
Brown, who claims to be a "poly, trans, lesbian" is notorious for telling a woman on Twitter to “suck my formaldehyde pickled balls”.
He is an adviser of Stonewall UK.
Contents
Views and Policies
Pornography
In Autumn 2013 he made a speech to the Lib Dem Party Conference, 2013, opposing Internet Porn Filters, introduced to try to safeguard children. He uploaded it to YouTube and wrote:
Sarah Brown Published on Sep 16, 2013 "This is the speech I gave to the Liberal Democrat party conference, opposing Baroness' Benjamin's motion for mandatory filtered Internet, so-called porn filters." [4]
Sadism and Bondage
In 2013 Brown used his position as a councillor to encouraged a BDSM group named Peer Rope Cambridge to hold a series of classes in sadism and bondage at a village hall near Cambridge. The meetings were discontinued after residents queried whether this was a suitable use for a community space also used by children and financed with public money. It appears that Brown not only defended the use, but took part personally, in the guise of "Maid Sarah". After the meetings were cancelled Brown tweeted that he was “disappointed” and added that he had taken the lead in this use of a public building. “Tea and a bit of spanking, so what?” He insisted that the group was promoting “safe” sexual activities albeit “alternative” ones. [5]
Adverts were published for an event to include spanking, talks by an expert in leather whips, a flogging "workshop" and "kink on a budget", served with tea and cakes by "Maid Sarah". The trustees of Trumpington Village Hall said they believed their venue had been booked "under false pretences". "The booking did not fully state the activities undertaken," they said. [6]
Advocacy of Illegal Drugs
In 2014 Brown said on Twitter that if there are men who wish to transition to "women" by taking the female hormone oestrogen, but could not get it prescribed legally, he and other trans-activists should find ways of "stockpiling" it and supplying to them illegally. This led to an official complaint being lodged against him. [7]
Opposed to Free Speech and Women's Rights
Brown has fiercely denounced women's groups who do not include biological men in their events or categorize then as female. He calls these women "Terfs" and often repeats that they (unlike his bondage group) should not have the right to hold meetings in public buildings. A member of Cambridge City Council, he urged it to adopt a change of policy so that any male who "identifies" as female would be allowed into any women's areas and amenities, including toilets, gyms, changing rooms, swimming pools, and sports events. This policy is not in accord with UK law. Brown called one person who disagreed with him about this by an epithet so revolting it will not be quoted here but kept in the footnote. [8]
Nervous Breakdown
After losing his seat on Cambridge City Council, in 2014, Brown seemed to be somewhat distressed. He publicly blamed a lot of other people, denounced them for harassing him, and it was at this time that he issued the famous tweet: “Suck my formaldehyde pickled balls”. Later he blamed his outburst on his fragile mental state in the sake of the election defeat. He wrote on his blog: "My already fragile mental health collapsed. I went into severe anxiety and depression. I locked my Twitter down, I started to miss some scheduled meetings: ‘Cllr Brown sends her apologies, she is unwell’ was the line. “The reality: Cllr Brown was curled up under his bed sheet, tranquillised up to his eyeballs, terrified, crying and barely in a position to feed himself, let alone attend a committee meeting.”
Many Tweets followed in which he offered details of the anti-depressant medication he now claimed to be taking, and persecution he claimed to have suffered.
Social Media Activity
Brown has energetically defended the policy of placing male rapists and murderers in women's prisons. Many of his tweets are abusive, and are too obscene to be quoted.
World Fame
In 2011, he appeared on the Independent on Sunday "Pink List" as the 28th most influential LGBT person in the UK,[9] dropping to 34th in the 2012 list,[10] but rising again to 27th in the 2013 list.[11]
Still in LibDems
Brown stood again twice as Lib Dem candidate for Petersfield in 2018, in May and again in September. He was not elected. [12]
References
- ↑ Councillor Sarah Brown. Cambridge City Council.
- ↑ Buchan, Lizzy (13 May 2013). New line-up for city council Liberal Democrats. Cambridge News.
- ↑ Brown, Sarah (23 October 2011). City Councillor Named in Top 101 "Pink List".
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FnzKbWdTKo
- ↑ “‘Tea and a bit of spanking, so what_’ says transgender Cambridge councillor after Trumpington Village Hall bondage saga _ Cambridge City News, Cambridge Local News Stories & Latest Headlines About Cambridge.
- ↑ Bondage fear at Trumpington Village Hall sparks event cancellation 25 September 2013https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-24240287
- ↑ Cambridge councillor Sarah Brown rows back on tweets about illegal sharing of prescription oestrogen _ Cambridge City News, Cambridge Local News Stories & Latest Headlines _ Cambridge News.
- ↑ "smegma found inside a transsexual's neo-vagina while dilating it".
- ↑ The IoS Pink List 2011. The Independent (23 October 2011).
- ↑ The IoS Pink List 2012. The Independent (4 November 2012).
- ↑ The Independent on Sunday's Pink List 2013. The Independent (13 October 2013).
- ↑ https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/labour-retain-petersfield-seat-cambridge-15150188
