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Peaked

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by Róisín Michaux

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A podcast about gender identity ideology, women's rights, and free speech in the EU. <a href="https://peaked.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">peaked.substack.com</a>

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Recent Episodes

June 1, 2026

TERFs: Not Suitable For Work

Alexa Faucher is a former chief of staff to a Communist mayor in a town in the Paris suburbs (Chevilly-Larue) who lost her job for sharing her gender-critical views online. A bleeding-heart lefty, an atheist, and a feminist — but none of that counted for anything, ultimately, because she also knows that humans come in two sexes, regardless of what anyone’s legal document says.Enjoy our mutual outpouring of woe.By the way, Alexa can’t get a job despite her decades of experience in politics. As you can hear, she is a brilliant, smart, hard-nosed b***h. If you need someone like that, please let me know and I will pass on the message. Send me your stories, I’m all (t)ears: roisinmichaux@gmail.com. I’m also on X/Twitter:<a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/RoisinMichaux"> https://x.com/RoisinMichaux</a>Do you think it matters that sex is being replaced by self-declaration of something called ‘gender identity’? I do, and I was fired for it. I made a bet that other people care about it too. So this newsletter is my new job. If you think my work is important, please take out a paid subscription.Show notes (AI generated)Episode overviewIn this episode of Peaked, Róisín Michaux speaks with Alexa, a former chief of staff to a Communist mayor in the Paris suburbs who says she lost her political role following her public feminist and gender-critical views online.The conversation explores ideological conformity within left-wing political culture, institutional responses to gender-critical speech, tensions between feminism and gender identity ideology, and the psychological experience of becoming socially and professionally ostracized as a “TERF.”Drawing from experiences in French municipal politics, feminism, psychiatry, Covid-era social compliance, and online political culture, the discussion examines broader themes including class politics, secularism, postmodernism, collective rights versus individual identity, institutional capture, social conformity, and the cultural influence of American identity politics on Europe.Alexa also reflects on French republican secularism, anti-racism politics, feminism, social welfare, and the contradictions she sees within contemporary left-wing movements around religion, sex-based rights, and gender ideology.Key Topics Discussed* Alexa Faucher’s dismissal from Chevilly-Larue* Jérôme Martin’s online denunciation campaign* French public-sector contracts and “devoir de réserve”* “Fired TERFs” and institutional retaliation* Helen Joyce and UK legal developments* Covid-era conformity and institutional obedience* Didier Raoult and anti-establishment scientific dissent* Finland’s reassessment of youth gender medicine* Keira Bell and the Tavistock case* French secular feminism and laïcité* Planning Familial and “men can get pregnant” activism* Marguerite Stern, Dora Moutot, and French feminist fracture* Identity politics vs materialist feminism* “Women with penises” and compelled language* Surrogacy and commodification of women’s bodies* National gender-critical figures across EuropeFrench Political & Institutional Context<a target="_blank" href="https://www.ville-chevilly-larue.fr/trombinoscope/stephanie-daumin/">Stéphanie Daumin — PCF Mayor of Chevilly-Larue</a>Website: ville-chevilly-larue.frAlexa explains that she served as directrice de cabinet for Stéphanie Daumin, the Communist mayor of Chevilly-Larue, a historically left-wing suburb in the Paris “Red Belt.”The political context matters because the episode repeatedly contrasts:* older class-based Communist politics,with:* newer activist and identity-centered ideological frameworks inside the contemporary left.<a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/Merome_Jardin/status/1949024611129327829">Jérôme Martin’s denunciation campaign against Alexa Faucher</a>Website: x.comReferenced in relation to the activist campaign that followed Alexa Faucher’s tweet asserting the immutability of biological sex.Jérôme Martin publicly denounced Faucher online, helping escalate the controversy surrounding her employment.Follow-up thread:The episode repeatedly returns to:* online activist escalation,* public denunciation,* and institutional pressure campaigns following ideological dissent.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.frontieresmedia.fr/societe/chevilly-larue-une-directrice-de-cabinet-a-la-mairie-licenciee-pour-avoir-affirme-qu-il-est-impo">Chevilly-Larue cabinet dismissal controversy</a>Website: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.frontieresmedia.fr/societe/chevilly-larue-une-directrice-de-cabinet-a-la-mairie-licenciee-pour-avoir-affirme-qu-il-est-impo">frontieresmedia.fr</a>One of the primary French-language reports documenting the controversy surrounding Alexa Faucher’s dismissal after her tweet regarding biological sex.The Tweet Referenced in the EpisodeThe controversy centered around Alexa Faucher’s reply concerning biological sex and legal identity changes:« Votre sexe n’a jamais été, n’est pas, et ne sera jamais féminin. Les stéréotypes de genre que vous choisissez, et qui nous sont imposés, si. Bisous. »The tweet became widely circulated in activist and political networks following Jérôme Martin’s denunciation campaign.UK Gender Politics & Institutional Conflict<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TPehe2DoPs">Helen Joyce discussing the UK Supreme Court ruling</a>Website: youtube.comReferenced when Róisín discusses listening to Helen Joyce following the UK Supreme Court ruling on sex-based legal protections.The ruling is discussed less as a narrow legal issue and more as:* a test of institutional compliance,* ideological capture,* and whether public bodies will obey legal definitions of biological sex.<a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_v_Tavistock">Keira Bell and the Tavistock case</a>Website: wikipedia.orgReferenced during discussion of safeguarding concerns surrounding youth medical transition.The Bell case became internationally significant because it challenged whether minors could meaningfully consent to puberty blockers and medical transition pathways.<a target="_blank" href="https://cass.independent-review.uk/home/publications/final-report/">The Cass Review</a>Website: cass.independent-review.ukReferenced in broader discussion of:* evidence standards,* youth gender medicine,* and institutional reassessment of pediatric transition pathways.The review became internationally influential after concluding that the evidence base for pediatric medical transition remained weak and underdeveloped.<a target="_blank" href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/apa.70533">Finnish study on psychiatric morbidity and youth gender services</a>Website: onlinelibrary.wiley.comReferenced during discussion of the “Finnish study” mentioned by the speakers.The April 2026 Finnish register study:Psychiatric Morbidity Among Adolescents and Young Adults Who Contacted Specialised Gender Identity Services in Finland in 1996–2019was discussed as evidence of increasing institutional doubt emerging from inside youth gender medicine systems themselves.The speakers specifically emphasize that skepticism is now increasingly coming from:* clinicians,* researchers,* and medical systems previously aligned with affirmation-based treatment models.Covid, Conformity & Institutional TrustDidier Raoult and France’s Covid divideWebsite: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.france24.com/en/">france24.com</a>Referenced during discussion of:* conformity,* institutional trust,* and scientific dissent during Covid.For many French listeners, Didier Raoult became symbolic of:* anti-establishment scientific dissent,* distrust of centralized expertise,* and collapse of institutional legitimacy during the pandemic.The speakers use Covid primarily as:* a psychological analogy for ideological compliance.<a target="_blank" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32205204/">Retracted hydroxychloroquine study associated with Didier Raoult</a>Website: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govReferenced indirectly during discussion of:* early contradictory Covid messaging,* institutional confusion,* and scientific authority.The Raoult controversy became one of France’s defining symbolic conflicts over:* expertise,* media trust,* and anti-establishment dissent.National Gender-Critical Figures ReferencedThe episode repeatedly returns to the idea that:“every country has one”meaning a nationally recognizable gender-critical feminist figure or activist.Ireland — <a target="_blank" href="https://thecountess.ie/author/laoise/">Laoise de Brún/Countess</a>Website: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.laoisedebrun.com/">laoisedebrun</a>UK — <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/StandingForXX">Kelly-Jay Keen / Standing For Women</a>Website: x.comUK — <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/jk_rowling">J.K. Rowling</a>Website: x.comGermany — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ronalyze.de/">Rona Duwe</a>Website: ronalyze.deAustria — <a target="_blank" href="https://faikaelnagashi.substack.com/">Faika El-Nagashi</a>Website: substack.comFrance — <a target="_blank" href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_Stern">Marguerite Stern</a>Website: wikipedia.orgFrance — <a target="_blank" href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dora_Moutot">Dora Moutot</a>Website: wikipedia.orgThese figures are discussed as examples of:* feminist opposition to gender ideology,* online harassment campaigns,* institutional retaliation,* and ideological fracture across Europe.Dora Moutot 🔗X/Twitter: <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/doramoutot">https://x.com/doramoutot</a>🔗 Co-author page / Book: Search “Transmania” on Éditions Magnus or Amazon.fr🔗 Femelliste YouTube (joint): <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/@femelliste">https://www.youtube.com/@femelliste</a>Marguerite Stern 🔗 Personal website: https://www.margueritestern.com/🔗 X/Twitter: <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/MargueriteStern">https://x.com/MargueriteStern</a>🔗 English Wikipedia: <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_Stern">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_Stern</a>🔗 French Wikipedia: <a target="_blank" href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_Stern">https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_Stern</a>Joint Work🔗 Femelliste official: https://www.femelliste.com/🔗 Transmania (book): Widely covered; see Wikipedia entry for details: <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmania">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmania</a>Organizations & Activism<a target="_blank" href="https://www.actupparis.org/">Act Up-Paris</a>Website: actupparis.orgReferenced because Jérôme Martin previously served as president of Act Up-Paris between 2003 and 2006.The discussion repeatedly returns to:* activist pressure,* public denunciation,* direct-action political culture,* and ideological enforcement mechanisms.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.planning-familial.org/fr/acces-la-sante-et-aux-droits/campagne-de-sante-sexuelle-inclusive-trois-nouvelles-affiches-2671">Planning Familial’s “inclusive sexual health” campaign</a>Website: planning-familial.orgReferenced during discussion of ideological changes inside French feminist and reproductive-rights organizations.The campaign became controversial among some French feminists because it adopted:* gender-neutral reproductive language,* “inclusive” terminology,* and messaging interpreted by critics as replacing sex-based language around women’s bodies.Alexa contrasts this with earlier feminist traditions centered on:* abortion rights,* material sex differences,* and secular feminism.Guest — Alexa Faucher🔗 X (Twitter)<a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/alexafaucher">https://x.com/alexafaucher</a>🔗 LinkedIn<a target="_blank" href="https://fr.linkedin.com/in/alexafaucher">https://fr.linkedin.com/in/alexafaucher</a>🔗 Novel — Puisqu’on a marché sur la lune<a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.fr/PUISQUON-MARCHE-LUNE-Alexa-Faucher/dp/2367951535">https://www.amazon.fr/PUISQUON-MARCHE-LUNE-Alexa-Faucher/dp/2367951535</a>Alexa Faucher is a French law graduate, political communications professional, author, and materialist feminist.She served as directrice de cabinet for the Communist mayor of Chevilly-Larue until July 2025 following controversy surrounding her tweet about biological sex.The episode also references her:* public-sector communications background,* strategic political work,* feminist activism,* and experience inside French municipal political structures.(Her X/Twitter account was reportedly made private following the controversy.)Host — Róisín Michaux🔗 Substack / Podcast Home🔗 X (Twitter)<a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/RoisinMichaux">https://x.com/RoisinMichaux</a>🔗 Apple Podcasts — Peaked🔗 NewsletterListen & Subscribe🎧 Peaked is available on Substack and major podcast platforms. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://peaked.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2">peaked.substack.com/subscribe</a>

May 27, 2026

What a time to be a lesbian

In order to capture what it’s been like for female homosexuals in the era of gendercultism, Tonje Gjevjon (Norway) and Alison Ellis (UK) collected the stories of 19 lesbians from around the world and not only is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.samlivsrevolusjonen.no/kindred-in-chaos/">their book, Kindred in Chaos</a>, an insightful read, it’s also extremely valuable as receipts, which we TERFs never tire of collecting. Here’s one of the woman describing what it’s been like watching young butches try to turn themselves into men: “I have seen many handsome butch women destroy their bodies with levels of testosterone their system was never meant to accommodate. These changes cannot be undone. I have watched healthy young women decimate their cardiac systems with these drugs… all in pursuit of something impossible.”Another one writes:“Because (lesbian spaces) don’t exist, it's much harder for lesbians today to accept their homosexuality. Many force themselves to date trans-identifying males and don’t call themselves lesbians because it’s a «TERF dog whistle». The trans movement has been incredibly effective in erasing women and lesbians, making us believe who we are is wrong and needs changing. It is wide spread conversion therapy essentially.”And another one describes the moment the AGP penny dropped: “…I connected one idea after another: cross-dressing serial killers, exhibitionism, true crime, paraphiliacs, autogynephilia, men who harass lesbians with the «I’m a lesbian in a man’s body» joke, men who deliberately try to get lesbians to talk about sex for their sexual titillation, men who harass lesbians by talking about porn... I peaked in rage and disgust… every major gay rights organisation had betrayed homosexual people. It was like the world was collapsing.”<a target="_blank" href="https://www.samlivsrevolusjonen.no/kindred-in-chaos/">You can read all the stories by buying the book here</a>Professional lesbianswithanasterisk-ismMeanwhile, if you’re a European taxpayer, you should know that you are paying a lot of money for a big party currently taking place on the Greek island of Lesbos, organised by the professional LGTBIQ+ class to celebrate a group of people called lesbians-with-an-asterisk. The word “lesbian” has a meaning. It means women who are sexually attracted to other women. The Official Meaning of lesbian*, however, has evolved to include straight men who wish they could be lesbians. It also includes women who claim to be men, and women who claim to be something called “non-binary”. I strongly suspect that most of the women working for EL*C (Eurocentralasian Lesbian Community), the ones hosting this week’s island get-together, and who claim to represent European lesbianswithanasterisk, know that it’s all nonsense. But it’s lucrative nonsense. They get more and more money each year from the EU to keep the charade in perpetual motion. “LBQ women”, we’re told, are under attack by the “anti-gender movement” (it me, and proudly so) but what’s really under attack is the ability to name reality. Lesbians, meanwhile, the TERFY ones, are completely unmoored from the money machine, and the parades, and the DEI panels, and the projects, and the boards, etc. And they are monstered. If you’re a young woman who is attracted to women, the current scene — the one that women fought hard to build — is an absolute landmine. If you say you don’t like “girldick”, or that you don’t identify as a woman (but that you just are one) you’ll quickly find yourself on the wrong side of the aggressive autogynephilic men who the EL*C now represent. You can follow the asteriskas and their publicly-funded jolly by going to their Facebook account (link in caption) where I’m sure they’ll be posting about their hard work on Lesbos. It’s not easy stroking your master’s balls in the hot sun all day.Show notes (AI generated) Tonje Gjevjon is a Norwegian lesbian activist and artist and Alison Ellis is a British lesbian commentator. Kindred in Chaos is a collection of first-person testimonies from 19 young lesbians navigating contemporary gender identity politics.The discussion explores lesbian identity, youth alienation, puberty, online trans-identification, institutional LGBT culture, social conformity, detransition narratives, online radicalization, lesbian erasure, activist networks, puberty dysphoria, and the broader political and psychological dynamics surrounding gender identity ideology in Europe. Drawing from personal experience, online activism, lesbian organizing, Scandinavian politics, youth LGBT groups, social media culture, feminism, and gender-critical organizing, the conversation examines why some young lesbians resist trans-identification pathways while others become absorbed into them. The episode also situates Kindred in Chaos within a wider international network of lesbian, feminist, and gender-critical activism across the UK and Europe.Julie BindelTonje Gjevjon references feminist writer and activist Julie Bindel as one of the earliest figures who alerted her to ideological shifts inside progressive politics.🔗 Official Website🔗 X/Twitter<a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/bindelj">https://x.com/bindelj</a>🔗 Wikipedia<a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Bindel">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Bindel</a>Magdalen Berns🔗 YouTube Archive<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=magdalen+berns">https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=magdalen+berns</a>🔗 Wikipedia<a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalen_Berns">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalen_Berns</a>Magdalen Berns is repeatedly referenced as a major influence on Alison Ellis.Ellis describes discovering Berns’ videos after searching online for the term “TERF” and realizing:* she was not alone in her views* other lesbians shared similar concerns* factual/direct language resonated more strongly than identity-centered discourseThe episode frames Berns as an important early online gender-critical voice, particularly among young lesbians.Organizations & Activist NetworksLGB Alliance🔗 Official Websitehttps://lgballiance.org.uk/🔗 Wikipedia<a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGB_Alliance">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGB_Alliance</a>Women’s Declaration International🔗 Official Websitehttps://www.womensdeclaration.com/Let Women Speak🔗 Standing For Women / Let Women Speakhttps://www.standingforwomen.com/Norway Legal Gender Recognition🔗 Norwegian Government Information<a target="_blank" href="https://www.regjeringen.no/en/topics/families-and-children/equality-and-social-inclusion/innsiktsartikler/legal-gender-recognition/id2481746/">https://www.regjeringen.no/en/topics/families-and-children/equality-and-social-inclusion/innsiktsartikler/legal-gender-recognition/id2481746/</a>Norway’s legal gender recognition framework allows individuals to legally change gender without surgical sterilization requirements.The law became an important reference point in broader European debates surrounding:* self-identification* youth transition* administrative gender policy* legal sex classificationGender-Neutral Pronouns & Inclusive Language🔗 Gender-Neutral Language Overview<a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-neutral_language">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-neutral_language</a>🔗 Norwegian Language / “Hen” Pronoun Context<a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_language">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_language</a>The discussion references institutional language shifts including:* gender-neutral terminology* pronoun normalization* “parent 1 / parent 2” style frameworks* avoidance of sexed language in some institutional settingsThe speakers frame these changes as examples of top-down ideological restructuring.The European Lesbian Conference (EL*C)🔗 Official Websitehttps://europeanlesbianconference.org/Phalloplasty & MetoidioplastyCleveland Clinic — Phalloplasty<a target="_blank" href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/procedures/21585-phalloplasty">https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/procedures/21585-phalloplasty</a>UCSF Gender Care<a target="_blank" href="https://transcare.ucsf.edu/guidelines/phalloplasty">https://transcare.ucsf.edu/guidelines/phalloplasty</a>Johns Hopkins — Metoidioplasty<a target="_blank" href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/metoidioplasty-for-gender-affirming-care">https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/metoidioplasty-for-gender-affirming-care</a>The speakers reference two forms of gender-affirming genital surgery:PhalloplastyConstruction of a penis using tissue grafts, often from the forearm, thigh, or abdomen.MetoidioplastyA procedure using hormonally enlarged clitoral tissue to construct male genitalia.Róisín Michaux specifically references observing extensive discussion around these surgeries inside online trans-masc communities, particularly in Belgium.The conversation frames breast removal as a central fixation among many young female transitioners.Belgium & European Gender ClinicsGhent University Hospital Gender Team<a target="_blank" href="https://www.uzgent.be/patient/zoek-een-arts-of-dienst/centrum-voor-seksuologie-en-gender">https://www.uzgent.be/patient/zoek-een-arts-of-dienst/centrum-voor-seksuologie-en-gender</a>Ghent University Hospital is one of Europe’s most recognized gender clinics and research centers. The speakers reference Belgium as an example of broader European gender medicine infrastructure.The Swedish Documentary — The Trans TrainGenspect Overview<a target="_blank" href="https://genspect.org/swedish-documentary-stopping-the-trans-train/">https://genspect.org/swedish-documentary-stopping-the-trans-train/</a>YouTube Playlist / Documentary Uploads<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvATEhXWd8uF7dT3g-jXBmYY7PPfSQZSs">https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvATEhXWd8uF7dT3g-jXBmYY7PPfSQZSs</a>GB News AppearanceGB Newshttps://www.gbnews.com/Tonje Gjevjon and Alison Ellis reference appearing on GB News to discuss Kindred in Chaos following their appearance at the LGB Alliance conference.GuestsTonje Gjevjon🔗 X/Twitter: <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/tonjegjevjon">https://x.com/tonjegjevjon</a>🔗 Instagram: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/tonjegjevjon/">https://www.instagram.com/tonjegjevjon/</a>🔗 Facebook: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/kjendisgjevjon">https://www.facebook.com/kjendisgjevjon</a>Alison Ellis🔗 TikTok: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@alison.ellis.6.0">Alison Ellis</a> Listen & Subscribe🎧 Peaked is available on Substack and major podcast platforms.🔗 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://peaked.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2">peaked.substack.com/subscribe</a>

May 18, 2026

Where gender therapy is a crime

For legal/safety reasons, it wasn’t possible to release this recorded interview before last week’s EU announcement about banning ‘conversion therapy’ in the EU. It’s an interview with an anon paediatric psychiatrist who practices/practiced in Belgium, a country that has already enacted a ban on conversion therapy — despite having found almost no evidence it is happening. Conversion therapy bans make it legally risky to try to talk a kid out of their wrong-body distress. At the very least, it makes doctors scared to try it. But some therapists, like ‘Sarah’, are braving it anyway. Unfortunately they are few and far between. While activists — across Europe — failed to find much evidence of pray-away-the-gay type torture (which is the image your brain is intended to conjure up when it hears the term ‘conversion therapy’) there is plenty of trans skepticism about, and criminalising this skepticism is the intended effect of conversion therapy bans. Such legislation essentially performs the same function as hate speech laws that make it very legally dangerous to refute transgender core beliefs. However, this one has a particularly chilling influence on the psycho-medical profession. Conversion therapy bans are about coercion, because transgender wrongbodyism does not have popular support. Making non-compliance illegal is how its advocates get around the unpopularity problem.The soft-power machinery non-ban banI had been hoping to get this doctor’s experience out there before the decision was made by the EU as to whether or not to make a law against conversion therapy enforceable in all EU countries, but she is under (stalled) criminal investigation for conversion therapy herself (she refuses to affirm the gender delusions of her young patients) and as we spoke, she was literally trying to keep a low cover as she escaped the country. Ultimately, last week, the European Commission decided not to issue a legally binding directive telling EU countries to ban conversion therapy. But the outcome was hard to decipher based on the mixed reactions to the announcement. Messaging from activists was schizophrenically lopsided. At first, both sides — the activists making demands of the legislature, and the legislature itself — seemed to be celebrating their joint victory. But then a lot of people on the activist side decided that, in fact, there was nothing to celebrate, and that they had lost the fight. That’s because the EU’s self-trumpeted proposal, in the end, was non-binding. It was just vibes. Or <a target="_blank" href="https://gript.ie/eu-is-captured-by-transgender-ideology-group-says/">soft power machinery, as Athena Forum called it</a>. Things got weird online: on the one hand, members of the NGO that had organised the campaign — <a target="_blank" href="https://citizens-initiative.europa.eu/initiatives/details/2024/000001_en">which amassed 1 million citizen signatures</a> — were filmed smiling and laughing in photos with EU officials. At the same time, their allies were posting Instagram reels about how disappointed they were. So what happened? The EU concluded that it can’t legislate in this area. But the fact that the petition even happened in the first place is evidence that they were chancing their arm, as we say back home. Getting caught mid mission-creepIt’s not an ‘EU competence’ to get involved in criminalising talk therapy for genderfeelz. However, what is considered an EU competence has been subject to extreme mission creep in recent years*, and issues that you would imagine should remain national have become Brussels’ business.The whole conversion therapy thing was born out of a petition launched in 2024 that was actually an EU-branded, EU-supported ‘citizens initiative’. This bit is important: this petition would not have been possible — it would not have been allowed to go ahead — if what it was asking for was not considered part of the EU’s mandate. So why did it go ahead? How did it get this far?A few years ago when I noticed the petition campaign getting off the ground, I wanted to know how the organisers — a couple of skinny young gay chaps from France — were paying for the legal advice that they would need to determine whether or not what they were asking for was even something the EU can legislate on. So I contacted the official EU petition people to ask about their funding declarations, but there were none. So how did they pay for the legal advice? Surely they got legal advice? These details are boring and finnicky but they’re kind of important: it turns out that <a target="_blank" href="https://citizens-initiative-forum.europa.eu/ask-expert_en">the legal experts in the EU Commission </a><a target="_blank" href="https://citizens-initiative-forum.europa.eu/ask-expert_en">itself</a><a target="_blank" href="https://citizens-initiative-forum.europa.eu/ask-expert_en"> have to decide</a> whether or not the subject of your demand is something the EU can make binding legislation on, before anything else can happen. (No doubt the vast EU network of NGOs are ready to help out with free legal consults, but it’s the Commission that decides on the legal basis for your request, if there is one). Let me spell it out: the EU told the activists they could make a binding law banning conversion therapy. They said: go ahead and get your signatures, we can legislate on this. But they have since decided that they cannot make such a law. What changed between 2024 and now? (Awaiting a response from the press contact, will update).I suspect that the EU bureaucracy was creeping the mission, and got caught mid-creep. Time was, anything gender-y was waved through the EU bodies — because who cares amiright — but those days are over. The reality is that everyone’s on high alert for social issues in a way they might not have been before. Turns out people do care about what constitutes reality and about keeping their kids out of the hands of state-mandated ideologues. Shocking.A legally-binding ban on sex-swap talk therapy would never “get past the Council” which is eurospeak for “it would fail to be approved by the more conservative countries’ leaders”, who are growing wiser and wiser to the social engineering schtick by the day. This is none of your business, the heads of state would have told the Commission, and they would have been right. I’m not a specialist so I’m just spitballing here, but I think that something that has been until now a bit of a grey area has just been shoved firmly into the black.So the Commission came out and told the gathering of disappointed youngsters last week that nope sorry, no law, we can’t actually do that, but here’s a non-binding vibes-setting document instead (I don’t think the lads should worry, it still looks great on their CVs. I’m proud of them in a twisted maternal way). The NGOcracy and their buds in-state just got too brazen, got some backlash full-force in the face, and knew such a law would never get anywhere. Officials were forced to (sort of) concede: nobody wants this, so it’s shelved. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7460321436340015104/">One of the ILGA-Europe enbies was clear-eyed about it. She said the decision “accounts for the limitations of the EU legislative process’“</a>. She also described the setup as a “tyranny of the majority”, which is apparently not the same thing as a democracy? I also think ILGA-Europe, who astro-turfed the whole petition thing in the first place, lost interest, and have shifted their energy and focus towards rule-of-law stuff. Enforcing case law is where it’s at, because nobody can do much about stopping that. There’s always the possibility that Commissioner Hadja Lahbib (with whom the conversion therapy buck stopped) and her friends realised that they will one day be the hook for the inevitable fallout of the trans scandal. I guess we’ll find out eventually, whether it be via tell-alls or tribunals. Looking forward to it.*(I am trying hard to ignore the fact that the EU now wants to govern that extremely intimate part of a sexual encounter where you and someone else decide whether or not you want to shag each other. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20260423IPR41832/rape-must-be-defined-based-on-the-absence-of-consent-in-all-eu-countries">The EU parliament wants you to make a contractual agreement before you f**k</a>, and if the deal’s not inked in the way the EU wants it inked by the f*****s, one of the two fuckees could go to jail. Yeah I know that rape is a problem. Yeah I know consent is important. That doesn’t mean either will be fixed by making sexual foreplay sessions subject to EU legislation. I mean what the everloving christ? The Heavy Petting Regulation? The Sustainable Dry Humping Act? The Third Base Protection Directive? I oppose this solution to the problem. I do not deny there is a problem — just to make it clear for the anti-gender movement academitards out there compiling lists of my crimes against the Borg.)If you appreciate my work, please take out a paid subscription or share this newsletter with your contacts. Please get in touch if you have any feedback, or corrections, or if you just want to call me a c**t. roisinmichaux at gmail dot com This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://peaked.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2">peaked.substack.com/subscribe</a>

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What is Peaked?: A podcast about gender identity ideology, women's rights, and free speech in the EU. <a href="https://peaked.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">peaked.substack.com</a>
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