Brianna Ghey’s mother has called out the anti-trans hate still being directed at her murdered daughter.
Esther Ghey, who has campaigned to limit social media use for under-16s in the wake of Brianna’s murder in February 2023, claimed her daughter is still consistently targeted by “trans hate” on Twitter/X, explaining that an anti-trans comment she reported has not been taken down because it was not deemed to breach the platform’s policies.
“I’ve done a few interviews now and once the articles are posted on Twitter, the comments are absolutely horrendous. There’s a lot of trans hate directed [at] Brianna,” Esther Ghey told The Independent.
“I’m all for free speech but I reported one of these comments and they came back to say that there was nothing wrong with what was being said. It’s just complete hate and I don’t think that there’s a place online for that.”
Brianna was stabbed to death in a park in Culcheth, Warrington just over a year ago. She was 16.
The two teenagers found guilty of her murder, Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, were described at their trial as “warped” individuals with “dark fantasies” of murder.
Esther Ghey has been campaigning for an age limit on smartphone usage and for violent keywords to be reported to parents, saying it was “absolutely shocking that a young person can access the dark web”.
Meanwhile, a benefit show in in memory of Brianna took place in Manchester on Sunday (18 February). The event raised thousands of pounds for Esther’s Peace in Mind campaign, which promotes the teaching of mindfulness in classrooms. Enough money has now been donated to train a teacher in every school in Warrington.
“If we [had had] mindfulness in schools from a young age, that [might] have made [Brianna] more resilient, and she would have been less at risk of the things that she was going through,” Esther said.
She has previously told PinkNews that mindfulness would help the LGBTQ+ community, who are at higher risk of mental-health problems.
“I think that is hitting it from both angles: making people more empathetic, understanding and resilient, and giving people coping strategies, so that, if they do have mental health issues, or encounter issues in society, they have better ways of coping with it,” she said.
The benefit show, Live Your Truth, took place in Manchester’s gay village, with performances by Smashby, Gay Elvis, Christopher Hall, Alexa Vox, Michelle Lawson and Amrick Channa.
