Lois McLatchie Miller

ADF International Communications Officer, arrested for child protection demonstration

Lois McLatchie Miller works as the Senior Communications Officer of ADF International, a global wing of the conservative Christian legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom, which operates in over 100 countries. Earlier this year, she was detained for staging a demonstration in Brussels with ‘child protection advocate’ “Billboard Chris” Elston.

Why did we invite her on?

The trans issue is one we deliberately pulled back from a long while ago. Not because we felt it was unimportant, but because it felt settled. We’d arrived at a sensible position, and so had the country. The years of insanity came to a close, and the trouble drifted back to the fringes. There will always be crazies, but fighting them is an exhausting, thankless task. Let them have their say - they’ve already lost.

But when we heard about Lois’ case, we realised there’s still much to be done. Britain might have seen sense, but the continent is a different story. This is Lois’.

What did we talk about?

”I was arrested for holding one of the most basic and fundamental truths we’ve ever known: ‘Children are not born in the wrong body’. The UK has come a long way, but sometimes we don’t realise what’s really going on.”

In June of this year, Lois and fellow ‘child protection advocate’ and viral figure “Billboard Chris” Elston went to Brussels to stage a peaceful demonstration. The two stood in the centre of the city, draped in sandwich boards, each with its own slogan: ’Children are never born in the wrong body’ and ‘Children cannot consent to puberty blockers’.

”We’re very lucky in the Anglosphere. We get quite a balanced media spectrum on this issue, but in the European media, they have not been exposed to this kind of thinking before. They have not been exposed to these arguments, so their immediate response was to describe us as fascists, as Nazis. Just because we wanted to keep children safe from puberty blockers.”

Eventually, the abuse and threats became such that Lois and her partner-in-protest had to call the police for their own safety. They looked at the gathering mob and decided to arrest… Lois.

”Chris said to the police officer, ‘But what about our free speech?’ The officer replied: ‘It doesn’t work like that here.’ … In Brussels, of all places, you don’t get a claim to free speech.”

There and then, surrounded by aggressors, Lois and Chris were given an ultimatum.

”Bow to the mob, or carry on and be escorted to the police station. Ultimately, we decided to [carry on]. We were taken the police station, we were strip-searched-”

At this point, Konstantin can’t help but interject. A “strip search?” For a peaceful protest? What cause did the police have to believe she posed any kind of threat, or was in possession of any illegal goods? Why would they do that?