Police investigate online abuse against Mermaids UK – a charity for transgender children
Mermaids UK says abusive and threatening messages on social media may stop young people from coming forward for support
Police in West Yorkshire are investigating after the UK’s largest charity supporting transgender children received a stream of abusive messages online.
Mermaids UK reported a sharp rise in abusive and threatening comments on social media, saying it had been forced to block 20 people a day on Twitter.
The charity, which supports transgender children and their families, said it had been falsely accused of “enticing” children by attending recent Pride UK events.
One tweet sent to the charity included a poster that described Mermaids UK as a “dangerous cult”, saying staff planned to “groom gay kids”.
When we heard about this story, we became furious – we are standing side by side with our sisters and brothers at Mermaids UK and every other transgender person out there.
Do you have any information to help the police with this investigation, please contact police in West Yorkshire and share the information with them.