Kellie Turtle
@kellieturtle
Policy influencer. Trade unionist. Equality & rights. Health & social care. Faith & abortion. Reproductive Justice. Antiracist community-building. Trans rights. Free Palestine. Opinions expressed in a personal not professional capacity. she/her
Not sure which of these is giving me more joy this fine evening. It's a close call 😆
I've just talked to Caroline Litman @alicemydaughter.bsky.social before our @causewaypride.bsky.social next week. She is open, passionate, committed and has a powerful story to share that is changing hearts & minds. It's a conversation you don't want to miss! Infuse Cafe Coleraine Fri 31 July 7pm
With more material from the Epstein files released today, I feel compelled to remind us that NI had its own version. It was called Kincora Boys Home and there are powerful ppl walking around today who are very glad that email didn't exist when they were abusing children and having it covered up. 💔
My southern friends and comrades: anybody with 3 mobile want to register for a Lily Allen Dublin gig presale code today and share it with me? The partitionism is excluding us nordies and frankly I consider it a breach of the Good Friday Agreement. #SpeirGorm
In the year of our lord 2022 the sanctimonious institution & churches of PCI were still protecting abusers. They should have no power or influence at any level of society. They have proven themselves unworthy of telling anyone how to live their lives. #ChurchToo presbyterianireland.org/news/-2
I savoured every second of my first listen to West End Girl by #LilyAllen because the world is full of men like Harbour and women telling on them is utterly delicious. The way that a generation of women have found their voices through art and podcasts and friendship gives me pure feminist joy ✊♥️
Breaking news: Unbelievably, the ICC conference centre has tried to censor content relating to Palestine at @unisonni.bsky.social Regional Council meeting, specifically the use of the word genocide. We have obviously walked out.
Also in the Bel Tel/Sunday Life today, maybe those brave men in Cloughfern organising anti-immigration protests should look a bit closer to home as Newtownabbey native Steve Carter, who was literally employed to keep kids safe outside school, becomes the latest white man to be outed as a paedophile.
Some key quotes from Hamill in the pics below with alt text included:
Some thoughts on the news that 48% of those arrested over Belfast race riots had been reported to police for domestic violence. With McGr*g*r losing his appeal & definitively found to be a rapist in a court of law it is important we call out the hypocrisy at the heart of the far right movement.
I always thought trees can't grow on mountains because the Mournes & Sperrins are so barren. But then you visit other countries where they grow all the way to the top and realise that we actually just destroyed our mountain forests with generations of overgrazing. Pic is Verdon Gorge Southern France
Beautiful. Here is a cow on an island off an island in the Atlantic (Omey). Taken last week.
The talks for #Feile2025 seem pretty engaging but then there's this steaming turd. Can someone please explain human rights to the organisers before they start asking women, LGBTQ ppl and ethnic minority communities to 'rise above' what they're calling 'political and cultural differences'. 🤢
This is what a community response to violence against women looks like. Not a racist mob terrorising people. My heart breaks for Sarah's family as it has for all the families that have been through this trauma before. I still believe in a future where this ends 💔
The last 3 women's sector lobbyists all in the same place! We're listening to fantastic speeches on motions at #BDC25 committing the trade union movement to ending violence against women and girls. Looking forward to @jacksonkatz.bsky.social addressing conference shortly.
New job! Just spent my first day as policy officer for @unisonni.bsky.social at an inspiring session of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions #BDC25 Delighted to be joining team UNISON & can't wait to get stuck into helping the TU movement shape policy that serves workers, their families & communities.
I'm not saying policing is easy but this does not strike me as being either human rights compliant or trauma-informed. The impact of police standing by & letting terrorist mobs destroy people's homes is catastrophic for human rights, equality, personal safety & dignity. @policeserviceni.bsky.social
I don't even know where to start with this one 😬😱🤦♀️ Maybe the AK tattoo. Let's start there cause that seems like the first red flag...
It's #WorldTurtleDay which is a day to reflect on the wonder of Turtles and all the beauty we contribute to the world. So can I just offer a big 'you're welcome' to all who celebrate. Also this:
Checked the bird app y'day for *reasons* and had to laugh at this imaginary story from a prolific troll. How pathetic it is to have a fantasy version of yourself that has the courage to tell women to fuck off in real life rather than spew bile anonymously on the internet. What a sad little man.
And finally, all eyes on the Equality Commission for this paragraph 👀👀
This is an important paragraph. The SC has ignored the fact that gender reassignment discrimination is a form of sex discrimination. Any reinterpretation of the Sex Discrimination (NI) Order that makes that same mistake would breach EU law.
Saw this placard in the racist gathering today in Belfast and you really have to marvel at the mental gymnastics involved in believing the 3.4% of people in NI who aren't white are taking over. I don't think they'd ever be happy unless they saw no black or brown faces in their communities.
What a joy to receive my copy of this gorgeous book today! Thanks to eds @karenod.bsky.social & @clairewtheology.bsky.social for allowing me to participate in this important volume of work & to my writing partner @noirinmac.bsky.social for being a theory genius! Available from @scmpress.bsky.social
The contradictions in this recent front page shows everything that's wrong with the approach to VAWG here in Northern Ireland. What use are research & strategies if a judge can still let a repeat violent offender off to 'prove himself'? Prove he's capable of worse more like.
We did Deck the Halls tonight. Went down well enough but as with most movies from the early 2000s, some scenes have not aged well 😬🤦♀️
Posted last year by @karenod.bsky.social and well worth another shout:
How about we normalise saying NO when an alleged sexual abuser asks for a character reference FFS. Former CEO of Extern Charlie Mack in his reference called Thompson's abuse 'naive and inappropriate behaviour during what he understood to have been a very difficult period in his life.'