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Mridul Wadhwa
Mridul Machindra Wadhwa (born 1978) is an Indian-born Scottish-based women's rights, trans rights, and anti-domestic violence campaigner. She is a director and co-founder of data company Vahanomy. She previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre. She was formerly active in the Scottish National Party, a candidate for the party in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, before moving to the Scottish Green Party. Wadhwa has been the subject of harassment by anti-trans activists since 2019.
Mridul Wadhwa is a transgender woman who was born in India in 1978 and transitioned there. She lived in Pune until 30, where she ran a successful business with her husband. She then emigrated to the United Kingdom in 2002 with her passport listing her as female, where she earned a master's degree in education from the University of Edinburgh in 2005. She permanently moved to Scotland in 2009. She became involved in women's rights activism in Scotland as a student, and has spoken about her focus on giving voice to women from marginalised backgrounds, including migrant and racialised women.
Wadhwa has worked in the equality and anti-violence sectors in Scotland since leaving university in 2005. She was the information and education officer and children's services team leader at Shakti Women's Aid from 2008 to 2017, a training and volunteer coordinator at Rape Crisis Scotland from 2014 to 2018, and the manager at Forth Valley Rape Crisis Centre from 2018 to 2021. She was also a board member of YWCA Scotland and of the Equality Network from 2017 to 2021. Wadhwa became Chief Executive Officer of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre in 2021.
Wadhwa stood as one of three Scottish National Party candidates for the Craigentinny/Duddingston ward at the 2017 City of Edinburgh Council election, but was not elected.
In October 2020, Wadhwa sought SNP candidacy for MSP for Edinburgh Central and Stirling constituencies for the upcoming 2021 Scottish Parliament election. Campaign group For Women Scotland said that the party had broken the Equality Act by placing her on an all female shortlist due to Wadhwa not having a gender recognition certificate. Wadhwa quit the party due to what she described as multiple attacks motivated by her interest in leadership positions within the party; according to Wadhwa, her colleagues angrily objected to her being listed on an all-woman candidate list due to her status as a transgender woman. Wadhwa stated she would still vote for Scottish Independence. She left the SNP after MSPs backed an amendment to allow survivors of rape and sexual violence to pick the sex rather than the gender of the person examining them.
Wadhwa began receiving abuse in 2019, while working as the director of the Forth Valley rape crisis centre in Stirling. In 2020, she stated coverage of claims calling her "legally male" unleashed a "host of hate". She described the focus on whether she had a Gender Recognition Certificate racist as well as transphobic for failing to account for Indian cultural norms as she transitioned in India and emigrated to the UK with her passport stating she was female. The abuse intensified after she announced her candidacy as an SNP MSP in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, and intensified again after her appointment as director of the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC). The abuse received at the ERCC included hate speech on social media and on phone calls, letters and emails containing baseless accusations of predatory behaviour, racist commentary, and threats of vigilante violence. Nearly all comments intentionally misgendered Wadhwa.
Articles criticising Wadhwa were published on the websites of Wings Over Scotland and The Christian Institute, with the series of articles by The Christian Institute amplified by the United States-based Christian Today and Life Site News. YouTuber Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull released a video which, according to OpenDemocracy, "made a series of unfounded and unevidenced accusations about Wadhwa and her work". Referring to Graham Linehan, OpenDemocracy said "the first time Wadhwa says she truly feared for her life was when Linehan published part of her home address". In August 2021, as part of this harassment campaign, the hashtag #AskRapeCrisisScotland began trending on Twitter and was amplified by For Women Scotland. An analysis by the Trans Safety Network revealed that the approximately 4,800 tweets using the hashtag came from approximately 240 accounts and nearly half came from 30 accounts.
On 13 August 2021, the Scottish Green Party issued a statement in solidarity with Wadhwa after the abuse, denouncing the spread of misinformation about the crisis centres and resulting abuse which posed a threat to survivors and workers at the centre. By Autumn 2021, as a result of the harassment and following police advice and consultations with security experts, the ERCC ended their open door policy, and installed both an intercom system for access and a reinforced inner door.
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Mridul Wadhwa
Mridul Machindra Wadhwa (born 1978) is an Indian-born Scottish-based women's rights, trans rights, and anti-domestic violence campaigner. She is a director and co-founder of data company Vahanomy. She previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre. She was formerly active in the Scottish National Party, a candidate for the party in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, before moving to the Scottish Green Party. Wadhwa has been the subject of harassment by anti-trans activists since 2019.
Mridul Wadhwa is a transgender woman who was born in India in 1978 and transitioned there. She lived in Pune until 30, where she ran a successful business with her husband. She then emigrated to the United Kingdom in 2002 with her passport listing her as female, where she earned a master's degree in education from the University of Edinburgh in 2005. She permanently moved to Scotland in 2009. She became involved in women's rights activism in Scotland as a student, and has spoken about her focus on giving voice to women from marginalised backgrounds, including migrant and racialised women.
Wadhwa has worked in the equality and anti-violence sectors in Scotland since leaving university in 2005. She was the information and education officer and children's services team leader at Shakti Women's Aid from 2008 to 2017, a training and volunteer coordinator at Rape Crisis Scotland from 2014 to 2018, and the manager at Forth Valley Rape Crisis Centre from 2018 to 2021. She was also a board member of YWCA Scotland and of the Equality Network from 2017 to 2021. Wadhwa became Chief Executive Officer of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre in 2021.
Wadhwa stood as one of three Scottish National Party candidates for the Craigentinny/Duddingston ward at the 2017 City of Edinburgh Council election, but was not elected.
In October 2020, Wadhwa sought SNP candidacy for MSP for Edinburgh Central and Stirling constituencies for the upcoming 2021 Scottish Parliament election. Campaign group For Women Scotland said that the party had broken the Equality Act by placing her on an all female shortlist due to Wadhwa not having a gender recognition certificate. Wadhwa quit the party due to what she described as multiple attacks motivated by her interest in leadership positions within the party; according to Wadhwa, her colleagues angrily objected to her being listed on an all-woman candidate list due to her status as a transgender woman. Wadhwa stated she would still vote for Scottish Independence. She left the SNP after MSPs backed an amendment to allow survivors of rape and sexual violence to pick the sex rather than the gender of the person examining them.
Wadhwa began receiving abuse in 2019, while working as the director of the Forth Valley rape crisis centre in Stirling. In 2020, she stated coverage of claims calling her "legally male" unleashed a "host of hate". She described the focus on whether she had a Gender Recognition Certificate racist as well as transphobic for failing to account for Indian cultural norms as she transitioned in India and emigrated to the UK with her passport stating she was female. The abuse intensified after she announced her candidacy as an SNP MSP in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, and intensified again after her appointment as director of the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC). The abuse received at the ERCC included hate speech on social media and on phone calls, letters and emails containing baseless accusations of predatory behaviour, racist commentary, and threats of vigilante violence. Nearly all comments intentionally misgendered Wadhwa.
Articles criticising Wadhwa were published on the websites of Wings Over Scotland and The Christian Institute, with the series of articles by The Christian Institute amplified by the United States-based Christian Today and Life Site News. YouTuber Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull released a video which, according to OpenDemocracy, "made a series of unfounded and unevidenced accusations about Wadhwa and her work". Referring to Graham Linehan, OpenDemocracy said "the first time Wadhwa says she truly feared for her life was when Linehan published part of her home address". In August 2021, as part of this harassment campaign, the hashtag #AskRapeCrisisScotland began trending on Twitter and was amplified by For Women Scotland. An analysis by the Trans Safety Network revealed that the approximately 4,800 tweets using the hashtag came from approximately 240 accounts and nearly half came from 30 accounts.
On 13 August 2021, the Scottish Green Party issued a statement in solidarity with Wadhwa after the abuse, denouncing the spread of misinformation about the crisis centres and resulting abuse which posed a threat to survivors and workers at the centre. By Autumn 2021, as a result of the harassment and following police advice and consultations with security experts, the ERCC ended their open door policy, and installed both an intercom system for access and a reinforced inner door.