"Rivka Edelman" is B.A. Newmark, prolific (and shocking) anti-trans activist

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10/03/2014

by Jeremy Hooper

I really want to move on from the hit piece that the Witherspoon Institute's Public Discourse site chose to run in which a pseudonymous writer calling herself "Rivka Edeleman" attacked my work and heart and character will all kinds of lies about who I am and what I do. But considering the things I learned this afternoon, I have no choice but to make one final post.

First off, it came out this afternoon that "Rivka" is actually an author and professor named B.A. Newmark. And wouldn't you know it? It just so happens that Ms. Newmark gave a lecture last night at the very college where her good pal Robert Oscar Lopez teaches:

[California State Univ. Northridge]

But that's just the beginning. It turns out that Ms. Newmark is actually a very prolific commenter on this here internet, with a big focus on opposing transgender people. And even though she went after some of my commenters for what she portrayed as poor tone and tried to connect this tone to me personally, it turns out that Ms. Newmark is quite fond of vulgarity in her online commentary. She's also quite okay with personally attacking people she doesn't know. To wit:

(She is "Motherhood" in all of these comments)

[SOURCE]

[SOURCE]

[SOURCE]

She's talking about trans activist Janet Mock in these next two:

[SOURCE]

These next three are all about trans writer Parker Marie Malloy:

She is referring to trans writer and veteran (and my friend) Brynn Tannehill in this one:

[SOURCE]

[SOURCE]

This is her wish for the parents of a trans commenter:

[SOURCE (*she filled this comment thread, in particular, with much crudeness, cursing, and vulgarity)]

And let's close with her demand that she'd rather work with serial killers than her male colleagues in academia:

Game. Set. Match. I wouldn't dream of writing things like above, even if talking about a movement with which I disagreed. And yet she had the nerve to make unfounded, undocumented, fully fabricated claims about me and my many years of political engagement the framework of a smear piece that targets me personally, as well as targets my family and our legal protections? That takes some nerve. And she was just busted in all her stunning hypocrisy.

You owe me an apology and a retraction for your horrible editorial decision, Public Discourse.

Oh, but don't worry Ms. Newmark. I still won't write your employer, family, or anyone else in some sort of effort to make you feel scared. That's not my style, despite your fallacious claims. I'm more than happy to let your own words do the talking for you.

***

*Here's one more awful comment. In this one, Newmark (as Brittany this time) compares a gay biological father to a rapist for having a child through gestational surrogacy, and compares surrogacy itself to the Holocaust:

[Facebook]

***

**UPDATE: I just learned that she has also joined her pals Robert Oscar Lopez and Dawn Stefanowicz on an amicus brief arguing against marriage equality in the 5th Circuit. On this, "Rivka/B.A/Brittany" goes by "BN Klein," presumably standing for Brittany Newmark-Klein, which I am told is her full name. Brief at link:

Brittany Newmark Klein Amicus Brief 240312276 B N Klein Amicus Brief

[SOURCE]

Interesting that she'd jump in to stop marriage, considering she said in a 2013 comment that gay marriage does not "effect" [sic] her even though she was "raised in a gay family":