Writer/artist Declan Shalvey came under fire this week on social media for allegedly donating hundreds to a 2025 fundraiser for anti-trans activist Graham Linehan via the UK-based nonprofit the Free Speech Union (FSU).
Founded in 2020 by journalist Toby Young to fight against “cancel culture,” the Free Speech Union claims to be a non-partisan group that fights for free speech, particularly for its members. Since its debut, however, the organization has faced criticism from left-wing commentators who say it is a conservative organization that promotes misinformation and hate.
On December 27, Daily Mail reported that Young had requested a security report on UK-based transgender activist group Bash Back, which describes itself as “trans-led direct action project focused on total transgender liberation.” Bash Back made headlines in summer 2025 after claiming credit for vandalizing UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s office after he oversaw the banning of puberty blockers for trans youth in 2024.
On January 5, Bash Back posted on its social media channels, “The Free Speech Union commissioned a ‘security’ report on us, so we tested their security. Turns out — it sucks. We’ve now published the name of everyone who has donated to a FSU fundraiser, along with how much they gave and to which campaign.” The post included a link to the trimmed data and the full data from the hack, as well as an alternative link.
At time of writing, these links all turn up 404 errors. In an email to The Beat, Bash Back said, “Due to an injunction imposed by the FSU, we cannot legally direct people to the information leaked, we are seeking legal advice on this matter.”
Two days after Bash Back made this data public—which includes two years of donor names, how much they donated, and to which funding campaign, according to them.—artist Ramon Villalobos quoted the original post on Bluesky with a screenshot from the data. The screenshot shows the name Declan Shalvey next to “Graham Linehan Fundraiser Social,” timestamped 2025-09-09 00:28:08.000 for 400. There is no currency symbol next to the donation amount.
“Damn, Declan Shalvey possibly donating 400 dollars to the human goblin glinner would be nasty work,” Villalobos wrote. “I suppose its none of my business other than the fact that I support trans people and glinner’s entire existence is to do the exact opposite so donating a single cent to him would be disgusting imo.”
At time of writing, Villalobos’s post has nearly 200 reposts (including quote posts) and more than 300 likes. The comments reveal that Shalvey follows FSU and Lenehan on X and that he has previously talked about seeing anti-trans activist Jordan Peterson speak, which many are taking as evidence that the Shalvey listed as a donor in the FSU data is definitely Shalvey the comics professional. The Beat has verified Shalvey’s follow list on X and his past tweets about seeing Peterson speak.
In November, Linehan was cleared of charges for harassing a teenage trans activist online, but was found guilty of criminal damage for taking and throwing her phone into the road after she confronted him outside of a conference in 2024. During the court proceedings, FSU held a series of fundraisers to support Linehan’s legal fees. Per the data acquired by Bash Back, Shalvey allegedly contributed to one of these fundraisers.
Shalvey has not responded to The Beat‘s request for comment. FSU has temporarily disabled its website following the data leak.
