- Belgian police arrest Lois McLatchie Miller and Chris Elston, for peacefully displaying a sign that read: “Children are never born in the wrong body”
- Miller (from Scotland) & Elston (from Canada) were present in the EU capital to discuss the dangers of puberty blockers with Members of the European Parliament
BRUSSELS (6 June 2025) – Yesterday in Brussels, Belgian police arrested Lois McLatchie Miller, a Senior Legal Communications Officer with ADF International, for peacefully displaying a sign that read: “Children are never born in the wrong body.” She was detained alongside Canadian child protection advocate Chris Elston (@BillboardChris) while surrounded by an angry mob.
“The Belgian authorities not only failed to uphold the fundamental right to speak freely, they turned the power of the state against those who were peacefully exercising their rights at the behest of a mob."
We just got out of jail in Brussels. What a day!
— Billboard Chris 🌎 (@BillboardChris) June 5, 2025
Huge thank you to @LoisMcLatch who handled all the craziness with perfection. She’s incredibly brave and put up with a lot of harassment, which is why we called police in the first place.
4 police vans and about 14 police showed… pic.twitter.com/bkq2GJoa4c
Despite the pair’s peaceful conduct, police chose to arrest Lois McLatchie Miller and Billboard Chris rather than address the aggression of the crowd that had encircled them. Officers arrested Billboard Chris and McLatchie Miller and transported them to two police stations. At the station they were ordered to remove their clothes and searched.
They were ultimately released without charge after several hours but police said the signs were going to be destroyed despite neither being charged or convicted of any crime.
Paul Coleman, Executive Director of ADF International, said:
« The Belgian authorities not only failed to uphold the fundamental right to speak freely, they turned the power of the state against those who were peacefully exercising their rights at the behest of a mob.
« This is the type of authoritarianism we challenge in other parts of the world, and it’s deeply disturbing to see it here in the very heart of Europe. While we are grateful our colleague has been safely released, we are deeply concerned by her treatment at the hands of the police in Brussels. »
Today’s events come just a year after a Brussels mayor attempted to shut down the National Conservatism Conference, citing ideological disagreement with the speakers. ADF International intervened then with emergency legal action that forced the restoration of the event. As a legal organisation, ADF International is now assessing all legal options to uphold free speech rights in Belgium.
“We will not stand by while peaceful citizens are criminalised for speaking out on vital issues – especially when it’s the safety and wellbeing of children at stake,” Coleman added.
