The letter asserts that the authorities’ actions violated their freedom of expression and physical integrity under Belgian and international human rights law. It requests: a thorough and impartial investigation into the incident; official acknowledgment of rights violations; appropriate compensation and steps to ensure that such actions will not recur.  “Billboard Chris and Lois McLatchie Miller were arrested while holding consensual conversations on the street about the basic truth about the dangers of gender ideology. Any society that denies the basic right to express the truth is on a path to totalitarianism.  “Whether online or on the street, it is clear that free speech has reached a crisis point in Europe. EU governments cannot claim to uphold human rights while repeatedly violating the right to free expression.  “Belgian authorities not only failed to uphold the fundamental right to speak freely, they turned the power of the state against two individuals who were peacefully exercising their rights at the behest of increasingly aggressive bystanders, said Dr  Felix Böllmann, Director of European Advocacy for ADF International.  Elston, who regularly speaks about protecting children from harmful gender ideology in public squares across Europe and North America, including by sharing his conversations on social media, has publicly stated that he intends to return to Brussels and expects authorities to safeguard his right to speak freely.  “I’m speaking in the public square about one of the most significant medical human rights scandals of our day – the deliberate damaging of children’s bodies for an ideology which teaches they were born in the wrong body.  “Children don’t need drugs or scalpels – they are perfect just as they are, and need affirmation to love the skin they’re in. My engagement is based on mountains of medical evidence that has been established across the world. A society that punishes citizens for stating truth is on a dangerous path,” Elston said.   McLatchie Miller added: “Puberty blockers, and the cross-sex hormones that so often follow them, are highly dangerous drugs that can cause long-lasting damage to children – impacting their bodily development, bone density, mental health, lifelong fertility, and more. It is scandalous to expose children to these drugs, and it is scandalous to silence and jail those who speak out about it. No one should fear arrest for defending children’s safety.”