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The basic facts of the story seem to check out, i.e., she appears to be the person referred to and had a conviction for rape of a three-year old in 1994: https://www.criminaljustice.ny.gov/SomsSUBDirectory/offenderDetails.jsp?offenderid=40993&lang=EN
However, the dog-whistly articles suggest that she was in prison as a convicted child rapist, where she changed her gender therefore became a 'woke icon'. The truth seems more complicated, in that after her release she seems to have come out as trans, and was arrested in 2014 on a misdemeanour, and spent time in a men's prison where she was allegedly sexually abused by prison guards: https://news.yahoo.com/innocent-rikers-120039502.html
Sure, there can be a valid discussion around whether reform of child sexual offenders is possible or whether all of them should be locked up and the keys be thrown away forever (as the article seems to be implying), but her speaking engagements seem to have little to do with her history as a child sexual abuser but are about prison reform and sexual abuse in prisons, which she seems prima facie qualified to opine on.
How else are you academics supposed to investigate the prison system if you do not invite former prisoners to talk? As heinous as her crime was, there is no real evidence of what views she currently holds or whether her contribution to prison reform and trans sexual abuse in prison (which is a real issue) are legitimate.
This clutching of pearls and 'oh the outrage' in those articles and perhaps those tweets is frankly not much different (albeit still somewhat less successful in popular culture) than wokism and cancel culture in its more extreme forms.
Presumably, he has been embraced because he is perceived to have reformed and because his new trans identity allows him to give fresh insights. But it's still deeply unsettling and calls for scrutiny.
https://www.eviemagazine.com/post/convicted-toddler-rapist-trans-rights-activist-spoken-universities
https://reduxx.info/toddler-rapist-now-award-winning-trans-rights-activist/