Jennifer Bilek – Investigative Author, “11th Hour” Blog

Jennifer Bilek is an American investigative journalist and writer known for her research into the funding behind the transgender rights movement. She writes a blog called “The 11th Hour” and has been published in outlets like Tablet Magazine and First Things. Bilek has extensively traced how a “handful of billionaires” and wealthy foundations (such as Jennifer Pritzker, Martine Rothblatt, the Arcus Foundation, etc.) have financially supported LGBT and transgender advocacy. She argues that this funding has driven a “transgender industry” linked with biotech and transhumanism. At the Inflection Point summit, Bilek joined via video from New York to present her findings. IPNZ introduced her as having “uncovered the financial backing of the transgender movement by billionaires and the role of biotech and transhumanists in shaping the narrative.”inflectionpoint.nz. This perspective dovetails with popular conspiracy narratives on the right, suggesting the trans rights push is astroturfed by elites. Bilek herself is not academically trained in gender studies; her background includes being an artist and environmental activist before focusing on gender politics in the mid-2010s. She has become influential in gender-critical circles for “following the money” – her 2020 article “The Billionaires Behind the LGBT Movement” is widely cited. However, critics accuse her work of veering into antisemitic tropes and baseless conjecture (as some funders she highlights are Jewish or tied to pharma). On social media, Bilek (Twitter: @bjportraits) regularly posts about “gender ideology” being driven by Big Tech and pharma interests. By featuring Bilek, Inflection Point NZ linked domestic concerns to a global theory of elite influence, framing the trans issue not as grassroots social change but as top-down engineering. Her inclusion reflects the cross-pollination between NZ activists and US/UK gender-critical thought leaders.