Police spent ten minutes unsticking a transgender politics activist who attempted to disrupt a speech at a prestigious debating society by Professor Kathleen Stock, who articulated her concerns that some institutions are being transformed into “propaganda machines”.
Police were stationed at the Oxford Union debating society on Tuesday evening as a march of transgender interest protesters attempted to prevent a speech going ahead by Professor Kathleen Stock. Proceedings were temporarily suspended, the Daily Telegraph reported of the incident, after a group of protesters who had made themselves inconspicuous in the audience burst up while Professor Stock spoke.
While two of their number handed out fliers saying the Professor wasn’t welcome at the ancient seat of learning, one glued herself to the ground in front of the dias and chanted slogans. It took police approximately ten minutes of trying to unstick the individual, identified in media as serial protester Riz Posnett, and the event resumed after 30 minutes.
It is reported that as Posnett was led out of the chamber, she was jeered by the audience who made remarks calling for free speech — rather than attempts to shut down speaking events — be respected.
Philosophy Professor Stock, described as a leading feminist who was forced out of her academic job at the University of Sussex in 2021 after she published a book discussing gender and biological sex and was subjected to a campaign of “ostracism”, spoke on Tuesday about the importance of maintaining female-only spaces, such as bathrooms.
People protest in Oxford where Professor Kathleen Stock, who quit her job as a lecturer at the University of Sussex after being targeted by activists over her views on gender identity, is due to speak at the 200-year-old debating society, the Oxford Union. Picture date: Tuesday May 30, 2023. (Photo by Jonathan Brady/PA Images via Getty Images)
Professor Kathleen Stock (centre) arrives at the 200-year-old debating society, the Oxford Union, flanked by security Picture date: Tuesday May 30, 2023. (Photo by Jonathan Brady/PA Images via Getty Images)
Stock said that by speaking despite protests she was standing up against authoritarians, and she expressed her concern that institutions are internalising the complaints of protesters and rushing to appease them, and in doing so are becoming “propaganda machines for a particular point of view”.
The BBC reports that Stock rejected the allegation that she engages in hate speech, telling the debating society meeting that: “It’s not hate speech to say that males cannot be women. You can believe what you like, and I’m not stopping anybody believing any different, but it’s certainly not hate speech to say that and that’s basically the most controversial thing, I think.
“It’s important younger generations are exposed to ideas they haven’t come across before. Sometimes that will be very challenging to them.”
Riz Posnett, who glued herself to the floor and attempted to shout over proceedings, was reported as saying after the event by the Independent news site: “Kathleen Stock is not welcome here. Terfs are not welcome here. We will resist hatred, and we will fight for trans rights. Trans people, including trans youth, deserve to live in peace, safe from bigotry and harassment, with access to life-saving gender-affirming healthcare.
“We grieve for our trans siblings who have lost their lives on waiting lists, we grieve for those who have been murdered, and we grieve for those who died without ever having the freedom to live as their true selves. No more.”
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