Kathleen Stock talk at Oxford Union disrupted as trans activists descend on venue
Kathleen Stock's talk at Oxford Union was disrupted
PA
Kathleen Stock’s Oxford Union talk was interrupted by LGBT+ activists “full of anger”.
Around 200 protesters gathered at Bonn Square on Tuesday, holding banners which read “resisting by existing” and chanting, “trans rights – human rights”, before marching towards the 200-year-old debating society where police braced for potential clashes.
The demonstrations spilled into the hall, where police removed a protester who glued themselves to the floor during an Oxford Union talk with the feminist.
Four police officers spent around 10 minutes attempting to remove the protester while security walked up and down the hall and demanded that audience members not record or take pictures of the incident.
Prof Stock had only been talking for around five minutes before three protesters jumped out of the audience chanting, “no more dead trans kids”.
Kathleen Stock said after a lengthy delay that those who think trans people are not violent “should speak to a criminologist”.
Arguing that trans women who were born male should not be able to access female-only spaces, she said: “In changing rooms where women are, we are supposed to do stuff (to protect them) and when we took males out as we did before, it was on the assumption that some males are predators.
“We are not doing that as a society. We are supposed to care about women. It is a risk of a man saying he is a woman and going into a space and taking advantage of that”.
When pressed on whether trans women posed a similar risk to biological men, she said that “if you think trans people aren’t violent, you need to talk to some criminologists”.
She added that “at least 50%” of trans women in prison were there for sexual assault.
Prof Stock said it is “not fair on females” for trans women to enter their spaces, asking: “Why should females take this burden on?”
In images shared with GB News, protesters appeared to be handed notes with advice for their course of action should they be arrested.
They are urged to say "no comment" to all police questions and not accept a caution without advice from a recommended solicitor.
Notes with advice have been handed to protesters outside Oxford Union
Image: Nicole
Riz Possnett, the protester who glued themselves to the floor of the Oxford Union debating chamber during a talk by feminist Kathleen Stock, said trans rights “should not be up to debate”.
In a thread posted to Twitter, they said that those who had come to listen to Prof Stock, who has been accused of transphobia by the Oxford University LGBTQ+ society in the lead up to the event, should consider the “dangerous consequences” of her views.
They said: “Trans lives and rights should not be up for ‘debate’, but the Union did not even provide that. My goal was to show the other side, to ensure everyone who listened to Stock’s talk also considered the dangerous consequences of those views for trans people, particularly trans youth.
“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.
“We will fight for trans rights and trans futures. We will not let the trans youth of the future suffer as we have. We will fight for justice for trans youth, healthcare for trans youth, dignity for trans youth, and joy for trans youth. No more dead trans kids.”