Trans activists plan protest against controversial speaker at McGill

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Update: The event was canceled amid protests. More details here.

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A protest was to be held at McGill University on Tuesday to oppose a speaker whose event drew condemnation from trans activists, LGBTQ2+ rights groups and the broader community.

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The event, called “The sex versus gender (identity) debate in the UK and the LGB divorce from T”, was organized by the Law School’s Center for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism. The speaker, Robert Wintemute, is Professor of Human Rights Law at King’s College London. with ties to the LGB Alliancean advocacy group described by various LGBTQ2+ organizations and activists as a transphobic hate group.

He event page on the McGill website describes the debate in the UK (mentioned in the title of the event) regarding “whether or not the law should be changed to make it easier for a transgender person to change their legal sex from their birth sex, and about exceptional situations, such as spaces and sports exclusively for women, in which the person’s birth sex must prevail over their gender identity, regardless of their legal sex”.

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The LGB Alliance resulted from this debate, the description of the event continues, and “rejects the political coalition of LGB and T and challenges some transgender demands, because they conflict with the rights of lesbian and bisexual women or the rights of children who they might grow up to be LGB Adults.”

in a open letter posted onlinetrans activist Celeste Trianon and student groups RadLaw McGill and Queer McGill, all of whom organizing the Tuesday protest — Questioning the school’s decision to present a person with transexclusive views.

“The sheer irony of presenting it through the Center for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism cannot be understated: trans rights cannot be separated from gay or lesbian rights and are not at odds with the rights of children or cis women. ”, the letter says. . “Undermining the human rights of trans people does not benefit any member of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, nor the feminist movement.”

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The letter also points to a number of questionable positions taken by the LGB Alliance, including oppose the ban on conversion therapy for transgender people.

Trianon, who is also a law student at the Université de Montréal and coordinator of the Quebec Trans ID Clinic, said in an interview Monday that the event will add to the angst the trans community faces on a day-to-day basis.

“McGill is actively contributing to attacking the dignity and safety of trans people by not necessarily endorsing the speaker’s views, but…by giving them a platform where they are allowed to discuss trans rights” , said. “I think presenting someone like that to a human rights think tank legitimizes these anti-trans views as human rights. It is as if we are using anti-discrimination laws to defend people who discriminate. Intolerance should never be tolerated.”

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In an email, McGill University’s media relations team said that events hosted by the Center for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism, which involve a range of human rights issues, do not endorse the views of speakers. , but rather “serve as a platform for critical conversations.” on topics that can be discussed productively and robustly in an academic setting.

He added that he will ensure there is time for discussions during Tuesday’s event.

The open letter calls on the school to take responsibility for the harm it is causing to the trans community and demands “that no such event ever occur on campus again.”

“The problem is that this event actively contributes to the whole climate of hostility and attacks on the dignity and safety of trans people,” Trianon said. “This event directly contributes to making this happen.”

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