LGBT Activists Storm Gender Critical Professor’s Oxford Talk

Protester glued herself to the floor holding sign saying 'no more dead trans kids'

Kathleen Stock departs followed by security after her talk at the Oxford Union in Oxford, England, on May 30, 2023. Eddie Keogh/Getty Images

A protester glued herself to the floor after LGBT activists stormed a university talk by gender critical feminist Kathleen Stock.

Police forcibly removed trans campaigner Riz Possnett—who wore a T-shirt with the slogan “no more dead trans kids"—as audience members inside Oxford Union urged Stock to carry on with her speech.

On Tuesday, hundreds of chanting protesters marched towards the 200-year-old debating society blaring music including Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made For Walking” as Stock arrived.

The academic spoke for around 10 minutes before three protesters emerged from the audience of the packed hall, shouting, “No more dead trans kids.”

Shortly later, four police officers removed Possnett and escorted the activist out of the building to cheers from the audience.

The interruption, which lasted for around half an hour, was later dismissed by Stock, who said, “It wasn’t traumatic for me.”

In a series of Twitter posts after the protesters were removed, Possnett, an Oxford University student who has appeared on GB News, described the feminist’s beliefs as “dangerous and hateful.”

“Kathleen Stock is not welcome here. Terfs [Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists] are not welcome here,” Possnett wrote.

“We will resist hatred, and we will fight for trans rights.”

The altercation came after the Oxford Union LGBTQ+ Society’s President Amiad Haran Diman, which organised the rally outside, promised that the society would not try to “shut down” the event.

Protester Riz Possnett, who glued herself to the front of the stage where Kathleen Stock was talking, is seen outside the Oxford Union in Oxford, England, on May 30, 2023. Eddie Keogh/Getty Images

‘Not Fair on Females’

Speaking after the protesters were pulled out of the hall, Stock said: “I actually don’t mind that protest. It wasn’t traumatic for me.

“Generally what I find more worrying is that when institutions have listened to the protesters and [...] then basically become propaganda machines for a particular point of view and everyone else feels they can’t say what they want to say.

“That’s happening, I’m afraid, in lots of workplaces and universities.”

Stock went on to challenge calls for biological men who identify as women to access female toilets and changing rooms, arguing that some could “take advantage.”

She said it is “not fair on females,” asking, “Why should females take this burden on?”

When pressed by the union’s president, Matthew Dick, on whether men who identify as women pose a similar risk to men, she cited statistics by the Ministry of Justice which show that “at least 50 percent” of those in prison are there for sexual assault, adding, “That’s a higher rate than the average male.”

“I hate to be the one to tell you this sort of thing because the people outside totally misunderstand what I’m saying, but somebody has to say it,” she said.

And when questioned on whether transgender people are less likely to attack women because they suffer from “huge amounts of violence” themselves, Stock hit back, “I’m afraid it doesn’t follow that people who are subjected to violence aren’t violent, I think you need to talk to some criminologists.”

She added: “If we do not talk about reality then we go wrong. You can go about your life pretending for a while but reality will hit you in the face.”

Freedom of Speech

Days before Stock’s talk, 100 Oxford University academics and staff signed a letter supporting the right of transgender students to speak out against her.

The BBC reported that the open letter, shared on Saturday by the university’s LGBTQ+ society and signed by the group, said, “We believe that trans students should not be made to debate their existence.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak intervened to support the talk, writing in The Telegraph newspaper that debate is a hallmark of a “tolerant society.”

Before the debate, the university’s vice-chancellor, Professor Irene Tracey, defended the philosopher’s appearance as a matter of “freedom of speech.”

Tracey’s support followed that of Professor Martin Williams—one of Oxford’s pro-vice-chancellors—who said students must “encounter and confront difficult views” after attempts to ban Stock from the event.

Stock was accused by some students as being transphobic over her gender identity views which include that it is fiction to claim “trans women are women.”

Attempts to deplatform the philosopher were also condemned in an open letter signed by more than 40 of Oxford’s dons including evolutionary biologist Professor Richard Dawkins.

In one of the most significant interventions by academics in recent free-speech controversies, the 44 scholars with “a range of different political beliefs, Left and Right” said universities should be “places where contentious views can be openly discussed.”

Stock, who quit her job as a lecturer at the University of Sussex in 2021 after being targeted by activists over her views on gender identity, said on Monday she was a “moderate” and that it was her trans activist opponents who were extreme for demanding the event be cancelled.

In a statement issued last month, the Oxford University LGBTQ+ Society called for Stock’s invitation to speak to be rescinded as it claimed she was “transphobic and trans-exclusionary.”

It also accused Oxford Union of “disregarding” the welfare of the society’s members under the guise of free speech.

Responding on Twitter at the time, Stock said the society’s statement contained “several falsehoods,” was “probably defamatory,” and made it look “utterly ridiculous.”

PA Media contributed to this report.