Julie Bindel: Council cancels author’s talk over trans views

A city council banned an author from giving a talk at one of its libraries due to what it says are her views on transgender rights.

Julie Bindel was due to give a talk, organised by Nottingham Women for Change group, at Aspley Library.

But Nottingham City Council said her views "fly in the face" of its position on transgender rights.

Ms Bindel, who hosted the event outside the library instead, said she planned to sue the authority.

A group of people gathered to listen to the talk on Saturday, along with a number of protesters.

Nottingham Women for Change, which describes itself as a "women only activism, education and empowerment" group, said the event had been booked to "discuss feminism and domestic violence due to pressure from men's rights activists".

It was due to be held at Aspley Library, one of three in the city earmarked for closure.

In a statement, city councillors Adele Williams and Neghat Khan said ticket sales and marketing of the talk had been "undertaken independently with no input from the council".

"While it was known that the event was going to be from a feminist perspective, no information around the speaker's views on transgender rights was brought to the Library Service's attention," they said.

"Once we became aware of this, we took the decision to cancel the booking.

"Nottingham is an inclusive city and as a council we support our LGBT community and have committed to supporting trans rights as human rights through Stonewall.

"We did not want the use of one of our library buildings for this event, taking place during Pride month, to be seen as implicit support for views held by the speaker which fly in the face of our position on transgender rights."

Ms Bindel told the BBC she was "horrified" at the decision and being banned from the library building "on the basis of perceived viewpoints about the trans issue".

"They didn't even give me an example of how I'm supposed to be anti-trans which is clearly the implication," she said.

"I support the legal rights of trans people in the same way I support the legal rights of women as a sex class, and I think it's absolutely appalling that me being critical of gender ideology and the trumping of gender identity over biological sex is somehow transphobic - I object to that. It is a belief that's protected by law as we found in the [Maya] Forstarter case."

Ms Bindel said she was not even referring to trans issues in her talk.

She confirmed she planned to sue the authority and that discussions with lawyers were under way.

"To prevent someone coming to speak to women about their human rights and how to resist abuse and misogyny is appalling so I feel really disturbed, concerned and I think this precedent must not be allowed to be set," she added.

The BBC has asked the council which of Ms Bindel's views had prompted the decision to cancel the talk.

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