Edinburgh University hopes to defuse a crisis involving gender critical and pro-trans academics after clashes over the screening of the film Adult Human Female.
University executives are holding talks with both sides after pro-trans activists prevented the gender critical documentary from being screened on campus for the second time late last month, by blockading a theatre where it was due to be shown.
Edinburgh has found itself at the centre of a wider conflict over gender politics that has affected other universities across the UK, and recently spilled over to involve the Edinburgh festival fringe.
In a statement, the university said its campus should be “a safe space for difficult conversation [where] different viewpoints are listened to with tolerance”. That should include opinions which “may be perceived as harmful and upsetting to others”.
On Friday afternoon, The Stand comedy venue announced it would now allow a fringe event by the MP Joanna Cherry KC to go ahead after accepting its decision earlier this month to cancel the event because of her gender critical beliefs was unlawful.
Cherry’s lawyers had given The Stand until Monday to confirm it would allow the event to go ahead as scheduled or face a discrimination claim under UK equalities legislation. An event in Glasgow next Saturday featuring a trio of poets and performers styling themselves as “the Wench Resistance” has also been challenged by LGBTQ+ campaigners.
University sources have confirmed that the university’s principal, Peter Mathieson, is due to meet representatives of the gender critical group Edinburgh Academics for Academic Freedom (EAFAF) next week as part of wider efforts to settle the dispute.
EAFAF said it welcomed the “robust” stance being taken by Mathieson over the cancellation of its event and said they would press him to ensure it could be screened successfully at the third attempt.
“We will ask that management work with us in the coming months to begin to address the deep-seated problems that underlie what happened” to those earlier screenings, it said.
Meanwhile coordinators of the pro-trans Staff Pride Network, which is backed by the student union and by trade unions on campus, have had discussions with the university’s equalities and diversity officers, but have yet to be invited to meet Mathieson.
The Staff Pride group said it was willing to begin talks about resolving the crisis but said they needed clear assurances that the university acknowledged the harmful impact the film would have on trans and non-binary staff and students.
“We have shown willing to engage in all forms of mediation the university has to offer. Agreed solutions have to be founded on principles of inclusion that ensure the safety and wellbeing of our LGBTQ+ staff and students at the university,” it said.
Adult Human Female, which asserts that women are defined by their biological sex and that women’s rights are being threatened, is regarded by trans rights groups as inflammatory, transphobic and scientifically inaccurate.
EAFAF’s first attempt to screen the film on campus last December was disrupted by trans rights activists, one of whom was later charged with alleged assault, and then cancelled amid chaotic scenes.
The university is also bracing itself for further protests over an EAFAF event on campus on Saturday 20 May, when Cherry will be joined by the human rights lawyer Akua Reindorf KC for a debate on academic freedom and the law.
The university said: “We remain disappointed that protesters prevented us from screening the documentary on two occasions. We understand, however, the strength of feeling within the university around the screening of the film and are currently engaged in conversations with groups within our university community to identify next steps.”
But the idea of brokered talks have been met with a mixed response.
Dylan Hamilton, a trans man involved in an earlier protest against the film, said: “With people who are gender critical, in my experience there is no point in discussion because there is no compromise where I don’t lose some rights.
“With ordinary people there’s definitely an opportunity to learn and bridge gaps,” he adds, a view echoed by the Glasgow-based writer and film-maker Jennie Kermode, who is an adviser for Trans Media Watch.
“It would be really useful to have a forum where people who are worried about what they’ve been told about toilets or other aspects of gender recognition reform could ask questions,” she said, “but you would struggle to find a trans person willing to take part because any discussion ends up swamped with people looking to provoke a fight.”
Jenny Lindsay, one of the poets involved in the Glasgow gig, said she would like to see arts and educational organisations taking a stand on no-platforming rather than leaving it to individuals: “Whenever any woman gets the label ‘Terf’, your life is changed overnight. Of course we organised a gig together because we’ve been sidelined elsewhere.
“A core of people will never be convinced by freedom of speech or belief arguments, but what we could come together around is the right of people to hold events to discuss these issues.”
Cabaret Against the Hate, which describes itself as an ally and LGBTQ+ group and called on Lindsay’s venue to explain why it was hosting her event, said debate must involve everyone: “If that genuine concern is about women’s safety, then why not include trans women who experience so much violence themselves rather than consistently trying to position trans women as the source of that violence?”
