A city council has apologised to veteran feminist and lesbian activist Julie Bindel after cancelling a talk because of “the speaker’s views on transgender rights”.
In June, Bindel was due to give a talk, organised by the Nottingham Women for Change group at Aspley library in Nottingham, one of three earmarked for closure.
However, the day before the event was due to be held, Nottingham city council informed the group it could not go ahead.
The council said Bindel’s views on transgender rights were at odds with its equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) strategy.
In a statement at the time, it said: “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.”
Bindel said she only found out about the cancellation of the 25 June event when she was already on the train.
She ended up speaking in the library car park and at the time said she would be suing the council.
The council has now said the decision to cancel the talk was unlawful and has agreed to make a payment to the author, to Nottingham Women for Change and to ticket holders in respect of their “reasonable losses” due to the cancellation of the event.
Bindel had been booked to speak at the library with a talk titled: “Julie Bindel: her work, in her words.”
Bindel has been accused of transphobia because she says she does not believe trans women can legitimately say they are a woman. At the time, she said she had no plan to talk about transgender issues.
“I was going up to speak about feminism, about violence against women,” she said. “I was invited by a group of community activists who are trying to keep the library open.”
According to Nottingham Women for Change, which describes itself as a “women only activism, education and empowerment” group, the event was booked to “discuss feminism and domestic violence due to pressure from men’s rights activists”.
In a post on her Substack blog discussing the recent development by the council, Bindel said: “I consider it to be deeply offensive and problematic for public bodies to decide that I am too controversial and even dangerous for women to listen to when I am talking about campaigning to end rape and domestic abuse.
“I am a feminist campaigner. It is particularly important that women in deprived communities have the opportunity to come together. Public spaces which enable women to do so are essential.
“It is nothing short of outrageous that my voice is silenced when there are women requesting to hear it.”
The author added that “once the dust has settled” she plans to return to Nottingham for a bigger event.
A spokesperson for the council said: “Nottingham city council has agreed that, if Nottingham Women for Change seeks to make a booking at any Nottingham city council venue by way of a fully completed booking form, the council will make a fresh decision in response to such request upon a lawful basis.”
