A seminar on criminal justice and gender issues was cancelled at the University of Essex after organisers said that trans activists had threatened to “obstruct” debate and discussion.
Jo Phoenix, professor of criminology at the Open University, was invited to speak on trans rights on Thursday as part of the Centre for Criminology’s autumn seminar series. It was entitled “Trans rights and justice: complicated contours in contemporary sex, gender and sexualities politics”.
The event was cancelled with a few hours’ notice after a number of university staff accused her of being “anti-trans” and “exclusionary”, saying the event broke equality guidelines. It is the third time in a month that a university has cancelled an event after complaints from either students or staff who accuse the
