I’m a boring mum of two, not a radical heroine... but when they tried to cancel me, I couldn’t back down
Free speech has a new champion: Student who dared to take on the forces of woke – and won
IDON’T think of myself as a radical. I’m such a boring person really,’ says Lisa Keogh, the unassuming student who has unexpectedly found herself at the centre of a row with the woke brigade over freedom of speech on university campuses. Two months ago, the 29-year-old, who has two sons, was preparing for her final exams at Abertay University, Dundee, where she has been studying law for the past four years.
But, in one of her final online seminars with a dozen other law students and her lecturer, she suddenly came under attack during a debate on transgender issues.
Her crime? To express what she regarded as ‘mainstream’ views – that women have vaginas and are physically weaker than men.
The subsequent fallout has led to what she terms a ‘modern-day witch hunt’ after she was placed under investigation by university chiefs for ‘offensive behaviour’.
After weeks of anxiety that she might not be allowed to graduate, and facing allegations of transphobia which she vehemently denied, she finally learned in a curt email last week that the claims against her had ‘not been upheld’.
Naturally relieved, she is furious at the way she has been treated for, as she sees it, simply stating a biological fact.
Miss Keogh, 29, a former mechanic who decided to study law partly because she wanted to set a good example to her children, said: ‘What my case shows is that if somebody doesn’t like what somebody else says, they can complain and they can put someone through this investigation process without any repercussions for them. And this investigation process is horrific.
‘It’s in the back of your mind all the time. While you’re driving the kids to school you’re in a daze. Your children are speaking and you’re answering them but there’s a loop playing in your head about what’s going to happen with the university. Have I just wasted four years of my life? I worked so hard for that degree.’
TOXIC NEW CULTURE SAYS: IF SOMEONE UPSETS YOU, THEN DESTROY THEM
The global publicity from the case has not only left the university’s reputation tarnished but has also led to calls from victims of ‘woke’ mob pile-ons to have their rights to free speech enshrined in law.
It comes after recent high-profile cases across the UK’s university campuses, where academics claim they have been ‘thrown to the wolves’ by their own establishments after complaints from students, only to find themselves later cleared of any wrongdoing whilst their accusers face no sanctions.
Earlier this month, Dr Neil Thin, 60, a respected social anthropology lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, was cleared after a two-month suspension over claims by students that he was ‘racist’ and ‘problematic’ after criticising the university’s move to rename a tower honouring philosopher David Hume, over his links to slavery. Now, as the fightback begins to curb the more extreme elements of the woke brigade, and organisations like the Free Speech Union take up the cudgels of those whose views are being attacked, Miss Keogh has unexpectedly found herself to be the new champion of free speech.
Yesterday, she said: ‘People are saying to me, “You’re brave, you’re a hero”. But I’m not a hero. I’m just a normal girl and I did what I felt was right. I could never have backed down and apologised because it’s not in my nature to apologise when I’m right.
‘If I’d apologised what would that have achieved? It was my opinion and whether my opinion is right or wrong, I shouldn’t have to apologise.
‘If someone had an opinion that I didn’t agree with, I’d fully expect them to stand by it and prove to me why they were right. I suppose what sets me apart from the other students is that I have real life views. I think people are more conditioned now to be quite sensitive and take offence. We’re living in this culture now where if someone upsets you, you just destroy them. Whereas before, if someone upset you, it was a case of trying to ignore them.’
Miss Keogh had been under investigation since April 16 and the panel met in May, on the day she sat her final exam.
But instead of dismissing the complaints, they referred the matter to the Abertay student disciplinary board ‘to consider the alleged misconduct’. There were also suggestions that her behaviour in the seminar was abusive – a claim that Miss Keogh strongly denies. She said: ‘I genuinely didn’t call anybody a name. I didn’t direct anything at anyone. I stated a couple of facts and there was uproar.
‘I have the initial email from the university saying that they had received an allegation that I had made inappropriate comments.
‘I was taken aback, worried, angry and confused. I didn’t even know which of my comments were viewed as inappropriate because in my eyes I only stated facts. Everything I said was lawful. There was no mention about my behaviour.
‘The university has tried to change the narrative as the criticism of their actions grew stronger. I think it is really nasty of them to do that and an absolute cop-out for them to try to turn the blame on me.’
NOT A SINGLE WORD OF APOLOGY FROM UNIVERSITY
‘Above all, it bothers me that nothing’s happened to the complainers.
They maliciously set out to cancel me and destroy me. Why is that fair? They’ll continue on and get their degrees. Surely they deserve a warning? The university hasn’t even apologised.’
That what initially began as a straightforward class discussion between law students and their lecturer could have descended so
quickly into a transphobic row has left Miss Keogh appalled.
She said: ‘Of all places you should be allowed to debate, it’s a university, especially in a law course. Having the ability to construct a viable argument is an important asset.
‘I thought we were all mature adults taking part in open debate and open to other people’s opinions.
There were so many opinions on there which I didn’t agree with and that’s all part of the debate – you learn and you educate other people. That’s no longer the case, apparently.’
Miss Keogh’s sons, aged nine and seven, are receiving sex education at school. Previously, she would never have considered this to be a controversial subject, but not now. She added: ‘How is it OK for a child to be learning that women have vaginas at school, but not OK for me to say it in a university?
‘I was asked to define what a woman is and I said someone with a vagina. A biological fact, I thought – and still think – but apparently it is now unacceptable to say it.
‘Because I had dared to question anything about transgender rights, a target was on my back.’
In another part of the seminar, she tried to offer an opinion related to sports, and whether trans women should be allowed to compete against women born biologically female.
She said: ‘Before I had my boys, I trained as a car mechanic. I was the only woman in a garage of 12 male mechanics.
‘I offered up as evidence my observation that I wasn’t physically as strong as the men. There were things I couldn’t lift. Some of the others turned on me. I was accused of being a white, cis woman speaking from a position of privilege.’
Cisgender, or cis, describes someone whose gender identity corresponds to that person’s sex at birth.
BRUTAL, BLOODY CAGE FIGHT AT HEART OF ARGUMENT
But it was her graphic description of a Mixed Martial Arts fight she had watched on television that caused a furore.
She told them about an incident involving fighter Fallon Fox, who was born a man and transitioned at the age of 32. In 2014, during a fight, Fox accidentally fractured her female opponent’s skull in the ring.
Miss Keogh said: ‘Fox fractured her skull within 38 seconds. The fight was messy and bloody and hard to view. It was a lady getting thrown around like a rag doll.
‘I said I thought it was unfair to expect women to fight or take part in sports against people born biologically male. I wasn’t being nasty. I thought it was a great example to put into the debate.
‘Instead, the lecturer muted me and I got branded transphobic, which I’m not.
‘I believe in live your best life, be the best version of you, that’s what I would say to anyone.’
To back up her claim, she referred to a challenge in 1998 by Serena Williams, one of the best female tennis players in history, that no male outside the ATP Top 200 could beat her – only to have Karsten Braasch (ranked 203rd at the time) challenge her to a set and win 6-1.
Miss Keogh added: ‘She has spoken of how this mediocre male tennis player ran rings round her.’
Miss Keogh also pointed out that, earlier this year, former Olympic gold athlete Caitlyn Jenner said she was opposed to trans girls taking part in women’s sport, claiming it would be ‘unfair’.
NEW LAWS WILL PROTECT FREE SPEECH... IN ENGLAND
At her disciplinary hearing, she recalls logging on and asking the investigator exactly what it was she was supposed to have done.
She said: ‘I actually felt sorry for her when she had to say, “Is it true you said women have vaginas?”
‘What a silly thing to have to ask anyone. It’s almost funny – or would be if it wasn’t so serious. If we really are at a point where saying that women have vaginas is offensive, then I think that is worrying.’
Last month, Britain’s new equalities chief, Baroness Falkner of Margravine, vowed to fight for women’s rights to challenge transgender activism. The peer said women must have the right to question transgender identity without being abused or risk losing their jobs.
It also comes as the planned Higher Education (Freedom of Speech Bill) in England aims to see universities in England face fines for failing to protect free speech.
It is intended to combat so-called ‘no platforming’ on campuses, prevent staff from being penalised for controversial opinions, and allow visiting speakers, academics or students to seek compensation if they suffer any loss from breach of free speech obligations.
A PYRRHIC VICTORY, WITH DEBATE STILL STIFLED
Miss Keogh has been supported by Joanna Cherry, QC, the Nationalist MP for Edinburgh South West and deputy chairman of the Lords and Commons joint committee on human rights.
Ms Cherry said: ‘Universities should review free speech and equality policies to ensure students aren’t targeted by spurious complaints nor discriminated against, harassed or victimised for their beliefs.’
Toby Young of the Free Speech Union has also backed Miss Keogh, saying: ‘In a seminar on gender, feminism and the law there should be room for a range of views.
‘Lisa deserves huge credit. The path of least resistance would have been to apologise and renounce her belief, but instead she fought her corner. There is now space for a broader range of views at Abertay.’
Miss Keogh has also been buoyed, she says, by hundreds of messages of support from all over the world.
She is now considering becoming a human rights lawyer and hopes that the Scottish Government will take heed of the English law to offer the same protection.
Miss Keogh added: ‘As much as I won my case, I don’t think it’s going to make much difference in the short term.
‘I think people will feel deterred from speaking their mind and until there is legislation in place to protect people and to protect free speech, there’s never going to be that carefree attitude we used to all have when taking part in a debate.’
A spokesman for Abertay University said: ‘The university is legally obliged to investigate all complaints.’