Law lecturers’ advice ‘silences gender-critical speakers’

TWO law lecturers are facing a backlash after publishing guidance which critics claim urges Britain’s universities to silence gender-critical speakers.

The report claims to explain to students, lecturers and other university staff how free speech laws work in relation to transgender debates.

But leading lawyers say parts of it are “ludicrously wrong”, while gender-critical campaigners say it is misogynistic.

The report claims universities are entitled to cancel events involving gender-critical speakers because such talks could “contaminate student life for hundreds if not thousands of people”.

Drawn up by University of Essex law lecturers Daragh Murragh and Emily Jones, alongside barrister David Renton, it follows a series of campus clashes between trans activists and feminists. It says distress could even be caused by “contaminating’ part of the university by using it for a gender-critical event.

Maya Forstater, executive director of Sex Matters, said this was “shocking”, adding the report “sets out why universities should try to get away with shutting down gender-critical speech”.

Dr Bryn Harris, chief legal counsel at the Free Speech Union, said: “This paper ought to come with a prominent disclaimer, ideally along the lines of ‘Ignore this paper – it’s largely wrong’.”

A spokesman for the University of Essex said: “The article was completed independently by the authors. All our academic staff have freedom within the law to question and test received wisdom, and to put forward new ideas and controversial or unpopular opinions.”