Nottingham City Council confirmed it has cancelled a talk at a city library due to the author's views on transgender rights. Julie Bindel had been due to speak at Aspley Library about 'feminist activism to end male violence in Nottingham' on Saturday, June 25.
However, the city council said Ms Bindel's views on transgender rights were at odds with the authority's equality, diversity and inclusion strategy. In a thread on Twitter, the author said: "I was asked to speak to (predominantly working class/young) women about feminist activism to end male violence in Nottingham."
"The event was sold out very quickly, and was due to take place at @NottmLibraries. Just now, we have been informed that the talk is cancelled. Why?" Because misogynistic men's rights activists (masquerading as supporters of trans rights) have badgered & harassed the venue to the point where they could take no more inconvenience."
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"When the organisers said, 'Fine, we won't have the private room, we will meet in the library' they said 'no you're not allowed in." Julie added. She has also said that the event will be going ahead on the street outside the venue.
In a joint statement addressing the cancellation, Nottingham City Council Deputy Leader, Councillor Adele Williams and Portfolio Holder for Neighbourhoods, Safety and Inclusion, Councillor Neghat Khan, said: “This was a private booking at Aspley Library by the ‘Nottingham Women for Change’ group and all ticket sales and marketing of the event had been undertaken independently with no input from the council."
“While it was known that the event was going to be from a feminist perspective, no information around the speaker’s views on transgender rights was brought to the Library Service’s attention. Once we became aware of this, we took the decision to cancel the booking.
"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. We did not want the use of one of our library buildings for this event, taking place during Pride month, to be seen as implicit support for views held by the speaker which fly in the face of our position on transgender rights."
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