You on the left who think that it is only we on the right who are being censored and no-platformed, so that’s okay, will soon realise that eventually this intolerance will come for you too. You either believe in free speech or you do not – you cannot be selective about it. Today’s lefty learning that painful lesson is Joan McAlpine, an SNP member of the Scottish Parliament whose views on a range of issues put her well to the left of most Guardian readers. Natch she is also a keen believer in the bogus global warming religion so, on that basis, received an invitation to speak to a group called Teach The Future on how to save the planet.
Teach the future says it is “A group of students who believe that our education systems need to be reformed to reflect the urgency of the climate and ecological crisis.” Whatever. But then the students discovered that on the issue of transgender rights, Ms McAlpine is not singing from their uber woke hymn sheet. Oops. This shaming, no-platforming tweet was sent.
So what was Ms McAlpine’s thought crime? The Times reports:
An SNP politician has demanded an apology from Scottish ministers for citing “insulting” research that called for transgender women to have the same access to changing rooms as those who have had mastectomies.
Joan McAlpine challenged the Scottish government on its assurance that plans to make it easier to change gender would not endanger women. Nicola Sturgeon has dismissed arguments that sex offenders would exploit more liberal gender recognition rules to gain access to women’s private spaces, such as lavatories and changing rooms.
Ends.
I guess Ms McAlpine simply agrees with you and me that she does not want a bearded six-foot woman called Barry, who still has a todger, showering down after basketball in the same bathroom as your teenage daughter just because he now says he wants to be known as Sally? Is that a terribly offensive view? Well apparently it is. The eco-warrior students state:
“We do not endorse McAlpine’s views, and therefore do not want to platform her on any other issue.”
Ends.
So there you have it. We must all sign up to an uber-radical agenda whereby trans folks at whatever stage of transition, perhaps simply saying they now identify as another gender and want to start a process of physical change, have full and immediate access to the unisex facilities hitherto reserved for that other gender. If we do not accept that agenda then we should be denied the right to speak on ANY topic.
This my friends is the tolerant left on the Marxist madrassas we call British Universities in action. If you do not sign up to full on identity politics, your right to be heard disappears. First they came for Donald Trump and you Guardian readers said nothing*. Then they came for the other conservatives and you Guardian readers said nothing*. Then they came for the SNP and you Guardian readers said nothing. And then they came for you Guardian readers and there was no-one left to speak up for you.
*In fact you cheered.