“The self-righteous cowards and censors win again.” For Jordan Peterson, this was the bottom line of an event featuring Canadian free-speech activists which was cancelled over threats of violence.
The event, "How media bias shapes the gender identity debate" was scheduled to be held at the Vancouver campus of Simon Fraser University on Saturday, 2 November.
The speaking panel was slated to feature Meghan Murphy, the journalist banned from Twitter for challenging pro-transgender views and “misgendering” the biologically male transgender woman Jessica Yaniv; Jonathan Kay, the Canadian editor of conservative website Quillette; and Anna Slatz, a journalist who has extensively covered Yaniv’s infamous “scrotum waxing” case and uncovered allegations of child predation by the trans-activist.
The self righteous cowards and censors win again: https://t.co/F5kLwHQsHJ
— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) November 1, 2019
The event was to be moderated by Lindsay Shepherd, a Canadian free speech activist who got suspended from Twitter over an online confrontation with Yaniv.
According to The Post Millenial news site, the university told the organisers that their event had resulted in a “high risk of violence” and was to be dropped. Apparently, an LGBT student group within the university and an outside group advocating transgender rights had discussed pulling fire alarms and damaging property to derail the debate, so the host campus had to back out to avoid violence.
Luckily for the speakers, they have managed to relocate the event to the Pan Pacific Hotel in the landmark Canada Place in Vancouver.
Just this week, hundreds of protesters gathered outside a branch of the Toronto Public Library during a speech there by Meghan Murphy, who believes transgender women undermine the rights of biological women.
Protestors heckling attendees who are leaving the #MeghanMurphy speaking session at the Palmerston library. pic.twitter.com/612pPMbkhh
— Kamil Karamali (@KamilKaramali) October 29, 2019
The library refused to cancel the event, citing its “obligation to protect free speech” as a public institution – a decision the mayor of Toronto called “disappointing.”
