Reporting by Anvee Bhutani, Rose Henderson, Ayomilekan Adegunwa, Milo Dennison, Daisy Outram and Martin Alfonsin Larsen.
Journalists from The Oxford Student watched the protests, counter protests, and more which took place in response to the Kathleen Stock event hosted by the Oxford Union.
Oxford Trans Pride demonstrations took place from 3pm, first via panel events in colleges, followed by a rally in Bonn Square and march to St Michael’s Street. The event culminated with a protest, and later a dance party, outside the Oxford Union.
The queue for the event went all along St Michael’s Street and beyond. Hundreds made the journey, in some cases even from outside of Oxford.
Inside the full packed chamber, Stock was greeted by applause and a standing ovation from some members of the audience before being interviewed.
The talk went on for around ten minutes before trans activist Riz Possnett appeared to glue themself on the floor, refusing to move.
Possnett wore a shirt with the words “No More Dead Trans Kids”. Two others came out of the audience waving rainbow flags and throwing leaflets, which also read “No More Dead Trans Kids”.
After a twenty minute affair, with the Union Bursar liaising with the police forces, Possnett and the others were removed by the police and the event was allowed to continue.Â
As a result, the Union was placed on full lockdown and no further individuals were allowed inside the gates for the rest of the event.
Possnett said on social media, “I did not attempt to prevent Kathleen Stock from speaking. Whilst I believe her speech is dangerous and hateful, she is entitled to exercise her right to free speech. I chose to exercise my own Article 10 and 11 rights to peacefully protest this speech…Kathleen Stock is not welcome here. TERFs are not welcome here. We will resist hatred and we will fight for trans rights.”
Stock was interviewed by Union President, Matthew Dick, for around an hour covering topics such as single-sex bathrooms, morality in gender critical feminism, cancel culture and more.
She then was subject to questioning by audience members from the dispatch box. Throughout the event the protest could be heard outside, with chants such as “Trans Rights Now” echoing through the chamber.
This story is breaking and will continue to be updated.
