After failing to stifle the free speech of feminist writer Meghan Murphy in a “gender identity” forum on Tuesday, radical leftists in the city plan protest the Toronto Public Library for daring to offer a venue for such a thought-criminal.
According to The Toronto Star, Murphy, writer at the Feminist Current blog, was booked to speak at the Palmerston Library Theatre on the topic “Gender Identity: What does it mean for society, the law and women?”
The event, hosted by local group Radical Feminists Unite, was defended by chief librarian Vickery Bowles, who has steadfastly refused to entertain calls to cancel the event.
“I’m not going to reconsider not supporting free speech” Bowles declared in an interview with CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Radio. “No, I’m standing up for free speech.”
“And you knew that Ms. Murphy has argued that trans women should not be allowed into women’s locker rooms … bathrooms or prisons, and that allowing people to self-declare their legal gender will ‘nullify women’s rights,’” the CBC reporter asked Bowles. “You knew all of that?”
“Yes, we did. We were well aware of the Vancouver Public Library controversy, where Meghan Murphy was allowed to speak,” Bowles responded. “And the room rental purpose was to have an educational and open discussion on the concept of gender identity and its legislation ramifications on women in Canada.”
“The purpose of this … wasn’t an educational session, was it? This is someone who says that these rights should not exist, is that not the case?” the reporter continued, seemingly shocked by Bowles’ response.
“It’s a discussion,” Bowles insisted. “It’s part of a civil discourse that people are having in the larger community about gender identity.”
Then, all but arguing that there can only be one side to the issue, the reporter continued, “If you have somebody within that discussion who denies that these rights should exist … is that really a side? Or is that denying somebody their rights?”
Bowles replied:
People in the community, on social media, have been describing this as hate speech. It’s not defined under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms … as a hate speech. Otherwise, Megan Murphy would not be allowed to speak about these things. She would be facing criminal charges. But she’s not.
Sometimes … when you’re defending free speech, you’re in a very uncomfortable position where you’re defending perspectives and ideas and viewpoints that many in the community, or a few in the community, whatever, find offensive.
But it’s at that time that it’s most important to stand up for free speech. That is what makes Canada a democratic country, and that is what we need today more than ever.
Amen!!
The Star also notes that a review of Murphy’s statements turned up no hate speech convictions or other disqualifiers. Under library guidelines, Bowles could have refused a permit if she reasonably believed that “the purpose of the event will promote discrimination, contempt or hatred for any individual or group,” which is nothing shy of a miracle in the leftist dystopia of “hate speech”-policing Canada.
Still, transgenderism advocates are using every tool at their disposal to punish the library.
The Star reports:
Some prominent authors are boycotting library events to protest Murphy’s appearance. Mayor John Tory implored the library to reverse its stance. Pride Toronto has warned library leaders “there will be consequences to our relationship for this betrayal.”
At least three people with room bookings, including a big salon at Toronto Reference Library, have cancelled their events citing opposition to Murphy’s gender-identity event, the Star has learned.
Stratis [a transgender “woman” and activist] and others told board members at Wednesday’s meeting about suffering assaults and accusations of not being a “real woman.”
“It was disappointing that those personal and real stories were not sufficient evidence to drive the board to re-evaluate their decision,” said David Morris, chair of The 519, a community and advocacy centre in Toronto’s Gay Village, who also appealed to the board.
“A public debate about whether trans and non-binary people even exist is incredibly toxic.”
As an aside, how ironic that these people who find Murphy’s event to be “toxic” would probably wholeheartedly endorse an event in which a freakishly-dressed drag queen is allowed to skip a background check and groom preschoolers at a story time event?
According to the Daily Hive, a group of pro-transgender activists will be protesting Murphy’s event outside the library tomorrow evening.
“We cannot and will not stand idly by while this happens, and we are asking any allies willing and able to stand with us in protest of this event,” reads the Facebook event post.
Toronto Pride is also set to hold a trans march through the city that evening:
TRANS RALLY, TUESDAY 29th OCTOBER 2019 at Church St. and Hayden St. at 7.00pm. #prideto pic.twitter.com/A04EcjWzTU
— Pride Toronto (@PrideToronto) October 24, 2019
“As a politician, I understand people have concerns over Meghan Murphy — the library is where we make everyone feel welcome regardless of their sexual or cultural background,” said Paul Ainslie, a longtime library board member, of the board’s decision not to bar Murphy from speaking. “But we pride ourselves on being a forum where people can speak about things, and you can agree or disagree with them.”
Murphy is no stranger to leftist oppression for failing to toe the line on gender theory. As we reported back in February, the blogger was banned from Twitter for simply “misgendering” a biological man who claims to be a transgender “woman.”
As we’ve made clear in the past, we at Activist Mommy have very little in common with radical feminists like Murphy. Where we do align, however, is in our belief that women are women, men are men, and that the onslaught of transgender “rights” is leading to the misogynistic erasure of women from all aspects of society.
Please reach out to the Toronto Public Library and thank them for their courage in defending Murphy’s right to speak the truth about the very real dangers of the transgenderism movement. And if you live in the Toronto area, go out and show your support!
These people do not want equal rights, they want supremacy, but if more people are as rational and bold as Vickery Bowles, they’ll never get it.
If you appreciate the work we are doing to fight the leftist assault on our values, please consider a small donation to help us continue. Thank you so much!
