It looks like at least one Oxford college didn’t get the memo. In a step backwards following Kathleen Stock’s successful event at the Oxford Union earlier this week, Regent’s Park College has issued a “trans inclusion statement” that threatens students who persistently misgender their trans peers with expulsion. The Telegraph has more.
Students at the University of Oxford could be expelled for misgendering their peers under a college’s new transgender harassment policy.
Regent’s Park College – once called home by the goddaughter of the late Diana, Princess of Wales – has launched a campaign against transphobia with a “trans inclusion statement”.
The new policy says that “unlawful discriminatory behaviour, including transphobic harassment or bullying… will be regarded extremely seriously and could be grounds for disciplinary action”.
The statement lists examples of harassment, including “consistently using incorrect titles, pronouns or names to refer to a trans person (‘deadnaming’) especially where this causes distress”.
The college’s students are also banned from “unduly intrusive or personal questioning”, “making jokes about trans people or their trans status” and “denying or disputing the validity and/or existence of a trans person’s identity”.
Students found to have broken the policy may face “expulsion or dismissal”, the statement continued.
Regent’s Park College is thought to be the first college to recognise gender identity as a protected characteristic by implementing a specific policy about it.
The college said it believes “gender reassignment” is not an “exclusively medical” term and also has “personal” dimensions.
Its statement said: “Individuals perceived as having the protected characteristic of gender reassignment (even incorrectly) are still afforded its protections.”
Worth reading in full.
If any students at Regent’s Park find themselves under investigation for ‘misgendering’ someone, i.e., using the gender pronouns that correspond to their biological sex, please do get in touch with the Free Speech Union. You can email our case team at help@freespeechunion.org.
Stop Press: Tom Slater has written an article in the Spectator explaining why this new policy is so sinister.
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