The limits of free speech

Haunted by Leonard Cohen from Fort Worth, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

This week I am in Canada, speaking at two events organised by the Canadian Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship (SAFS). The first talk, which was to have taken place at the London Public Library in Ontario on Friday, is on sex, gender and the limits of free speech.

In proposing to give this talk, I have exposed exactly where the limits of free speech lie today. The Public Library has refused to host the SAFS event - despite having done so in the past. Managers declared my proposed speech breached numerous library policies and could even risk ‘physical harm’ or ‘sexual harassment’.

It seems we can’t even discuss the way that free speech about sex and gender is curtailed today.

You can read my account of what has happened here: I have been censored for warning about censorship.

And a report by Canadian journalist Andrew Lawton from True North here: London library bans academic freedom lecture.

With a follow up here: Library decision to ban free speech lecture involved board of directors: leaked memo.