An NUS representative’s refusal to share a stage with the homosexual rights campaigner is her decision – and her loss. Freedom of speech should be for everyonePeter Tatchell,a racist? Not even the activist’s most reactionary enemies had the cynical cunning to believe of that one. In his extraordinary 50-year career as a political campaigner, Tatchell has faced many unjustified slurs on his character as section of concerted attempts to shut him up. But it took an officer of the National Union of Students to denounce him as a bigot.
In doing so, and Fran Cowling,the NUS’s lesbian, homosexual, or bisexual and transgender (LGBT) representative,has transformed a debate that is due to buy place at Canterbury Christ Church University on Monday evening from an obscure discussion on the most effective way of pushing the case for homosexual rights forward, into a referendum on the merits of the controversial “no platform” policy that has become such a fraught subject over the last year or so. Related: Peter Tatchell: snubbed by students for free speech stance Related: What could be more absurd than censorship on campus? | Nick Cohen Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com