An Oxford University law professor has been forced to cancel a series of lectures on gender law after pro-trans activists repeatedly stormed his talks, stood in front of his lectern and urged audiences to walk out — in scenes that have drawn widespread condemnation and fresh accusations of a coordinated attempt to suppress academic debate.
Dr Michael Foran, 32, an associate professor of law and fellow at Keble College, was due to deliver four lectures drawing on his new book Sex, Gender Identity, and the Law, which examines how the legal definition of sex has evolved and what it means for single-sex spaces, freedom of expression and privacy. He has now cancelled the two remaining talks after what he described as “escalating disruptive protests” that made it impossible to guarantee attendees’ safety from harassment.
The first disruption occurred on 29 May during a talk titled How Sex Changed, when two activists walked to the front of the lecture hall and addressed the audience directly from the lectern before Foran could begin. Video footage, shared on social media by feminist author Julie Bindel — who received it from a disgruntled student — showed a man reading a statement accusing Foran of masking “his transphobia behind a thin veneer of academia.” The protester told the audience: “If you are here in a critical capacity to challenge his ideas, that is not the same as refusing to platform him. He will not be convinced by your arguments. Please join me in walking out and refusing to platform this bigot.”
The same two activists disrupted a second lecture on Single-Sex Spaces the following Friday. On that occasion the audience shouted at them to leave — but after they departed, two more protesters who had planted themselves in the audience stood up and continued the demonstration before being escorted out.
Foran has now cancelled his remaining two talks — on Gender Critical and Gender Identity Belief, which had been scheduled for this Friday, and Sexual Assault by Deception on 19 June. Writing on X, he said: “Due to escalating disruptive protests, I have decided to cancel the remainder of these lectures. This is deeply lamentable, but the disruption has undermined the academic nature of this series. Students shouldn’t face bullying or harassment when attending academic events. It is unfortunate that these protesters have chosen disruption over genuine intellectual engagement grounded in academic charity and rigour. In attempting to shame students into deplatforming these lectures, they manifest the antithesis of what a university stands for.”
The academic context makes the targeting of Foran particularly charged. He is an expert in gender law who was cited in last year’s landmark Supreme Court ruling that the word “woman” and the term “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological sex — a decision that was followed this year by Equality and Human Rights Commission guidance confirming single-sex services must operate on the basis of biological sex.
The protests at Keble College come weeks after hundreds of pro-trans activists marched through Oxford in response to that guidance, with organisers Oxford For Trans Rights describing it as a “cruel rollback of our rights.”
Responses to the cancellations were damning. Joan Smith, author and human rights campaigner, wrote on X: “They are scared of you and the power of ideas, Michael. This is the behaviour of bullies and cowards.” British sailing legend Tracy Edwards added: “Universities should be seats of learning, curiosity, critical thinking and debate — not a place of stamping feet to get your own way.” Kate Barker, chief executive of LGB Alliance, told the Daily Mail the disruptions were “yet another example of the intolerance at the heart of gender identity ideology.” Dr Emma Hilton, chair of the human rights charity Sex Matters, said: “If you don’t agree with someone’s thesis, go, listen and challenge them. It’s part of what a university education is about.”
The incident echoes the 2023 disruption of feminist philosopher Kathleen Stock’s talk at the Oxford Union, where LGBT+ activists stormed the event and one glued themselves to the floor as protesters chanted outside.
