Christian columnist Peter Hitchens’ talk at a university has been cancelled as it clashed with LGBTI History Month.
Hitchens, a columnist for the Mail on Sunday, planned to speak at the University of Portsmouth on 12 February. However, after pressure from students and the Students’ Union, the university withdrew the invitation. The university announced the decision on the Students’ Union website, saying Hitchesn’ views ‘are not necessarily aligned with the Students’ Union’s vibrant celebration of the LGBT+ community this month’. There has been wide-spread condemnation from right wing figures. Hitchens complained on BBC Radio 4: ‘What does it matter whether there’s an LGBT+ week? If somebody has been invited to speak there is no excuse – especially in an institution devoted to freedom of thought and speech and education – for telling them not to come and for stopping a meeting from taking place. ‘That is thought policing and it is undoubtedly censorship. There is no way out of it.’ However, the talk has not been cancelled forever. It’s been postponed to a later date. Peter Hitchens is a vocal opponent to same-sex marriage in Britain. In 2009 he wrote a column with the headline ‘We show tolerance to ‘gays’ and get tyranny in return‘. Throughout the column, he refuses to call gay people gay without inverted commas and implies same-sex parents are unfit to raise children. Written by: Tom Capon. 08 February 2019. Gaystarnews.com
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