These days if you read about British students in the mainstream press it is almost always in the context that they are a bunch of Fascist prudes hell-bent on preventing anyone saying anything about anything. That, of course, is because they have taken a dim view of the transphobic ranting of the likes of Greer and Bindel. I, am pleased to say, have not been “no platformed” by any students. Indeed, I was invited to speak at Kingston University last week.

The panel was about gender, and my co-panelists were Sabah Choudrey and Soof Andry. Yep, that’s two Muslims and me. And very splendid it was too. We had a very constructive discussion, and were well looked after (and fed) by the LGBT+ Society. Thanks are due to Jamie, Adam and the rest of the crew for doing such a great job.

Thanks are also due to Noorulann Shahid who arranged the whole gig but was unable to attend due to having to be at NUS Connference making history. First up, Conference elected Malia Bouattia, a Muslim woman, as President. Naturally all of the mainstream media are yelling “OUTRAGE!!!”, and while I recognize that Jewish students may have legitimate concerns I have little doubt where all of the journalistic outrage comes from.

In addition, Conference voted to create a full-time paid post of a Trans Officer. Back when I attended Conference just stating that you were trans would probably have got you thrown out, so this is a huge step forward. My congratulations to Noorulann, Jamie Cross and all of the other activists who have fought so hard for this.