University of Edinburgh students protest hateful anti-trans film: ‘These people will pretend they were victims’
Students protest the Adult Human Female screening at Edinburgh University. (Twitter/@DalgetySusan)
A group of University of Edinburgh students have protested the screening of a “gender-critical” film, forcing the showing to be cancelled.
Trans rights activist and student Dylan Hamilton shared that he and several other individuals blocked the entrance to a theatre room on Wednesday (14 December) where the film Adult Human Female was set to be screened.
The so-called “documentary in defence of women’s rights” was released in 2022 and is described by its makers as an “explainer” on “how far things have already changed for the worse for women”.
But, it’s mostly just transphobia. According to the Staff-Student Solidarity Network (SSSN) in University of Edinburgh, the film’s content roughly translates to the “assertion that ‘trans women are men'” and that “non-binary people don’t exist at all”.
“All of the claims made in the film attempt to hide this assertion under layers of fears of a very real patriarchal society,” the group’s statement read.
After occupying the lecture hall in protest of the film’s screening, Hamilton allegedly heard comments from “gender-critical” attendees wanting to “just go in and fight us”.
“If there’s only three of them, we can take them,” one person was allegedly overheard saying.
After attempting to move to another room, Hamilton and the group say they ran ahead of attendees to blockade the second lecture hall.
An hour after the scheduled start of the film, the trans rights activists reportedly stood in front of the door and refused to move.
“These people will pretend they were victims, but they were far more aggressive than we ever were,” Hamilton added.
A few hours after the scheduled start of the event, with the film not shown, the crowd began to break up and eventually left.
Hamilton said that during the protest he was frequently yelled at and that the group insulted his mother.
“My mum deeply respects what I do and probably hates those people more than I do,” he said.
“For all of you insulting my parents and insulting me, claiming I’ll fail in life, I like to think I’ve done pretty damn well so far,” Hamilton wrote.
“I’m 18 and I’ve spoken at the UN and won Young Scot of the Year. What exactly have you lot done, anonymous trolls?”
In its statement, the SSSN reiterated: “Claiming that trans women entering women’s spaces creates an increased risk of sexual assault is not based on any evidence.
“In fact, the available research indicates that allowing trans people to use the correct bathroom leads to no increased risk of any kind,” it continued.
“You do not get to platform hate and expect it to go unchallenged,” Hamilton said. “We won, and we’ll do it again.”
PinkNews has contacted University of Edinburgh for comment
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