An Oxford law professor who is an expert on gender identity and the law has decided to cancel two lectures after his first two lectures were protested by trans activists. He announced the decision on X:
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. https://t.co/cQroaMB6V7
— Michael Foran (@michaelpforan) June 7, 2026
He added this:
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.
— Michael Foran (@michaelpforan) June 7, 2026
As mentioned, Foran is an expert in gender identity law and has a forthcoming book on the topic.
Foran is a highly regarded and authoritative voice on equality and gender law. He was also cited during last April’s landmark Supreme Court ruling on the meaning of “sex” in the Equality Act 2010...
The lectures focused on the themes within his new book, examining how sex and gender have shaped the law in relation to controversies over single-sex spaces, freedom of expression, privacy, sport and sexual intimacy.
The protesters who tried to interrupt his talk made it clear their goal was to deplatform him completely.
As Foran was preparing to begin his first lecture on 29 May, two protesters (one with signature green hair) approached the front of the lecture hall and began to address the audience. A man claimed that Foran ‘masks his transphobia behind a thin veneer of academia’. He went on to add: ‘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 activists returned for the second lecture, addressed the audience once more, and were met with loud chants from audience members demanding they leave. After they did, two other protesters who had concealed themselves among the audience rose to their feet and continued attempting to drown out Foran’s lecture.
The Daily Mail has some video of the protest.
This is the classic heckler's veto. It's not an attempt to engage the speaker it's an attempt to silence him. And while Professor Foran was eventually able to give both of his first two lectures, he decided not to proceed with the next two because he felt the protesters were attacking the people who came to hear him speak.
Unfortunately, it gets worse. Oxford apparently knew these attempts to deplatform were coming and approved them.
A university source who was present at the lectures but has asked to remain anonymous has revealed that the university proctors’ office gave permission for the protests to go ahead.
The students who attended also confirmed that, although they had made complaints to the proctors about the disruptive and intimidating nature of the demonstration at Foran’s first talk, the officials allowed the activists to protest at a second lecture.
It is the job of the proctors’ office to enforce “conduct regulations” at Oxford and as such students must seek permission from their office to stage a protest on the provision that it is peaceful and does not disrupt “the lawful exercise of freedom of speech”.
The university source who witnessed the protests told The Times: “This was not a non-disruptive protest.
“It broke the university rules because it is a disciplinary matter to seek to deplatform or attempt to disrupt events, which is what the activists were doing.
The activists clearly broke the rules and if Oxford didn't see that coming in the first lecture they clearly should have seen it coming by the second one.
Ekin Genç, a PHD student at Keble College and law faculty who was also present at the lectures, said he and other students had complained to the proctors after the first lecture. “We essentially communicated our concerns about the protests and the hostile environment that they created for students who want to explore these issues free from harassment and intimidation,” he said. “It was a call to uphold academic freedom at Oxford.”
He added: “I found it frustrating that the university allowed the event to be disrupted once again. People have a right to protest but that doesn’t extend to disrupting events.”
The good news is that more than 100 professors including Richard Dawkins have demanded that Oxford reinstate the lectures and allow Foran to speak.
A long list of academics, including Dawkins, emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and Sir Bernard Silverman, a former chief scientific adviser to the government and emeritus professor of statistics at Oxford, have intervened to criticise the proctors’ office.
In the letter, published in The Times on Thursday, they wrote: “It appears that the university proctors authorised and facilitated protests inside the lecture theatre and did nothing to remove miscreants.
“Members of the proctors’ office, including senior figures, can be seen in videos of the disruption. The proctors have enabled the exercise of a heckler’s veto.”
The letter claims that the proctors failed to uphold the essential functions of the university and created “a hostile and degrading environment” for Foran and the students attending the lectures.
They are of course completely correct. You can read the full letter here.
So far, Oxford seems to be leaning on the excuse that Foran canceled the lectures, not the school. That's technically true but skips over the fact that he canceled them because the school seemed to offer no support for his right not to be heckled. Oxford really ought to extend themselves and make sure he is allowed to give his lectures without interruption inside the event. If students want to protest outside, that's their right, but disruption is not free speech.
