Mick Hartley

More university gender trouble. This time it's Cardiff, where a few brave souls have spoken up about their concerns with Stonewall, only to be subjected to the usual threats of violence.

Academics at Cardiff University who signed a letter raising concerns about freedom of speech in relation to transgender rights have had their names and photos circulated on leaflets branding them “transphobic” and featuring a cartoon of a woman holding a gun.

The group of 16 had called on the university to consider severing its ties with a scheme run by the gay rights campaigning charity Stonewall. Stonewall has said that there should be “no debate” on some trans issues and has compared so-called “gender-critical” beliefs — the belief that it is not possible to change your biological sex — with antisemitism.

The academics said that while Stonewall was “entitled to campaign towards this end”, they felt it was “inappropriate that such a group should be embedded within the university, influencing policies which affect freedom of expression and expose dissenters to harassment”.

Their letter prompted a protest outside the university at which leaflets featuring the names and photos of the 16 signatories were circulated.

One was headed “Act now”. It said that no one could be “a transphobic prick without repercussions” and ended with the image of a woman pointing a gun and the words “Not gay as in happy but queer as in f*** you”. The gun sticker has also been put up in the area around the university — although it insists none were found on campus.

The leaflets and stickers were reported to police.

Christian Wilton-King, a former lecturer who lives in Cardiff and knows some of the academics named in it, was handed a leaflet at the protest. “All the lecturers asked was that the university review their relationship with Stonewall,” he said.

“There is an army of people, who may include students, whose actions are intimidating lecturers who question them, and that has serious implications for free speech on campuses across the country. I know some of the lecturers who signed the letter, and this is making them feel very unsafe and scared to speak out.”

But the majority of staff know which side their bread is buttered on.

A counter-letter, in support of Stonewall, was sent to the university’s leadership, signed by more than 145 staff and more than a thousand students, alumni and others.

Yes, keep your heads down and go with the gender flow. You know it makes sense in the current climate. Join in with the bullying!

A spokesman for Cardiff University said there was no evidence that the leaflets and subsequent stickers were the work of staff or students. There were also reports that an incident in which a windscreen was smashed on campus was related. The university said it did not believe that was the case….

A spokesman for Cardiff University said there was no evidence that the leaflets and subsequent stickers were the work of staff or students.

I think we're getting a fairly clear idea of which side the university authorities are going to come down on.

It's getting all too familiar, this story. A group of concerned academics write an entirely reasonable and well-argued letter about their concerns with the university's Stonewall alliance, only to be met with a barrage of abuse and threats of violence. It's all supposedly in the name of those poor trans people who are – constantly, they keep telling us – subject to all manner of abuse and trauma. It's a one-way street of threats, and they're trying to persuade us it's going the other way.