A senior Labour figure has criticised an academic at the centre of a transphobia row while the Conservative universities minister has condemned abuse of her as “illiberal madness”.
Taiwo Owatemi, a shadow women’s minister, criticised Kathleen Stock, a professor of philosophy at Sussex University, for her involvement in the LGB Alliance, a charity which says it “defends the rights of gays, lesbians and bisexuals whose rights in law are based on sexual orientation not gender identity”.
Owatemi agreed with the University and College Union, which has backed students who accuse Stock of transphobia. The students have called for Stock to be sacked.
In a letter to a feminist group in Coventry, Owatemi said that the lecturers’ union had made a “strong and principled request
