A university professor in Barcelona says she has been boycotted by her students as a transphobe after expressing concerns about trans rights.
Juana Gallego, who teaches a journalism master’s course at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, said she was told that the 20 or so women who were signed up for her class on gender and communication due to start on Tuesday had decided not to attend because of views she has expressed in the media about trans rights.
“Before attending a class, seeing what I was going to say or even getting to know me, the students have decided to boycott because they say I’m a transphobe,” Gallego told The Times. “Since the topic of gender identity and of assigned genders can’t be questioned . . . they’ve cancelled the class.”
Trans rights are an acrimonious topic in Spain as the government prepares a bill that would radically alter rights for trans people. However, some people think it could be manipulated by men and endanger women. It was presented to parliament in July and will be debated this year.
If passed, Spain would become the largest European country to let people over the age of 16 change their legal gender without having to undergo hormone therapy or get a medical diagnosis confirming gender dysphoria.
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The proposed law has divided the feminist movement in Spain. In Madrid, marches for Women’s Day were split into two rallies, divided over issues such as gender identity, trans laws and whether prostitution should be outlawed.
Gallego says she support rights for transgender people but she’s worried that current queer theory and proposed laws could put women in danger in places such as prisons and infringe on women’s rights. She also said universities had become “markets for degrees” where the students were “customers who are always right”.
A statement issued by the master’s programme organisers said students had not attended her class because they were not interested and therefore it could not be considered “a censorship or boycott”. They also said that Gallego “holds positions far removed from the majority line of the master’s degree”.
The university said in a statement that one of its main objectives is to encourage critical thinking and the exchange of ideas.
“The UAB steadfastly defends the exercise of academic freedom as well as freedom of expression and it is within this framework that the teaching staff should be able to exercise their academic activity regardless of their positions in both academic and political debate,” it said.
