McCloskey withdraws from transgenderism debate with conservative commentator

By SUSAN JONES

Trans activist and University of Illinois-Chicago Professor Dierdre McCloskey has decided not to debate conservative commentator Michael Knowles on “Who Decides? A Debate on Transgenderism and Womanhood” on April 18 at Pitt.

Whether the event is still taking place is up in the air. Dylan Mitchell, president of College Republicans at Pitt, said on April 13 that Knowles would instead debate Brad Polumbo, a libertarian-conservative journalist, on “Should Transgenderism be Regulated by Law?” but later said that wasn’t confirmed.

McCloskey, who made a gender transition in the 1990s, said in an email that she had “no idea” who Knowles was when she agreed to the debate, and after learning more about him and his beliefs, she decided to withdraw from the event. 

Another transgender activist, Charlotte Clymer, posted on Twitter this week that she had been approached by the event’s external sponsor, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, to debate Knowles next week at an event titled, “Who Decides? A Debate on Transgenderism and Womanhood.”

Clymer said she was offered $10,000 to participate in the debate but declined. She said in her response to the organizers that, “The humanity of my community — our right to exist — should not be a topic of debate.” Read her full statement here.

Mitchell said registration has closed for the 7:30 p.m., April 18, event at O’Hara Student Center. Polombo has had opinion pieces published in the Washington Examiner and National Review, and was policy correspondent for the Foundation for Economic Education. Last year, he co-founded the online site, Based Politics. His LinkedIn page says the site’s “values are unapologetically rooted in free markets, limiting the government, and individual liberty.”

The debate, and two other events by conservative speakers, have created much discussion on campus about free speech vs. hate speech. The University has taken the stand that although the talks “are toxic and hurtful for many people in our University community,” they were organized by registered student organizations who have a right to “invite speakers — including highly provocative ones — to campus without University administration deciding what is acceptable and what is not.”

McCloskey said in her email this week, “(Knowles) is interested in stirring up hatred and violence towards people who do not fit his extremely conservative ‘Catholic’ beliefs. As someone myself who tries to be a serious Christian, I suspect he holds these beliefs on equally flimsy grounds as on transgender issues.  His beliefs about queers are anyway contrary to those of, for example, Pope Francis. I decided not to participate in giving him a platform.”

But she also said she was “dismayed by the anti-free-speech petition against allowing him to speak. Both are wrong, the hatemongering by Mr. Knowles and the speech-suppressing by signatories of the petition. The result would be not a rational debate but a fascist rally, from both sides. I do not participate in fascist rallies.”

Knowles — who last month said “transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely” — reacted to McCloskey cancelling with a thread on Twitter that repeatedly misgendered the professor: “Perhaps he has learned that I’m not the loose cannon that the liberal media have dishonestly portrayed. Perhaps he’s learned that my opposition to transgenderism derives, not from hatred, but from love of the truth, in this case regarding epistemology and anthropology.”

The conservative speakers have prompted several Pitt groups to hold rallies and other events in support of transgender people on campus.

Trans YOUniting, a nonprofit resource organization that provides educational programs for trans folks and allies, is planning a “Rally & Response to Protect Trans Lives” from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m., April 18, at the gazebo on Schenley Plaza.

A Celebration of Trans Scholarship will take place from 4:30 to 7 p.m., April 18, at 1008 Cathedral of Learning. It will feature Quill Kukla of Georgetown (Ph.D. Pitt Philosophy ’96) and Danielle Wenner and B.R. George from Carnegie Mellon University, along with panels by undergraduate and graduate students.

Groups gathered before and during the Cabot Phillips and Riley Gaines events on March 24 and 27 to support the transgender community.

“Trans/In: A Day-Long Pitt Community Teach-In on Transgender Pasts, Presents, and Futures,” was held on April 12, which included professors and others talking on the history of LGBTQ+ activism at Pennsylvania colleges and universities, “What is a Trans Allyship”; and “Beyond the Binary: Gender Diversity and Inclusive Culture.”

Megan Massanelli of the University Library System’s Archives & Special Collections, kicked off the day of activities by detailing some of the long history of LGBTQ activism at Pitt. The first gay liberation course was created by two students in 1973 in the Women’s Studies Department, and in 1975, gay students at Pitt created a hotline that was open to anyone, providing information about and for the local gay community.

In the early 2000s, a protracted legal case against Pitt brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, representing seven current and former employees, led to the University extending health benefits to same-sex domestic partners.

Then in 2012, Seamus Johnston, a transgender former Pitt–Johnstown student who identified as male, sued the University after being expelled for refusing to stop using the men’s restrooms and changing facilities on campus. While the case was eventually dismissed, a settlement between Pitt and Johnston led to the creation of a working group to study and make recommendations on transgender issues.

The University also around the time of the settlement made available gender-neutral housing at Ruskin Hall on the Oakland campus and made clear that faculty, staff and students were welcome to use any restroom that corresponds to their gender identity.

Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.

 

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