Speech at graduation

[VIPNotReally]

Was at a recent graduation ceremony, prominent university at a quite prestigious venue.

Between cohorts there was a student who made a speech, they were the only student to do so (but clearly invited).

They spoke quite specifically about their anger at this institution for jettisoning Stonewall, how it made them as a trans person feel unsafe that there were academics at the university who had voted for this and how they couldn't even reassure other trans students that they were going to be safe here. There was a lot more but I couldn't catch all of it.

I dunno...this person has a right to express their views but at Graduation? When no one with opposing views was likely to be given a platform? A special event for all those students and parents when the sole content of the rest of the speeches was about potential, excitement, looking forward, the history of the department etc.

It was crushingly disappointing. Their speech closed to the sound of cheers and whoops from their peers. It was quite hard to plaster a smile back on my face after that.

Strange that. So unsafe that they had a soapbox and megaphone all to themself, allies amplified, doubters self silenced.

I mean, that's happened thru the ages, hasn't it? Jews given a platform in Nazi Germany, blacks in separatist US, gays in the criminalised past. I mean they were all up to express how victimised they were?

Sorry for such a broad point, but this movement now deserves nothing other than ridicule.

Right...if you keep telling people you're unsafe apparently they believe you and therefore it must be true (unless you were born female).

I’d love to know what they mean about being safe. Safe from what exactly? As far as I can gather Stonewall offer (on occasions dodgy) advice not a security service.

Well exactly! Safe from what?

Well, they're safe from Stonewall using their University to tell them how unsafe they are. They have to make their own paranoia now.

Perhaps the University would have liked a GC speaker but decided against it because they would not have been safe and the Uni. was scared of the tra reaction.

Well done that uni for jettisoning Stonewall. Academic freedom is rare these days.

Safe. I keep hearing all these people who don’t feel safe, want to be safe, need a special space to be safe, safe safe safe. When they absolutely are safe. 🙄

women who actually really don’t feel/aren’t safe (in jail, loos, changing rooms…) and who say this are told to shut up and stop making people ‘feel unsafe’.

If I’d been at that event, I would have been the woman at the back shouting ‘for f*cks sake!’ and ‘bollocks’. I have no patience.

wonder which one it was? London based?

Might have been 😉

Reality perhaps?

@RubyTrees

Indeed 😂

The speech sounds like irrelevant nonsense. Graduation should be about celebrating graduation, and the move (I nearly wrote 'transition', but thought better of it) from student life to future opportunities.

A while ago I went to a climate rally. For part of it there were songs, which included one celebrating trans people. Eh, what? I went to the rally because I am concerned about the climate, to which trans issues are completely irrelevant.

It was totally irrelevant and inappropriate. It makes me really angry whenever I think about it.

'Safe' now can mean something quite different from its ordinary meaning.

Sometimes it means having to hear or see something unpleasant, being disagreed with, or even knowing that someone is present who disagrees on some issue.

Sometimes it means what it should mean, in my opinion, i.e., feeling physically threatened or seriously psychologically attacked, in ways which others would agree create insecurity or feelings of not being safe.

And sometimes it means that the person is not getting his, her or their way in every single matter.

Not having Stonewall affect an organisation will not create physical risks or even more psychological threats, so the meaning here is unlikely to be how most of us interpret lack of safety. I suspect that it's used to identify viewpoint differences as violence.

I’m surprised this person was allowed a platform to make a speech of this nature. I’m sure you weren’t the only uncomfortable/pissed off person in the audience.

But well done to that university for ditching Stonewall.

This particular “godless” university (I’m guessing) has a recent history of playing both sides, though I appreciate that it at least makes token efforts to keep sex-based rights and freedom of speech (sometimes).

I would write to the university with these comments OP.

VIPNotReally · Yesterday 16:14

Well exactly! Safe from what?

Safe from encountering views based on reality.

Yes. Opposing views make them feel “unsafe”. God knows what this person studied / learned from being at university…

I can still remember the speech given at my graduation some 20 yrs later, by an academic known internationally in the field. It would blow the socks off young minds today.

Yes we had a good speech at my graduation. She too was talking about adversity and unsafe situations but she was an ex-spy so a very different version of unsafe.

Yeah...I don't quite get the godless reference but I'm sure it's just me being obtuse! Yes they have been very fair in supporting both sides, but I suppose to one of those sides, there should only be one and that's them.

Hehe that sounds excellent!

If only they’d had someone like that rock up and give a speech just after the wee wean…

No wonder only one person spoke.

Guess he was special and demanded it. Maybe staff Jay wanted a laugh (I assume they had made their presence felt throughout their time there). Or we’re celebrating and wanted to hear one last rant.