The debate surrounding freedom of speech versus hate speech has been exacerbated after controversial anti-trans activist Posie Parker fled the country following protests over the weekend.
Thousands of Aucklanders took to Albert Park on Saturday, protesting against the speaker, whose real name is Kelly-Jay Keen-Minshul.
After being splashed with tomato juice, and the crowd surging towards her position, Keen-Minshull was hastily evacuated, pushing through a chaotic crowd to a waiting police car.
Following the day's events, Keen-Minshull headed straight to Auckland Airport and jetted out of the country.
She later claimed she “feared for her life”.
While the vast majority of protesters were peaceful, simply making noise to block out her rhetoric, a number did engage in skirmishes, especially as the speaker was leaving.
A number of her supporters also say they faced violence.
It’s sparked a fierce debate on social media, with one side saying Keen-Minshull's freedom of speech was blocked, while the other says counter-protesters used theirs to stand against her event.
Joining Breakfast this morning, Green MP Chloe Swarbrick and Act Deputy Leader Brooke Van Velden weighed in on the debate.
It comes after thousands of Aucklanders took to Albert Park on Saturday to protest against the controversial speaker. (Source: Breakfast)
Van Velden was quick to condemn how the protest ended, saying nobody should have things thrown at them for expressing an opinion.
“We do live in a democratic country where people do have a right to hold a range of views and freely impart [them],” she said.
“What we saw on Saturday, I think, was really disappointing, where we had people resorting to physical violence in a manner to suppress free speech, and I don’t think that’s acceptable.”
“It doesn’t matter whether people agree or disagree with Posie Parker; she had a right to her view.”
She said that everyone should be able to express their opinion, regardless of how offensive it is.
“What Posie Parker was talking about is the issue of gender identity, and I think it’s important to have views and articulate what that might mean.
“We should never say to young people, because you have a different view you should be silent.”
Swarbrick was quick to rebuke Van Velden's account of Saturday’s counter-protest, calling it “cringy revisionist history”.
“If you look to the experience of thousands of Aucklanders who turned up to showcase that trans rights are human rights, then you will see thousands of people who had an experience of a peaceful protest,” she said.
The Auckland Central MP said the debate surrounding Keen-Minshull’s entry to New Zealand was around the safety of the transgender community.
Bringing up the most recent Counting Ourselves data, Swarbrick said the trans community faces enough hardship when it comes to mental health and discrimination.
The numbers show more than half (56%) of transgender and non-binary people in Aotearoa have considered suicide, with two-thirds (67%) saying they’ve experienced discrimination.
She said the debate should have been around their safety.
“This is the reality of the kinds of debate that Brooke is wanting to encourage, and I am really proud of the fact that Aucklanders and New Zealanders showed up in their thousands to utilise their free speech to showcase that we will not tolerate intolerance.”
While she agreed the actions of some protesters weren’t acceptable, she said organisers did their best to separate themselves from it and keep the protest peaceful.
She said the “marketplace of ideas” was expressed over the weekend through the counter-protest.
Van Velden said one “silver lining” from the weekend is that New Zealand has no hate speech laws.
“We saw so much emotion and rarking up because it’s possible that in New Zealand society under the government’s hate speech laws that wanted to criminalise threatening or insulting language that somebody like this could actually be prosecuted for an opinion.
“And yet people didn’t get the ability to hear what she said.”
Swarbrick said the views being expressed by Posie Parker weren’t adding to valid debate, instead being an attack on the transgender and non-binary community.
“The kinds of views and the kinds of rhetoric that were being put forward weren’t discussions that, to a certain extent, are valid. Around what level of testosterone we’re willing to engage with when it comes to elite sports - it wasn’t a nuanced discussion about that.
“What it was, and the views that were wanting to be expressed were about the valid existence of trans and non-binary people - that I think is the ultimate form of cancellation.”
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