Oxford professor Selina Todd to speak against Labour's trans rights pledges

Professor of Modern History at Oxford University Selina Todd will join other speakers at the 'Defend me or expel me' event in London organised by Labour Women's Declaration supporters.

The historian is one of nine headliners at the rally who will speak in defence of campaign group Woman’s Place UK.

The organisation was recently branded as a 'trans-exclusionary hate group' by the Labour Campaign for Trans Rights.

ALSO READ: Artist's talk cancelled after student outcry over 'transphobia'

The campaign's 12-point plan - which pledges to expel party members who have expressed 'transphobic' views -received support from senior party politicians, including Lisa Nandy, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Dawn Butler and Emily Thornberry.

Co-founders of Woman's Place UK took to social media to say they were Labour members and called on the party to 'defend us or expel us'.

The academic said: "The event on Monday is happening because many women in the Labour Party are concerned that the leadership candidates are presenting women's right to single sex spaces, such as refuges, as 'transphobic'".

She explained that her speech at the rally will address the importance of women having the freedom to discuss their rights and organise to promote their rights within and beyond the Labour Party.

ALSO READ: Outrage at festival after Oxford professor stopped from speaking

The event follows persistent backlash from the cancellation of Prof Todd's talk at an Oxford feminist festival held at Exeter College last week.

The historian was uninvited from the event after trans-inclusive feminists, who pulled out from the event, pointed out her ties with the allegedly 'transphobic' group Woman’s Place UK.

In a statement addressing the cancellation the historian said she was 'shocked' to have been no-platformed.

Both Prof Todd and Woman's Place UK have strenuously refuted allegations of transphobia, describing them as 'defamatory'.