The University of Western Australia (UWA) has defended its decision to allow a talk on its campus by an American paediatrician who has argued transgender people are mentally ill.

Key points: Quentin Van Meter has denied proven science about transgender people

Quentin Van Meter has denied proven science about transgender people He is due to speak at an event at UWA, which says it does not endorse his views

He is due to speak at an event at UWA, which says it does not endorse his views The move to allow his talk has angered the Student Guild and a human rights group

It comes after UWA's social media pages were inundated with protests and a petition calling for the event to be cancelled secured more than 5,000 signatures in a matter of days.

The event booked for Friday evening is being hosted by the conservative Australian Family Association (AFA) and is set to feature a talk given by Quentin Van Meter.

Dr Van Meter is president of the American College of Paediatricians (ACP), a small conservative group known for its opposition to gay marriage, gender reassignment, pre-marital sex and abortion.

He has regularly denied proven science surrounding transgender people, instead saying they are simply delusional.

The ACP is listed as a hate group by the US not-for-profit Southern Poverty Law Centre due to its views on LGBTI people.

UWA says cancelling the AFA event would create "an undesirable precedent". ( Jonathan Beal: ABC )

University backs freedom of expression

In an email to all staff and students, UWA vice-chancellor Dawn Freshwater said the university's executive was only made aware yesterday that one of its venues had accepted the booking.

Professor Freshwater said while the views of speakers at the event, particularly with respect to transgender people, were at odds with UWA's values, it would not deny them use of its venue.

A rainbow flag on campus shows UWA's respect for diversity, the vice-chancellor says. ( Supplied: University of Western Australia )

"The university considers that cancellation of the AFA event would create an undesirable precedent for the exclusion of objectionable views from the campus," she said.

"There is an ongoing task to be undertaken within the university about the development of workable principles which strike a balance between the values of respect for human dignity on the one hand and freedom of opinion and expression on the other."

Professor Freshwater said while UWA understood the concerns of those protesting, there was no resolution which could satisfy all interests.

"The university acknowledges the deeply-held concerns of those who do not want this event to proceed," she said.

"Plainly it does not endorse the opinions of the speakers on any of the matters on which they are likely to speak."

UWA 'hiding behind the skirt of free speech': Guild

But the decision to allow the event to go ahead was criticised by the UWA Student Guild and those behind the petition.

"What the university has done is in direct contravention of their own values and standards, hiding behind the skirt of free speech, when actually this is just a downright embarrassing, deeply concerning and upsetting mistake which has been made," guild president Megan Lee said.

"There is a difference between fostering a political debate and discussion, which is what universities are about, and purporting pseudo-science not rooted in fact, which tries to deny the existence of a group of people."

The guild called on UWA's executive to reconsider its decision and, if it allowed the event to go ahead, not to keep any payment it received from the AFA.

"Really this isn't a matter of free speech, it's a matter of who the university conducts its business with," Ms Lee said.

"By asking them not to hold their event on campus is by no means shutting down free speech, they're allowed to have those opinions, the university would simply be asking please express those opinions elsewhere."

Human rights group 'deeply disappointed'

In a statement, the Curtin University Centre for Human Rights Education (CHRE) also expressed its disappointment.

"We are completely confused by UWA doing this given its remarkable record of integrating the full humanity of transgender people into its policies of inclusion and recognition," it said.

The decision by UWA to allow the talk to go ahead on campus has disappointed critics. ( Jonathan Beal: ABC )

"The balance between the values of respect for human dignity on the one hand and freedom of opinion and expression on the other can never follow a deficit model.

"In this sense, to host a group that is actually bringing into question the existential existence of transgender people through ignorance and hate, masked through rational thought, is completely antithetical to what we would have thought UWA stood for as an institution."

The CRHE said the move was at odds with UWA's track record as a top-five rated employer for LGBTI inclusion.

"We are deeply disappointed and dismayed that the institutional UWA logic of balance on this occasion appears to have been evaluated through a narrow form of instrumentalism and a misunderstanding of what human dignity requires in relation to freedom of thought and opinion," the statement said.

"The denial of certain people or communities on account of their identity has led to the worst acts of inhumanity that we know of in history. Universities have an important and crucial role in ensuring that such denial is rejected.

"This is a sad week for UWA and its reputation as a human rights and social impact leader."

Editor's note, August 16, 2018: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the AFA was opposed to vaccinations. While they have concerns about a specific HPV vaccine, they are generally pro-vaccine.