Freedom of speech is clashing with gender identity. At least, some on the University of Toronto campus think it is.

U of T Prof. Jordan Peterson has received national media attention following the release of a YouTube lecture series in which he spoke about his refusal to use non-binary pronouns — words others than “he” and “she” — and criticized “political correctness.”

He took issue both with Bill C-16, federal legislation that would change the Canadian Human Rights Code and Criminal Code, making discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression illegal, and with the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s definition of “gender identity,” which is described as a person’s “sense of being a woman, a man, both, neither, or anywhere along the gender spectrum.”

“I don’t believe that it’s intelligent and appropriate for the government to mandate the words that its citizens should speak,” Peterson said.

“It’s one thing to tell people that there’s certain words they can’t say, but it’s an entirely different thing to tell them there are words that they have to say.”

His commentary prompted another professor at the University of Toronto to step forward and offer a counter-argument.

A. W. Peet, who identifies as non-binary and uses the pronoun “they,” says this is not a debate on freedom of speech, but rather “about human decency.”

“I think it’s just basic human decency to address someone how they would like to be addressed,” Peet said.

“For instance, if Jordan wants to be called ‘Jordan,’ I don’t suddenly start calling him ‘Julie,’ because I’m too lazy to have a different name for him.”

Peet said academics who wish to critique the way society works need to balance that with having a conscience.

“And I would argue that’s where Peterson has been letting the rest of us down,” Peet said.

Peterson insists, however, that “it’s self-aggrandizing and narcissistic to demand that other people use a special form of address when they only want to have an initial conversation with you.”

Peterson has also said if anti-discrimination and anti-bias training, which is being rolled out for the University of Toronto’s human resources and student life departments and staff in the vice-president’s office, is expanded to include other faculty, he will not participate.

Peet said that on top of this being “not ethical,” it’s “just not smart for attracting great intellectual talent to the University of Toronto.”

“We want to try to have as many minds come here as possible who are really brilliant, and we want to foster them and help them feel supported so that they can do those awesome intellectual things that we’re bringing them here to do,” Peet said.

After Peterson made his comments, he received a letter signed by David Cameron, dean of the faculty of arts and science, and Sioban Nelson, vice-provost of faculty and academic life, asking that he refrain from making such statements.

Peterson refused.

This has led to campus tumult. In the past two weeks, a number of students have taken up Peterson’s cause and held two freedom-of-speech rallies.

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Maria Morcz, a U of T student and one of the organizers of the second rally, said “those who try to paint us a transphobes or racists or bigots are absolutely wrong.”

“All we want is the freedom to say what we think, the freedom to debate and the university to support these rights that we believe are fundamental,” she said.

Jacob Ritchie, a U of T student who had no plans of attending the rally, said he felt compelled to speak up in protest as he walked by.

Ritchie said he believes those at the rally “care about free speech and are just misguided.”

The bill “very specifically penalizes discrimination against groups of people and doesn’t really limit anyone’s freedom of speech unless they’re in a position of power,” Ritchie said.

The University of Toronto has since agreed to host a debate with Peterson, although details are not yet available. Media relations director Althea Blackburn-Evans said Peterson “has the right to express his views,” but that faculty members “also have responsibilities to create a learning environment at the University of Toronto that’s free from discrimination.

“The university’s mandate is to foster discussion and debate around topics that can often be very controversial,” Blackburn-Evans said.

Conversations around gender-neutral pronouns and accommodation of the transgender community are happening across the country.

Both Gabrielle Bouchard, the trans advocacy co-ordinator at Concordia University’s Centre for Gender Advocacy, and Sara-Jane Finlay, associate vice-president for equity and inclusion at the University of British Columbia, had positive things to say about efforts to accommodate transgender students on their campuses. At Concordia, more offices are displaying signs asking people to specify what pronoun they want to be addressed by, Bouchard said. UBC is updating its discrimination and harassment policy to include gender identity and gender expression.

But both agree more steps need to be taken. And not just on university campuses.

“I think it’s something that’s more broadly about Canadian society,” Finlay said.

“When the legislation was introduced into parliament to include gender identity and gender expression, it raised the level of awareness about what it means to be a trans or gender diverse person in Canada.

“So, I think, that’s a conversation that’s happening in a lot of places, not just in academic institutions.”