A humanist who supports same-sex marriage and wants faith to be removed from the public square, says he has been hounded out of three positions for his views on transsexualism.
Angelos Sofocleous said on Twitter that he did not believe women could have male genitalia – prompting a backlash from critics who said he was ‘transphobic’.
He subsequently stepped down as the President-Elect of Humanist UK’s student section, following the pressure.
No-go
On his personal Twitter page, Sofocleous retweeted a user’s post who said: “RT if women don’t have penises”.
But the post, along with other criticisms of “the transgender movement”, were viewed as bigotry.
In his resignation post, Sofocleous wrote that for an organisation which claims to be tolerant, “it is concerning when there are certain no-go zones”.
He added that the responses he received included “name-calling” and “derogatory comments”, convincing him that “there are certain issues within the humanist movement which are undebatable”.
Wrong
Sofocleous also said he believes it is “obviously” wrong to say that marriage should be between a man and woman.
…for an organisation which claims to be tolerant, “it is concerning when there are certain no-go zones”.
Elsewhere, he has written that faith schools should be ‘brought down’.
Humanist Students is the student section of Humanists UK – previously called the British Humanist Association.
Axed
Following his departure, Sofocleous says he was also sacked from his position as Assistant Editor of Durham Undergraduate Philosophy Society.
He told Palatinate, the university newspaper, that his free speech was being attacked.
“It is a disgrace that this came from the Philosophy society, a society which should aim to advance freedom of speech and encourage debate on all kinds of issues, especially issues which affect women.”
On Monday, Sofocleous tweeted to say he had also been dropped as General Editor of Durham Bubble – a university magazine.