The founding president of the Cambridge University Society of Women, Maeve Halligan, has said complaints about Harry Potter-themed Christmas lights on Oxford Street are “ridiculous”.
Speaking on GB News, she said: “This is a question of having Christmas lights themed around a world-famous element of children’s literature that has defined generations of reading children, and it’s a story that is based around courage and friendship and positivity.
“Ultimately, this is not a question of the author’s views, be they what they are. At the end of the day, I think that it’s totally ridiculous to claim that a disagreement with the author’s political views in some way indicate danger for people who are seeing Christmas lights, based around her work…
“This should not be a question of what she actually thinks. This is a question of uniting people around a really important element of children’s literature in a way that is festive and happy and positive and I think that these people are being absolutely ridiculous.
“They should probably direct their petition and their complaint, which I totally agree with is their right to put forward. They should probably direct it to the right place, because as it stands, they are directing it to Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, who has nothing to do with this.
“This is a question of local businesses, and it’s a private display of lights. It has nothing to do with him. And City Hall has already stated this is not something within which he can have any kind of agency. So if they’re going to protest, which I agree should be their right, they should probably be directing at the correct organisation, the correct element of local government, and they’re simply not doing that.
“This is not a question for Sadiq Khan to sort of weigh in on at all. And frankly, I think that that kind of misguided use of their democratic right to protest is testament to the often misguided actions of the Good Law Project and to frankly the trans lobby more generally.
“So to be honest with you, although I totally support their right to push back against what they see as some kind of injustice under trans people, let’s not forget though we’re simply talking about fairy lights on Oxford Street, which, by the way, had the progressive pride flag for months.
“The progressive pride flag features the trans flag, which is a symbol of the forcible erasure of or attempted erasure of biological reality, and as a result, the sex-based rights specifically of women and girls.
“So, if you want to talk about expression on Oxford Street, I just wonder why these fairy lights are having such a problem for people, and they’re directing their concerns to the wrong place.”
