The Humboldt University in Berlin has canceled a lecture by the biologist Marie Luise Vollbrecht that was planned as part of the "Long Night of Science".

This Sunday afternoon she wanted to show that there are only two genders in biology.

The left-wing group “Working Group of Critical Lawyers” called for a counter-demonstration.

According to a statement by the group, Vollbrecht's "thesis" is "unscientific, inhuman and hostile to queer and trans*".

The fact that the Humboldt University offers a stage to a "well-known trans * hostile speaker is scandalous," according to the appeal.

“There is no place for queer hostility at our university.

See you on the street!” writes the “working group” on Twitter.

The university then canceled the lecture, for security reasons, it is said.

Michael Hanfeld

responsible editor for feuilleton online and "media".

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The police had informed them that a protest was planned, the “Welt am Sonntag” quoted the university as saying.

A counter-demonstration was also announced.

"We very much regret that Ms. Vollbrecht cannot give the lecture," said the university's head of communications, Birgit Mangelsdorf, of the newspaper.

You don't make a substantive decision, but follow security concerns.

"We are looking for a way that Ms. Vollbrecht can talk about her work at the HU at a later date," the spokeswoman quoted the "Welt am Sonntag" as saying.

The quote from the university in the “Bild” newspaper reads that the lecture was “cancelled in the interest of the event as a whole and of the visitors”.

"The debate about the lecture" threatened to "overshadow all other offers".

Marie Louise Vollbrecht's theme was: "Gender is not the same gender.

Sex, gender and why there are only two sexes in biology". So it should be about the difference between biological sex and the attribution of the social gender role (gender). Trans activists who value such a distinction are often referred to as " transphobic” attacked.

Rejection "for fear of violence"

This is also the case for Marie Louise Vollbrecht, who co-wrote an article in the “Welt” against which the trans scene also ran a storm.

The queer job fair "Sticks & Stones" had immediately uninvited the Springer publishing house, which had supported the event for years.

Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner felt compelled to dismiss the article as "underground", scientifically "at best grossly one-sided" and in tone "superficial, condescending and resentful".

At the same time, Döpfner opposed the cancellation reflex of the trade fair organizers, the Uhlala Group.

For a guest article in a newspaper, “18,000 employees of this company would be held jointly liable”.

The doctoral student commented in the "Bild" newspaper.

The cancellation makes her "sad", Marie Louise Vollbrecht is quoted as saying.

"The cave-in to radical, violent activists who have no understanding of biology" is "understandable, but alarming." One can no longer speak of an objective debate "when events are canceled for fear of violence".

According to Marie Louise Vollbrecht in the “Bild”, the incident is another example of “the radical means used by gender ideologues”.

On the Internet, however, numerous voices supporting Marie Louise Vollbrecht are also making themselves heard, for example under the hashtag #LetWomenSpeak on Twitter, under which there are statements not only on this occasion that point out that an intolerant trans scene, in particular the positions of feminists and attack them personally.

On her own Twitter account, Marie Louise Vollbrecht refers to the irony that the university is canceling the lecture with reference to security concerns and that its topic should be the role of science in an area that is full of fake news.

There is nothing about the process on the Humboldt University website, but the university is in a good mood on Twitter: "There is a lot to discover on the Adlershof, Mitte and Nord campuses," it says: "Materials of the future, HU- Startups, a cube containing all the knowledge of physics and more".

Or: “The food crisis was just sitting on the chair.

Next, the water crisis is allowed to talk about its problems.

Come by and hear what nature's crises are dealing with right now." The motto of the "Long Night of Science" is: "Everything from the start: crises.

Knowledge.

Solve.

The Humboldt University presents scientific solutions.”