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A Canadian library has come under fire for refusing to cancel an event hosting a feminist with controversial views on transgender rights.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside a branch of the Toronto Public Library as writer Meghan Murphy gave a talk inside.

The library defended its decision to allow her to speak about gender identity and “society, law and women.”

Activists have called Ms Murphy anti-transgender, which she denies.

Toronto police were quoted by Global News as saying officers were present inside and outside the event to “keep the peace.”

Global News reporter Kamil Karamali tweeted that attendees were escorted by police to the back of the building at the end of the conference.

Murphy says she wants to ensure the safety of women in places like women’s prisons, women’s shelters and changing rooms.

In Canada, she spoke out against a bill to amend the Canadian Rights Act to prohibit discrimination based on gender expression and identity, fearing it would undermine women’s rights by eroding their ” safe spaces.”

“Under current trans activist doctrine, we are not allowed to exclude a man from women’s space if he says he is a woman and I find that quite dangerous and disturbing,” he said. -he declared to the BBC.

She believes the transgender activist movement is “regressive and sexist” and ignores women and girls.

The conference’s organizers, a group called Radical Feminists Unite, said they were “not a hate group, and we do not condone hate speech or advocate for the suppression of women’s rights.” a marginalized group.

Judith Taylor of the University of Toronto’s Institute for Women and Gender Studies calls Murphy “fundamentally provocative.”

She believes that Ms. Murphy, by asserting the rights of one group, is “implicitly trying to marginalize another” and disagrees with Ms. Murphy that safe spaces and diversity cannot coexist.

“The more we start to embrace that diversity, the better our learning and our strength will be,” she said.

City Librarian Vickery Bowles issued a statement in mid-October defending the decision to host the event, saying that as a public institution it had an “obligation to protect free speech.”

She said that while the library supports the LGBT community and can cancel a room rental if it believes “the event will promote discrimination, contempt or hatred toward any individual or group,” this case does not violate not its rental policies.

Ms. Bowles, who sought legal advice on the matter, added that Ms. Murphy had never been charged or convicted of hate speech in Canada.

The decision to honor the room reservation received support Monday from PEN Canada, a major writers’ organization.

Opponents of the library’s decision include Toronto Mayor John Tory, who called it “disappointing.”

An online petition started by three local authors calling for the event to be canceled had more than 8,000 signatures as of Tuesday.

Those who signed it said they would no longer attend library events if Ms Murphy’s speech went ahead.

Pride Toronto, the organization behind the city’s annual pride festival, warned the library that “this betrayal will have consequences for our relationship.”

He said in a statement that Ms Murphy’s views constituted “a denial of the lives, experiences and identities of trans people”.

Two city councilors – Kristyn Wong-Tam and Mike Layton – are calling for a review of policies governing the use of community spaces at the Toronto Library and other public spaces.

Earlier this year, a similar conference attended by Ms. Murphy at a Vancouver public library attracted both protesters and a sold-out crowd. The library was later banned from participating in the city’s pride parade.

In May, Ms Murphy was invited to the Scottish Parliament to speak on transgender issues as Edinburgh planned to reform gender recognition law to allow people to “self-declare” their legally recognized gender.

Campaigners at the time said Ms Murphy wanted transgender equality protections “ripped apart”.

She was also banned from Twitter for saying “men are not women” and for “misinterpreting” transgender women on the site. She filed a lawsuit against the company.