Is this really equality?

There is a piece in this morning's paper criticising a senior member of our police force for querying whether it is right for a transgender player to get the best on field award in a football match. 

Apparently the police "person" has said that querying this is not "transphobic" it is simply science. There is also a comment to the effect that, in making one person feel comfortable, perhaps it is making many other people feel uncomfortable.

I don't know the person who said this. I don't know the transgender player. I was not at the football match. It will therefore be said by some that I should not comment at all.

I am going to say something. I am tired of being told what I can and cannot say by people who believe they are right and I am wrong about any number of things. It seems that, if I no longer hold the "politically correct" view about something I do not have the right to comment.

What happened to civilised debate? What happened to an exchange of ideas? 

This is happening even in our universities. An exam paper in one university actually informed students that answers which did not adhere to the politically correct view would be failed.  Another university requires all students to complete a unit in what they say is "indigenous studies". In reality it requires students to complete a unit in political correctness. Yet a third university is failing students who do not write essays adhering to a politically correct line of thinking. Even stating that there might be an alternative point of view is not acceptable.

I will be interested to see how far the media is going to go in allowing a genuine debate about the proposed "Voice to Parliament" in this country. My guess is that it won't allow much. It will be seen as much too dangerous, as racist, as divisive. Even those indigenous people who are opposed to it will be silenced by non-indigenous people who believe they alone know what is right. If we, as a nation, fail to pass the referendum on the issue will we branded as racist or seen as really wanting to include everyone? 

I wonder how many other people miss the robust (and largely civilised) debates we once had around universities and in the media? Do we miss discussing "issues" with friends and colleagues or are we keeping quiet for fear of upsetting people?

Would it be wrong of me to suggest that "equality" does not mean we all need to think and behave in the same way?