© Michael Peake/Toronto Sun/Postmedia NewsUniversity of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson, who has been battling political correctness regarding the use of gender pronouns, is seen on Nov. 7, 2016.
The controversial University of Toronto professor saw his hour-long speech interrupted only by bursts of applause from the more than 700 that packed the natural sciences building. His speech ended with a standing ovation, and after, he was mobbed outside for selfies from the adoring crowd, mostly young men, more than a few sporting hats declaring Make America Great Again.
Tylar Ingles, 23, from Sarnia, was one of them. Transitioning from woman to man, he came to protest the University of Toronto professor who has drawn controversy for refusing to use gender neutral pronouns. That is, he refers to individuals as he or she instead of they.
That has drawn fire from the transgender community and Ingles came ready to do battle, protest sign in hand.
"I was ready to disapprove of him, but pretty much everything he said I agreed with," said Ingles, who came to London to see him.
"Everything he said was well thought out. I am female-to-male transgender, I have spoken to people about him and people are really against him. I wanted to see what he had to say. I did not want to make assumptions based on what others say."
He found him more "inclusive" than he expected. His message on the strength of "individuality," a common theme in the talk, resonated with Ingles.
"He's right, it is very much the individual," he said.
At one point Peterson said to the crowd portrayals of him as Transphobe are "absurd" and that he has support among trans people not represented by activists and protesters.
Julien Bondy from McMaster University came to see Peterson in London after Peterson's Hamilton talk was cut short by protesters.
"I did not expect the talk to go this way. I am from McMaster and we had a huge protest yesterday," he said.
"His visit lasted like, 10 minutes. It did not go well."
But the speech from the professor who has become the darling of the political right, based on his free speech mantra, was surprisingly "centrist," he added.
"You see a lot of Trump hats in there but it was not really about the right or left, but the centre."
The pronoun issue itself had little focus during the talk, as Peterson made broader references to gender issues, from physical strength to women's nervous systems, how they are tilted "hard" to "excessive emotionality" to protect children.
At one point he stated women hit men more than women suffer violenly at the hands of men, but mens greater "upper body strength" means only they pose a threat.
He took on Bill C-16, legislation to protect against gender identity and expression as prohibited grounds for discrimination, saying saying it is full of "false claims." "You can't make false facts law," he said.
At one point he called legislation that strived for equity "reprehensible," drawing applause from the crowd.
As for his employer, universities, they were not spared, calling them "playhouses" where students are taught to "bray" in protest and taught "soulless nonsense."
"He is an intriguing speaker, he was interesting to listen to. It went deeper than I thought it would," said Sean Killeen, Western University student in political science.
At one point Peterson encouraged his audience to look inward, at their conscience, and even to be aware of the evil that exists in all.
"It was fantastic," said Maeve Sharkey, a Western student.
"I used to be a student of his in Toronto before I transferred here, I was impressed and so happy to see so many people here respectful of him."
Comment: Protesters crash controversial U of T prof's appearance at McMaster University