Maya Forstater wins appeal against employment tribunal over “gender critical” views

Maya Forstater wins appeal against employment tribunal over “gender critical” views

Maya Forstater has won an appeal against an employment tribunal over her “gender critical” views.

In 2018, the researcher was at the forefront of controversy after posting various tweets about her beliefs about sex and gender, including that biological sex cannot be changed and that transgender women are “not women”.

Forstater also opposed the proposed reform of the Gender Recognition Act (GRA), which would allow transgender people to self-identify and legally transition from the gender assigned to them at birth without being diagnosed by a medical professional.

The following year, her contract with employer Centre for Global Development (CGD) was not renewed after several of her colleagues filed complaints. Forstater subsequently took the think-tank to an employment tribunal, where she argued that she was discriminated against for her gender critical views.

At the time, the employment tribunal ruled that Forstater’s views degraded transgender people so cannot be qualified as a protected belief, with the judge stating her anti-trans views are “not worthy of respect in a Democratic society”.

On Thursday (10 June), Mr Justice Choudhury said Forstater’s views fall under the protected characteristic of “religion or belief” in the Equality Act 2020 and that the original tribunal had “erred in law”.

Choudhury noted how Forstater’s comments “may well be profoundly offensive and even distressing,” but they “must be tolerated in a pluralist society”.

However, he did add: “This judgment does not mean that those with gender-critical beliefs can ‘mis-gender’ trans persons with impunity. The claimant, like everyone else, will continue to be subject to the prohibitions on discrimination and harassment that apply to everyone else.”

Recognising that transgender people will be disappointed with the outcome, Choudhury said he did “not agree” that the judgement would “create a ‘two-tier’ system between natal (cisgender – when your gender identity matches the one you were assigned at birth) women and trans women, with some trans women fearing that it will give licence to people seeking to harass them.”

Following news of the verdict, Forstater said in a statement: “I am delighted to have been vindicated. I lost my job simply for expressing a view that is true and important, and held by the great majority of people in this country: sex matters.

The post Maya Forstater wins appeal against employment tribunal over “gender critical” views appeared first on GAY TIMES.

Maya Forstater wins appeal against employment tribunal over “gender critical” views

Maya Forstater has won an appeal against an employment tribunal over her “gender critical” views.

In 2018, the researcher was at the forefront of controversy after posting various tweets about her beliefs about sex and gender, including that biological sex cannot be changed and that transgender women are “not women”.

Forstater also opposed the proposed reform of the Gender Recognition Act (GRA), which would allow transgender people to self-identify and legally transition from the gender assigned to them at birth without being diagnosed by a medical professional.

The following year, her contract with employer Centre for Global Development (CGD) was not renewed after several of her colleagues filed complaints. Forstater subsequently took the think-tank to an employment tribunal, where she argued that she was discriminated against for her gender critical views.

At the time, the employment tribunal ruled that Forstater’s views degraded transgender people so cannot be qualified as a protected belief, with the judge stating her anti-trans views are “not worthy of respect in a Democratic society”.

On Thursday (10 June), Mr Justice Choudhury said Forstater’s views fall under the protected characteristic of “religion or belief” in the Equality Act 2020 and that the original tribunal had “erred in law”.

Choudhury noted how Forstater’s comments “may well be profoundly offensive and even distressing,” but they “must be tolerated in a pluralist society”.

However, he did add: “This judgment does not mean that those with gender-critical beliefs can ‘mis-gender’ trans persons with impunity. The claimant, like everyone else, will continue to be subject to the prohibitions on discrimination and harassment that apply to everyone else.”

Recognising that transgender people will be disappointed with the outcome, Choudhury said he did “not agree” that the judgement would “create a ‘two-tier’ system between natal (cisgender – when your gender identity matches the one you were assigned at birth) women and trans women, with some trans women fearing that it will give licence to people seeking to harass them.”

Following news of the verdict, Forstater said in a statement: “I am delighted to have been vindicated. I lost my job simply for expressing a view that is true and important, and held by the great majority of people in this country: sex matters.

The post Maya Forstater wins appeal against employment tribunal over “gender critical” views appeared first on GAY TIMES.