A gender-critical belief is worthy of respect in a democratic society and, therefore, a philosophical belief for the purposes of equality laws, a tribunal has ruled.
The President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal upheld the appeal of Maya Forstater, a tax specialist who lost her position at the Centre for Global Development after Tweeting her views opposing reform of the Gender Recognition Act, which permits individuals to self-identify as the opposite sex.
Other trans-critical Tweets included ‘male people are not women’, but Forstater said in evidence that she would respect anyone’s self-definition of their gender identity.
The employment judge earlier ruled, in a widely condemned judgment, that her views were not worthy of respect in a democratic society.
On appeal, it was decided that not only is Forstater’s view worthy of respect, but it is consistent with the common-law approach that sex is binary and fixed at birth for the purposes of legal provisions which distinguish between men and women.
Before the ruling was handed down, the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission, which intervened in the appeal, said ‘gender critical’ beliefs must be robustly protected by the courts. It expressed concern that the initial ruling could leave people unprotected against discrimination and harassment because they hold controversial beliefs.
Mr Justice Choudhury pointed out that Forstater’s gender-critical belief is not unique to her; it is one ‘shared by others who consider that it is important to have an open debate about issues concerning sex and gender identity’ – including some trans persons.
He made clear that ‘the firmness with which one clings to a view (even one that others might consider offensive or irrational) is not a reason to deny that person the protection under Section 10 of the Equality Act’.
The case will now go back to the employment tribunal for a determination on whether the treatment Forstater suffered was because of, or related to, her protected belief.
