Legal system • Page 6
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Passports must show M or F for sex
An appeal was made to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal had concluded that an applicant for a passport must declare their gender/sex as being either male or female, not “unspecified” (“X”).
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X passports appeal dismissed
The Supreme Court has unanimously dismissed Christie Elan-Cane’s case for an “X” passport. The judgment states “There is no judgment of the European Court of Human Rights which establishes a positive obligation to recognise a gender category other than male or female, and none which would require the Secretary...
15th December 2021
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Equal Treatment Bench Book – interim revision December 2021
A revision of the February 2021 edition.
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No need for sex data on domestic abuse?
Yesterday the Domestic Abuse Commissioner launched a survey for survivors of domestic abuse about their experience of using domestic abuse services across England and Wales: “We are running this survey so that we can understand what is good about domestic abuse services in different areas of the country, and...
7th December 2021
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Law Commission recommends protection for gender critical views from “chilling effect”
The Law Commission today released its report and recommendations on hate-crime legislation. It recommends extending hate-crime laws but calls for specific protection from prosecution for gender-critical views. The Commission explicitly disagreed with Stonewall and GIRES (the Gender Identity Research and Education Society), which had said that there should not be...
7th December 2021
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Conversion therapy: the path to good law
Barrister Naomi Cunningham’s talk at the Middle Temple LGBTQ+ Forum Inaugural Annual Dinner
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EHRC – submission to consultation on their strategic plan
Our letter to Marcial Boo, Head of Equality and Human Rights Commission, asking for urgent action.
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Sex and gender: belief and agnosticism after Forstater
The August 2021 edition of The Employment Lawyers Association (ELA) Briefing features a very helpful article by Akua Reindorf of Cloisters on the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) Judgment in the Forstater case. She asks “Has the EAT’s decision in Forstater brought any light to the heated debate on the...
2nd August 2021
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Women’s prisons and male transgender prisoners
The ruling handed down in FDJ v SSJ in the High Court of Justice last week is further proof that UK law does not work for women. In dismissing the claim by FDJ, a woman prisoner who had suffered a sexual assault by a male prisoner while in a...
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Prejudging the transgender controversy?
Barrister Thomas Chacko of Policy Exchange, the UK’s leading think tank, explains why the Equal Treatment Bench Book needs urgent revision, based on the 2019 Employment Tribunal ruling in the Forstater case.
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Fighting for the principle of collecting data on biological sex
A guest post by MurrayBlackburnMackenzie. Scottish Parliament Public Petition: Call for signatures In early June MurrayBlackburnMackenzie (MBM) lodged a petition with the Scottish Parliament Public Petitions Committee. It calls on the Scottish government to require Police Scotland to accurately record the sex of people charged or convicted of rape...
27th June 2021
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Maya Forstater: One’s sex can’t change. The story of my fight to ensure that this view, held by so many, is judged “worthy of respect”.
Maya Forstater for Conservative Home
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The Times view on the Maya Forstater verdict: Right to Think
Leading article in The Times
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We are worthy of respect in a democratic society
Today, after two years of legal battles, Sex Matters co-founder Maya Forstater achieved a landmark legal ruling that looks set to change the direction of the sex and gender debates in the UK, and provide legal protection for gender-critical people against discrimination and harassment. Mr Justice Choudhury overturned an...
10th June 2021
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Maya Forstater: Woman wins tribunal appeal over transgender tweets
Doug Faulkner for BBC News
A woman who lost her job after saying that people cannot change their biological sex has won an appeal against an employment tribunal. -
Truth and reconciliation
How should the public sector leave the Stonewall Champions Scheme?
6th June 2021
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Time to #LeaveStonewall
This is the letter we have sent to the CEOs of the 850 organisations that are members of the Stonewall Diversity Champions Scheme. Re: Leaving the Stonewall Diversity Champions Scheme We are writing to call on you to withdraw from the scheme, both for the sake of your own...
29th May 2021
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EHRC Chairwoman writes to Sex Matters: we have left Stonewall
This week we received welcome news in a letter from Baroness Kishwer Falkner. The Equality and Human Rights Commission is no longer part of the controversial Stonewall Diversity Champions Scheme. She said that the Commission seeks to ensure that all staff enjoy “acceptance without exception”. We responded welcoming this...
23rd May 2021
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Open Letter to the Equality and Human Rights Commission
A letter to Kishwer, Baroness Falkner of Margravine, Caroline Waters OBE, and the Commissioners of the Equality and Human Rights Commission
7th May 2021
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The Yogyakarta Principles: women’s rights were not considered
Julie Bindel and Melanie Newman talked to Professor Robert Wintemute in The Critic.
9th April 2021
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Sex (or gender?) as a hate crime: why the rush?
The push to adopt a gender neutral definition of “misogyny” as a hate crime with amendment 87B to the Domestic Abuse Bill (being debated this afternoon in the House of Lords) is another attempt at the political erasure of sex. Why the rush when the Law Commission is working...
17th March 2021
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Stonewalling the Domestic Violence Bill: Why make “misogyny” gender neutral?
A short month ago there was an attempt to rush a bill through parliament that would set a precedent of “gender neutralising” motherhood in law; replacing the words mother or woman with “pregnant person” in the Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances (MOMA) Bill. As Baroness Noakes highlighted, this is...
13th March 2021
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Equal Treatment Bench Book – February 2021 edition
Issued by the Judicial College, which says: “The ETBB aims to increase awareness and understanding of the different circumstances of people appearing in courts and tribunals. It helps enable effective communication and suggests steps which should increase participation by all parties.”
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Allison Bailey’s case against Stonewall will proceed
Allison Bailey is suing Stonewall Diversity Limited to stop them policing free speech. She is a barrister and helped to set up a new organisation for lesbian, gay and bisexual people, the LGB Alliance, to provide an alternative to Stonewall. In retaliation, Stonewall had her investigated by her chambers....
19th February 2021
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Gender-neutral drafting and the MOMA bill – briefing
Why was the word ‘woman’ taken out of the Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances (MOMA) Bill?
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On toilet provision for men and women – technical briefing
A simple solution to replace ambiguous language and misleading guidance, for the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government.
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Sex and the Equality Act
Julius Komorowski in the Journal of the Law Society of Scotland looks at what ‘sex’ means in the Equality Act, how it interacts with the Gender Recognition Act, and the implications for provision of services.
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Submission to the Law Commission on communications offences
Our response argues for clarity in the terms relating to sex and gender reassignment as separate protected characteristics, and rejects the proposal to criminalise online communications on the basis of “likely emotional harm” – which would have a chilling effect on freedom of expression.
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Response to consultation on proposal on hate crime
Why this reform extends legislation unnecessarily, is based on weak concepts, and ignores harm caused by the law itself.
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Evidence and data on transwomens’ offending rates
Submitted to the Women and Equalities Select Committee by Professor Rosa Freedman, Professor Kathleen Stock, and Professor Alice Sullivan, this covers the Swedish study referred to; attempts to rebut it; Ministry of Justice data on transgender prisoners in England and Wales; and analysis of that data.
