Updates
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Information Commissioner strikes down secrecy of Stonewall scheme
The Information Commissioner has ordered the University of Oxford to disclose the scores and feedback it received from Stonewall as part of the lobby group’s controversial Workplace Equality Index scheme. Following a Freedom of Information appeal undertaken as part of the “Don’t Submit to Stonewall” campaign initiated by Legal...
1st July 2022
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Male and female in the Equality Act
Last week Old Square Chambers hosted a seminar about single-sex services and the law. Barristers Nicola Newbegin and Robin Moira White argued that biological sex is something that “popped up” recently in relation to the Equality Act. The meaning of the protected characteristic of “sex”, they said, is ambiguous and...
21st June 2022
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Who is Edward Lord?
Can a person who accuses everyone who disagrees with radical gender ideology of “transphobia” be the right person to hear a case about discrimination for gender-critical belief?
20th June 2022
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Sex Matters response to “More in Common”
More in Common is an organisation that seeks to “build societies and communities that are “stronger, more united, and more resilient to the increasing threats of polarisation and social division”. Perhaps as a response to this challenge from Maya Forstater, it has applied its approach to the gender wars....
16th June 2022
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What is conversion therapy?
Stella O’Malley of Genspect explains… “Gay conversion therapy” is the term given to attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation from gay to straight. This includes demeaning and painful practices such as electric shocks, forced watching of pornography and, in extreme cases, “corrective rape”. Such abhorrent practices are now...
15th June 2022
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Sex self-ID in Scotland and transgender unemployment
The Gender Recognition Act 2004 was an extraordinary piece of legislation intended for an extraordinary group of people. It was passed to allow people who had transitioned under medical supervision to change the legal sex recorded on their birth certificate “for all purposes”. Now the Scottish Government is...
14th June 2022
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Sex Matters briefing for conversion therapy debate
On Monday 13th June there will be a Westminster Hall debate on introducing “gender identity” into the planned government bill to ban gay conversion therapy. This is a debate following a public petition. It is not a government motion, but a government Minister will respond. This is Sex Matters’...
11th June 2022
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We have been worthy of respect for a whole year!
A year ago today Maya Forstater won a critical judgment in the Employment Appeal Tribunal, establishing that gender-critical beliefs are “worthy of respect in a democratic society”. The judgment had many implications: Employers should not refuse to employ someone because they have expressed gender-critical views online. Organisations should recognise...
10th June 2022
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“Conversion” therapy or just therapy?
On 23rd May 2022 an article appeared in the i news stating that Dr Az Hakeem was under investigation for attempting to “practise transgender conversion therapy”. Dr Az Hakeem is a psychiatrist now in private practice after more than 15 years working in the NHS. He is Fellow of...
8th June 2022
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Sex realists gaining ground at Westminster
Debates on new laws in Parliament are one of the key battlefields between sex realists and sex denialists, with one side seeking clarity on sex, and the other seeking to conflate and confuse sex and gender identity. A long-term strategy of the sex-denial lobbyists has been to propose legislation seemingly...
31st May 2022
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Is the Attorney General wrong about the law, or is Stonewall?
The Department for Education is developing new guidance for schools on how to accommodate children who identify as transgender. Attorney General Suella Braverman gave an interview which suggests that the guidance will be based on the principle that children who identify as transgender have not changed sex, and therefore...
29th May 2022
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Attorney-general clarifies the law for schools
In an interview with the Times, Suella Braverman said schools should treat children according to their sex, not their self-identified gender. Sex Matters welcomes Braverman’s comments, which align with Sex Matters’ guidance. The Department for Education is currently drawing up new guidance for schools. Braverman said: Under-18s cannot get a...
27th May 2022
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Reading University VC speaks up for academic freedom
On 25 April 2022 Dr Holly Lawford-Smith, of the University of Melbourne, gave a seminar at Reading University’s school of law. She analysed Australia’s recent legislation banning conversion therapy, and questioned the rationale for including gender identity alongside sexual orientation. “We champion freedom of expression but…” When local LGBTQ+ organisations learnt...
23rd May 2022
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Is Scotland going to turn the UK into an identity-laundering haven?
As part of Sex Matters’ response to the Scottish Parliament consultation on GRA reform we raised security concerns. This has been reported in the Telegraph and the Times, and Maya Forstater had a Thunderer piece in the Times. Identity matters The involvement of the state with an individual’s identity...
18th May 2022
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Has your MP fallen for a simple slogan?
Was your MP one of the ones who posed with a sign about banning conversion therapy? It is worth writing to them urgently. Make sure they hear the other side. Use our form to send them Dr Hilary Cass’s interim report and Sex Matters’ report on the “Ban Conversion...
16th May 2022
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Highlights from Kirrin Medcalf’s evidence
From our live notes of the evidence of the Allison Bailey v Stonewall Equality Limited and Garden Court Chambers Case – cross-examination of Kirrin Medcalf, 10th May 2022 (all screenshots are from documents in the public domain). Background: Kirrin Medcalf had been employed by Stonewall as its head of...
16th May 2022
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We’ve told the Scottish Parliament our views – have you?
We asked you to respond to the consultation on Scotland’s draft bill to reform the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and introduce self-ID, whether you’re in Scotland or not (because if legal sex change just by self-declaration is allowed in Scotland, it will make it easier for it to be come...
16th May 2022
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Yes, sex DOES matter in changing rooms
Following our blog post, more than 1,500 customers wrote to Monsoon to tell them why female-only changing rooms are important. Here’s one letter: “Dear Monsoon,What on earth are you thinking? Please get a sense of proportion here. The vast majority of your customers are female and will not take...
13th May 2022
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Union to vote on putting “boundaries” on gender-critical thought in the civil service
The FDA is the trade union for managers and professionals in public service. It includes the most senior civil servants and specialists such as lawyers and statisticians. Delegates at tomorrow’s annual conference will be considering a motion that would put “boundaries” on gender-critical speech and adopt the position that...
11th May 2022
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No ban on talk therapy for gender-distressed children in Queen’s Speech
It has been confirmed in the Queen’s Speech that the government intends to pursue a limited ban on “conversion therapy” aimed at practices intended to change sexual orientation but not to include in this therapy to resolve gender distress. But the “ban” campaign continues to promote simplistic slogans about...
11th May 2022