Sex Matters appoints new trustees
Sex Matters, the human rights charity which campaigns for clarity on sex in law and policy in the UK, has announced the appointment of four new trustees to its board. On 18th August, Sex Matters appointed Tim Allan, Kate Owen, Anya Palmer and Claire Weir as new trustees, joining existing board members Naomi Cunningham, Michael Biggs, Rebecca Bull, Julia Casimo and Emma Hilton.
Maya Forstater, chief executive of Sex Matters, said:
“I am delighted to welcome Tim, Kate and Claire as trustees, and to welcome back Anya Palmer, who helped to found Sex Matters – I look forward to working closely with them. They bring considerable and wide experience of public policy and media, equality law, education and charity governance to support us in our mission to promote clarity about sex in law, policy and language in order to protect everybody’s rights.”
Naomi Cunningham, chair of the board, said:
“We are all thrilled to make this announcement. Sex Matters has grown from an idea in 2019 to an awesomely effective small organisation with a superb team of expert, dedicated and energetic staff. We have made huge progress over the past three years, but we know that there is a long road ahead. Our new trustees will play a crucial role in shaping the organisation and taking our influence and impact to the next level.”
About our new trustees
Tim Allan
Tim’s career has spanned working as a senior advisor in 10 Downing Street for Tony Blair, running corporate communications for BSkyB and founding a communications consultancy, Portland, which grew into one of the most highly regarded global reputation-management consultancies. Since selling Portland, he has become an investor in the communications consultancy sector.
Tim says:
“Sex Matters is a remarkable success story. In its short history, it has significantly changed the public debate on the issues it cares about. It is highly influential and produces high-quality materials to inform key audiences. I have followed the legal and political debates about sex and gender very closely and am delighted at the opportunity to contribute to this vitally important charity.”
Kate Owen
Kate is an experienced governance professional, with broad cross-sector experience in the charity sector, government and higher education. She is an associate member of the Chartered Governance Institute. She works as the head of executive support at Cardiff University Students’ Union, leading on governance for the charity group and acting as clerk to the board of trustees. She is an active member of the Women’s Rights Network Wales.
Kate says:
“Like many women involved in the gender-critical movement in the last few years, I feel that a huge amount of progress has been made, but there is yet much more to be done to repair the damage to women’s sex-based rights, to promote clarity around sex in law and to ensure that diverse rights can be protected in a coherent, fair and respectful environment. Despite repeated legal victories cementing single-sex and gender-critical rights in law, significant challenges remain and it is likely to take many years to dismantle harmful elements of gender ideology that are currently in schools, hospitals, prisons, local authorities, sports governing bodies and government departments. Sex Matters is an organisation that has built a foundation for effective action.”
Claire Weir
Claire has worked in education for many years, and is a specialist in languages, ancient and modern. In her previous career she was a barrister specialising in public law, human-rights law and employment and discrimination law. She was a primary-school governor for over a decade, and is a former trustee of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education. She is also a qualified community mediator.
Claire says:
“I believe strongly in free speech and human rights. Trans-identifying men and women have the right to live their lives without discrimination or harassment, but these rights do not automatically trump the rights of women to single-sex spaces and fair competition, or the right to speak about biological reality. These issues are at the heart of Sex Matters’ high-quality work and advocacy, and I am delighted to be joining the organisation.”
Anya Palmer
Anya is a barrister at Old Square Chambers, practising employment law. She represented Maya Forstater in the ground-breaking belief-discrimination case of Forstater v CGD. She also represented Denise Fahmy in her successful harassment case against the Arts Council, and Sonya Appleby in her whistleblowing case against the Tavistock clinic.
Anya also does advisory work, such as helping employers review their policies so they don’t discriminate on gender reassignment or on philosophical belief.
Before she became a barrister, she spent eight years at Stonewall, where she was its second employee, among other things working on test cases on the unequal age of consent for gay sex and the ban on lesbians and gay men serving in the armed forces. She was a co-founder of Sex Matters.
Anya says:
“Thirty years ago I was working for Stonewall to win equal rights for lesbians and gay men. It took many years of perseverance, argument, persuasion and a series of gradual legal and legislative steps to win full equality in law. Like many I feel betrayed by the direction that the ‘LGBT’ movement has taken. I am proud that I helped to found Sex Matters in 2020 to fight for the right to hold and express the belief that sex is real and it matters, and then using that right to enable more people to speak up and to demand equality and clarity in the law.”