Press

2026

26th June

The UK government published a draft conversion-practices bill, which could place parents and teachers at risk of jail for having honest conversations with children about transgender identities. Reports in The Telegraph (Daniel Martin) and GB News (Alice Tomlinson) quoted Maya as saying that this is a dangerous proposal that will harm the people it purports to protect, and that it is reckless for the government to push on with this when it’s well known that many young people who adopt a transgender identity as children or teenagers grow up to be gay instead.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is moving ahead with the widely condemned puberty-blocker trial following an unsuccessful legal challenge. It was widely covered, including in the Daily Mail (Shaun Wooller), The Times (Eleanor Hayward), The Sun (Sam Blanchard) and The Telegraph (Laura Donnelly). Helen was quoted as saying that gender ideology has broken yet another institution, as the MHRA’s mission is supposedly to “put patients first” in everything it does, yet it is signing off on a trial that does the opposite.

Later in the week, Baroness Cass backed the puberty-blocker trial in an interview with BBC News in which she said the trial will help “reduce harm”. The Telegraph (Michael Searles) quoted Maya as saying that it was grossly irresponsible of Cass to put children at grave risk by making misleading and unevidenced remarks in support of a trial of puberty blockers.

19th June

Sex Matters is taking a judicial review against the National Police Chiefs’ Council and British Transport Police over guidance allowing trans-identifying male detainees to request to be strip-searched by a female officer if she “consents”. The High Court hearing this week was covered by Police Oracle, Policing Insight and Danny Halpin for PA Media, whose story was published by regional news outlets across the UK including Nation Cymru. Counsel for Sex Matters, Tim Owen KC, was quoted as saying that the law governing police searching expressly stated that all searches beyond outer clothing must be carried out by someone of the same sex as the detainee, and a shadow  “consensual” searching regime was simply unlawful.

Sex Matters is taking a judicial review against the National Police Chiefs’ Council and British Transport Police over guidance allowing trans-identifying male detainees to request to be strip-searched by a female officer if she “consents”. The High Court hearing this week was covered by Police Oracle, Policing Insight and Danny Halpin for PA Media, whose story was published by regional news outlets across the UK including Nation Cymru. Counsel for Sex Matters, Tim Owen KC, was quoted as saying that the law governing police searching expressly stated that all searches beyond outer clothing must be carried out by someone of the same sex as the detainee, and a shadow  “consensual” searching regime was simply unlawful.

12th June

Both The Telegraph (Daniel Martin) and the Daily Mail (Sam Merriman) covered our judicial review of guidance from the National Police Chiefs’ Council that includes provision for female officers to strip-search male detainees. They quoted current and retired police officers who told us that female officers will feel under immense pressure to carry out searches on male detainees despite not wanting to, and their fear that a man directed to manipulate his private parts by a female officer could experience this as arousing. 

Two Hertfordshire Labour MPs, Josh Dean and Chris Hinchliff, are among the politicians who have signed a parliamentary motion challenging the Equality and Human Rights Commission code of practice. Bishop’s Stortford Independent (Sinead Corr) quoted Helen as saying that either the signatories really don’t understand the difference between law and statutory guidance, or they are knowingly indulging in pointless virtue signalling, and that neither possibility is impressive.

Sex Matters’ legal challenge against the “trans inclusive” admissions policy at the Hampstead ponds featured in a first-person piece by author Amanda Craig writing for The Telegraph on how her encounter with a naked man at the Ladies’ Pond several years ago led to her visiting the facility much less frequently. Maya discussed the story with Nana Akua on GB News, and Victoria Smith wrote for UnHerd that the City of London Corporation’s decision to retain a trans-inclusive policy rather than following the law on single-sex spaces was an insult to women.

An investigation by NHS Sussex into the rogue WellBN GP practice in Brighton and Hove has resulted in the clinic being ordered to end prescriptions of cross-sex hormones for 78 children. The Telegraph (Michael Searles) quoted Fiona as saying that doctors hellbent on promoting transgender ideology have done untold harm to vulnerable young people,

EHRC chair Mary-Ann Stephenson revealed at a Women and Equalities Committee meeting on Tuesday 9th June that the equalities watchdog needed to relocate after its old office was targeted by transactivists. The Telegraph (Dominic Penna and Daniel Martin) quoted Fiona as saying that it’s disappointing that committee MPs who insist on undermining women’s right to single-sex spaces had nothing to say about vandalism or threats by transactivists.

5th June

Louis Goss for The Telegraph broke the news that Lloyds Bank has updated its policy on single-sex facilities and told staff to use bathrooms that correspond with their biological sex. The article referred to our recent report, Sex-based rights in the City, which found that leading banks including HSBC and NatWest were continuing to let staff use toilets based on gender identity rather than sex.

Susanna Rustin for The Guardian wrote that the EHRC code of practice protects a range of vital single-sex spaces, not just toilets, and mentioned our criticism of the section of the guidance that says sex should be treated as special-category data.

Greg Heffer wrote for the Daily Mail on the new health secretary James Murray’s admission that he has changed his mind since stating in 2022 that “trans women are women”, and that he now vows to protect single-sex spaces in the NHS on the basis of sex. Maya said he needs to update NHS policies and language, and to rip up Annex B, which says single-sex wards must operate on the basis of “gender identity”.

Daniel Martin for The Telegraph reported that the House of Commons has signposted staff upset by the EHRC code of practice to transactivist organisations for support. Helen said it wasn’t acceptable for House of Commons management to appear to mourn the enforcement of sex-based rights at the same time as MPs are considering the guidance under parliamentary procedure.

The news that City of London councillors have voted in favour of a policy that would enable trans-identifying men to swim at the Ladies’ Pond at Hampstead Heath was covered widely by the media, including Daniel Lavelle for The Guardian, Daniel Martin for The Telegraph, Ellie Doughty for The Times and BBC London. Fiona said that many councillors seem to think UK equality law doesn’t apply to the ponds, and that the councillors had voted to unlawfully discriminate against and harass women.

29th May

Coverage of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s updated code of practice for service providers continued this week. Maya appeared on GB News’s Free Speech Nation with Josh Howie, while Fiona was interviewed by Julia Hartley-Brewer on TalkTV.

Daniel Martin and Dominic Penna for The Telegraph broke the news that Sex Matters has written to Bridget Phillipson calling for withdrawal of the “asking about sex” section of the EHRC guidance on the basis that it is legally wrong. Maya said that sex is not special-category data, but ordinary personal data that can be used routinely, just like other personal information such as name or age.

Lee Peart for Healthcare Management quoted Maya in its coverage of the guidance as saying that any business, charity or public-service provider that took a wrong turn and started letting men who identify as women use women’s spaces or vice versa must now urgently fix its policies, and that organisations that don’t want to get into legal trouble should seize on this opportunity for a reset.

Gabriella Swerling for The Telegraph had a front-page story on Sunderland Minster posting signage on social media which encourages trans-identifying people to use the bathroom of the opposite sex, in defiance of the guidance. Maya said that any woman using the facilities would probably have a case in claiming harassment against the diocese of Durham, so this just seems like legal action waiting to happen.

In other news, Gordon Rayner for The Telegraph covered the news that the new BBC director-general Matt Brittin is under pressure to deal with ongoing transactivism within the broadcasting corporation. Fiona said that the good work of many BBC journalists is being undermined by misleading output from other teams, and that to regain public trust Brittin needs to weed out transactivists and reassure staff that genuine impartiality will be rewarded, not punished.

Mary Wright and John Glover for the Scottish Daily Express wrote on the findings from campaign group Women Won’t Wheesht that 16 out of 17 Scottish universities, including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and St Andrews, are failing to comply with the Supreme Court ruling. Fiona said that these universities are prioritising the feelings of young men who say they are women, and that graduates will enter the workplace thinking that women’s needs take second place to male feelings.

22nd May

The publication of the EHRC’s updated code of practice was covered widely, including by Alison Holt and Nick Triggle for BBC News, Katie Harris for the Daily Express, Daniel Martin for The Telegraph, Geraldine Scott for The Times, Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail and Lauren Gordon for The Mirror. Maya was quoted extensively, with each outlet taking different lines from her analysis, including that there are no more excuses for organisations to delay updating unlawful policies. 

Maya was interviewed by BBC News and Sky News. Helen was interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight, Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio 2 and Julia Hartley-Brewer on TalkTV. Fiona was interviewed by Jeremy Kyle on TalkTV.

In other news, Jason Groves for the Daily Mail revealed comments made by Labour leadership hopeful Andy Burnham that men who identify as female should be allowed to use female toilets, and that those who fight for sex-based rights represent a “minority view”. Helen said that any politician who aspires to be prime minister needs a better grasp of what voters want than to think that fringe transactivist views are mainstream.

Helen was interviewed for a feature by Irish Daily Mail journalist Georgina Heffernan, which covered Helen’s personal background and journey to becoming an author on sex-based rights and director at Sex Matters. 

Also for the Daily Mail, David Churchill wrote that the NHS could face thousands of discrimination claims from female staff across the UK following the successful employment tribunal of an NHS employee in Leeds. The tribunal found that she had suffered discrimination and harassment because trans-identifying male colleagues were told they could use women’s toilets and changing rooms according to NHS England policy.

15th May

Ben Lynch for BBC News, The Standard and The Mirror broke the news that City of London councillors have voted not to change the policy of allowing trans-identifying men to access the Ladies’ Pond at Hampstead Heath, which is subject to an ongoing legal challenge by Sex Matters. Susanna Siddell for GB News revealed that the City plans to spend £1m on “privacy” upgrades at the ponds. Legal news site LexisNexis published its analysis.

Writing for Civil Society, Léa Legraien covered Sex Matters’ first annual report. Maya was quoted as saying that much of our work has been about pressing institutions, employers, regulators, schools, sports bodies and public authorities to follow the law.

Sam Merriman for the Daily Mail reported that the King’s Speech included plans for a ban on “conversion practices”. Helen said that the real targets are parents, teachers, therapists and spiritual advisors who don’t subscribe to trans ideology, and don’t think the incoherent, subjective notion of “gender identity” is what makes someone a boy or girl, or a man or woman.

Further coverage of our report on sex-based rights in the City included Emma Ann Hughes for Insurance Post, who focused on insurance provider Admiral’s decision to stick with gender-neutral (mixed-sex) toilets, and Oliver Partridge for GB News.

Fiona was interviewed by Kevin O’Sullivan on TalkTV on the news that Harriet Harman has been appointed as the government’s advisor on women and girls. Shortly after last year’s Supreme Court judgment, Baroness Harman claimed it meant that trans-identifying men could still use women’s spaces.

8th May

Eleanor Harmsworth for The Telegraph covered Sex Matters’ report on sex-based rights in the financial sector as an exclusive, revealing that none of the 15 companies contacted could confirm that they are compliant with the Supreme Court ruling. The report quotes female staff concerned about this as feeling angry, unvalued and cynical, and points out that on any other topic, a Supreme Court judgment would see City firms rushing to ensure all policies were brought in line with the law.

Maya wrote for Times Higher Education on the High Court judgment in the University of Sussex’s case against the Office for Students. Sussex was successful in overturning the record fine imposed on it for failing to uphold free speech on campus and academic freedom, after an investigation prompted by the hounding of Professor Kathleen Stock. Maya argued that the verdict wrongly overlooked the Equality Act’s role in determining what universities can be expected to do to protect free speech. 

Writing for The Telegraph, Cameron Henderson broke the news that education provider Pearson is teaching GCSE pupils that it is “discrimination” and “inequality” to provide toilets only for men and women. Maya said that single-sex facilities ensure safety, dignity and privacy for everyone, as well as preventing discrimination against women, who are harmed more than men are by having to share toilets and changing rooms with the opposite sex.

Helen wrote for The Critic on her experience of both making crime reports and being the subject of them. She contrasts the criminal justice system’s deferential treatment of trans-identifying former police officer Lynsay Watson, who makes serial allegations about gender-critical people and seeks judicial review when police decline to prosecute, with the way allegations of criminal harassment against him are slow-walked or ignored.

1st May

Ben Lynch broke the news that the City of London is recommending that the Ladies’ Pond at Hampstead Heath remains mixed sex, even as Sex Matters’ legal case continues, in a piece that ran in BBC London, MyLondon and Ham & High (print only). Maya said that the City of London’s proposal to continue with its approach of allowing fully intact males into the women’s pond is simply unlawful, and that the City is operating as if Hampstead Heath is outside the law. Alastair Lockhart also covered the story for The Standard.

Justin Bowie for The Courier interviewed Sandie Peggie, who said that she was shocked by bogus quotes in her judgment that were first revealed by the same newspaper to have been incorrectly attributed to Maya’s 2021 tribunal judgment.

Helen’s book Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality (2021) was included in The Times’ list of the 25 best non-fiction books of the 21st century.

24th April

Janet Murray for The Telegraph reported that a Girlguiding group has closed and reopened as a Scout group over the charity’s move to align with the law on single-sex services, with other leaders suggesting that more may follow or affiliate with local Pride groups. Maya said that Girlguiding is learning the hard way that there is no easy path back from pretending that men and boys can be female, and that Pride youth groups are hardly a natural fit for the Girlguiding movement.

Sian Maher for The Scottish Sun reported that the trans-identifying male doctor Dr Beth Upton has been registered by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency as female and is working in two New South Wales hospitals. Helen said that male doctors should never practise as female and medical organisations should never record doctors as the sex they are not, and that doing so sets the scene for patients’ rights to be breached. The news was also reported by Rachel Baxendale for The Australian.

Helen wrote for The Critic on how the fallout from the puberty-blocker trial shows what happens when politicians outsource policy choices that require a backbone. She said that when institutions such as medical regulators fail to do their job, Parliament is supposed to fix the rules that govern them, but many politicians have lost faith in their moral intuition or lost touch with it entirely.

Maya appeared on GB News with Olivia Utley and Cameron Walker to discuss the one-year anniversary of the For Women Scotland Supreme Court ruling. Maya said that there is no excuse for anyone to be ignoring the law.

17th April

Ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling, the news that the government plans to lay the ERHC code of practice after local elections was covered widely, including by Peter Walker and Libby Brooks for The Guardian, James Melley for BBC News, Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail and Daniel Martin for The Telegraph. Maya said that the government had found another excuse for delaying the guidance and that there appeared to have been negotiations regarding its content between the government and the EHRC. Maya was interviewed on the story by TalkTV by Julia Hartley-Brewer and Ian Collins, and Fiona was interviewed by Carole Walker on Times Radio.

On the eve of the anniversary, Sonia Sodha for The Times mentioned pressure from Sex Matters on the Cabinet Office to withdraw its unlawful model policy regarding trans-identifying employees, which applies across the civil service.

Reports on public bodies flouting the law dominated headlines on the day of the anniversary. David Churchill and Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail reported on widespread defiance within the NHS, police, local authorities and schools. Helen said that the failure of public bodies to adopt policies based on biological sex has caused untold harm to women and girls. 

Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail and Daniel Martin for The Telegraph reported on research finding that more than a dozen councils across England have put forward motions criticising the Supreme Court ruling. Fiona asked why these councils are wasting time and resources like this.

Helen was interviewed by Georgina Mumford for Spiked TV to mark the anniversary of the ruling.

At the weekend, Maya was interviewed by Nana Akua on GB News on a blistering interview former EHRC chair Baroness Kishwer Falkner gave to Daniel Martin at The Telegraph on her experience of being at the helm of the equalities watchdog for five years.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s comments on the complications of implementing single-sex wards were covered by Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail. Maya said that Streeting’s focus on trans-identifying women was pure deflection and that accommodating them cannot be an excuse for delaying the exclusion of men from women-only wards. Helen was interviewed about the story on LBC by Nick Ferrari.

Earlier in the week, Fiona wrote for the Daily Express on the fallout from nurse Jennifer Melle’s case against the NHS for “misgendering”, saying that the NHS needs to cure itself of gender madness before more people are harmed.

10th April

This week’s roundup includes coverage in the lead-up to Easter.

Kevin Duguid for The Scottish Sun broke the news that murderer Paris Green, a man who says he identifies as female, is being moved to a male prison – a year after he was found to have caused physical harm to a female prison officer. Helen said that Green should never have been in a women’s prison. The news was also covered by Dean Herbert for the Scottish Daily Mail (print only).

Jacinta Taylor for the Mail on Sunday broke the news that the Office for National Statistics will not include a question on gender identity in the 2027 Census test. Fiona welcomed the news and said that the census should simply ask about sex, male or female, and instruct respondents to answer honestly.

Dan Roan for BBC Sport wrote a feature article on the International Olympic Committee’s decision to protect the female category at the Olympic Games on the basis of sex. Fiona warned that several sports in the UK have two-tier policies that provide fairness only for the top women; policies similar to the IOC’s need to be adopted by every governing body. Hadley Freeman for The Sunday Times referred to our Hampstead ponds legal case in her commentary on the story.

Janet Murray for The Telegraph continued her coverage on the implementation of Girlguiding’s new policy of excluding trans-identifying men and boys from being leaders and guides, reporting that there could be the risk of legal action between now and September. Maya said that the previous policy was obviously dangerous as well as unlawful: the organisation must mitigate these risks with interim policies.

Tim Sigsworth for the The Telegraph reported that ITV will portray Queen Elizabeth I as a trans-identifying man in an upcoming historical drama. Maya said that some in the arts sector seem to think that portraying historical female figures such as Joan of Arc as trans-identifying is edgy, but viewers who are already sick of gender ideology may vote by switching off.

The Times reported on the court ruling upholding the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s interim guidance on single-sex facilities following a legal challenge by the Good Law Project, in which Sex Matters intervened.

Helen wrote for her column in The Critic that women who play along with gender ideology are doing what many women have always done in the face of unreasonable male demands: placate and fawn because that’s safer and more profitable than female solidarity. 

Writing for The Courier, Sean O’Neil reported that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has said that Professor Jacob George recused himself from the controversial puberty-blocker trial, rather than being recused by the regulator. Maya said that any reasonable person could have concluded that George had been under pressure to quit and that however the recusal played out, the central point is that the MHRA did not follow proper procedures when George came under fire.

The news that the Darts Regulation Authority (DRA) has barred trans-identifying men from the female competition was covered by BBC Sport, Martyn Ziegler for The Times, Ed Griffiths for GB News, and David Churchill for the Daily Mail. A report commissioned by the DRA and authored by Sex Matters chair Emma Hilton in her capacity as a developmental biologist was quoted in media reports. Fiona said that men’s physical advantages in darts may each be small but they all add up.

27th March

It was a bumper week for news on sex and gender. The International Olympic Committee’s decision to bar male athletes from female events was covered globally. Fiona was quoted by many outlets including Lori Ewing and Iain Axon for Reuters, Dan Roan for the BBC Sport and Oliver Brown for The Telegraph. Welcoming the news, she said that women have been cheated of medals and of fairness in sport for years, and that this change must not be solely for elite competition. Sean Ingle for The Guardian quoted Sex Matters’ chair, developmental biologist Dr Emma Hilton, who said that SRY screening is a simple, non-invasive, once-in-a-lifetime check that returns female sport to female athletes.

In broadcast coverage of the story, Helen was interviewed by Peter Cardwell on TalkTV and Fiona by Miriam Cates and Alex Armstrong on GB News, while Sex Matters’ statement was mentioned on BBC Radio 4 and Radio 5.

Girlguiding UK’s announcement that trans-identifying boys will need to leave groups by September was covered by Jessica Murray for The Guardian, Michael Sheils McNamee for BBC News, Sanchez Manning for The Times, Gabriella Swerling for The Telegraph and Eleanor Harding and David Churchill for the Daily Mail. Helen said that Girlguiding had shown no concern for girls’ boundaries and failed to think clearly about what boys confused about their sex really need, which isn’t validation in a falsehood.

Jacob Freedland for The Telegraph broke the news that employment judges have received “awareness” training from transactivist groups. Maya said that training by Scottish Trans raises questions about the influence of gender ideology on the Scottish judiciary.

Will Bolton for The Telegraph and Richard Ashmore for the Daily Express reported that Vivenne Taylor, a trans-identifying man who stalked and threatened the female surgeon who did his gender-reassignment surgery, has been moved to the trans wing at the women’s prison HM Downview. Fiona pointed out that trans-identifying men in Downview have access to women’s facilities and even mix with female prisoners. Helen discussed the story with Julia Hartley-Brewer on TalkTV.

Maya wrote for the Daily Express on the Crown Prosecution Service referring to trans-identifying male murderer Aurin Makepeace as female and omitting the fact that Makepeace had met his victim when both were serving sentences in a men’s prison. 

Maya was also quoted by Chris Hastings for the Mail on Sunday on Harriet Harman’s dismissive comments on the late Jenni Murray, saying that Murray’s principled stand was an integral part of her feminism rather than, as Harman insultingly insinuated, detracting from it.

20th March

The news that Sex Matters won our appeal to proceed with our legal challenge against the gender self-ID policy at Hampstead ponds was covered by BBC News, Sanchez Manning for The Times (print only), Aidan Radnedge for Mail Online, Jess Glass for Ham & High, and Ben Lynch for My London. Maya said that the government’s failure to publish updated guidance following last year’s Supreme Court judgment has provided an excuse to continue flouting the law on single-sex provision.

Daniel Martin for The Telegraph covered Sex Matters’ letter to Marks & Spencer (M&S) warning that its policy of mixed-sex changing rooms could amount to indirect discrimination and harassment towards women. Maya said that it is astonishing that M&S has decided that pretending no-one needs single-sex changing rooms is better than possibly having to say No to a man pretending to be a woman.

Also for The Telegraph, Ben Rumsby broke the news that trans-identifying male pool player Harriet Haynes has been granted permission to appeal against a judgment that he can lawfully be excluded from women’s competitions. Fiona said that men don’t belong in anything that is specifically for women, but it seems some are determined not to hear that clear, simple message.

Sam Merriman for the Daily Mail broke the news that the King’s Trust (formerly Prince’s Trust) decided to cancel a boxing course for disadvantaged girls and young women instead of preventing trans-identifying boys and young men from participating. Helen said that it’s outrageous that a registered charity would rather remove opportunities for young women than tell men who identify as women that their identity doesn’t give them the right to punch women.

13th March

The news that NHS England is pausing the prescription of cross-sex hormones to 16- and 17-year olds following a review which found “weak” evidence of their effectiveness was widely covered by the press. Ellie Crabbe for PA Media broke the story, published in The Independent and many other UK newspapers, with further coverage by Alison Holt for the BBC, Andrew Gregory for The Guardian and Lauren Gordon for The Mirror. Helen said that the pause needs to be made permanent.

Sex Matters’ new polling, which found that more than 8 in 10 people prefer single-sex toilets and changing rooms in public places, was broken in the press by Katie Harris for the Daily Express (print only). Fiona said that this polling demonstrates that any excuse from the government relating to the “complexity” of implementing single-sex facilities is a farce. 

Sean O’Neil for The Courier also covered the poll, focusing on the finding that 86% of respondents prefer single-sex changing rooms and showers in the workplace. Fiona said that the public felt most strongly about showers and changing rooms at work, perhaps alerted by high-profile cases such as those of Sandie Peggie and the Darlington nurses.

Aaron Newbury for the Daily Express covered the news that Labour has appointed Lisa Pinney to head the Fair Work Agency, which oversees the enforcement of employment rights. Pinney was on the board of Stonewall during the period when it was advising schools to accommodate trans-identifying children as if they had changed sex. Fiona said Pinney’s past comments on trans-identifying people’s rights being “under attack” were concerning, and that she should focus on the law in her new role and stand up for women’s rights at work.

6th March

With news space squeezed by world affairs, the top story on our patch this week was the recusal of Professor Jacob George from the puberty-blocker trial after a handful of his posts on X dating from before he joined the MHRA, one of the regulators involved in oversight of medical research, were dredged up to suggest that his “gender-critical” views made him unsuitable to be involved.

A Sunday Times piece on the story by Ben Spencer and Shaun Lintern that made much of Professor George’s posts and which quoted clinicians associated with an unquestioning approach to “gender affirmation” included a short quote from Helen, pointing out that Professor George’s views are mainstream and that there is no reason for him to recuse himself from assessing the puberty-blocker trial. 

Hayley Dixon for The Telegraph broke the news that Maya wrote to the MHRA on behalf of Sex Matters calling on the regulator to reinstate Professor George to his role in the trial. 

Sean O’Neil for The Courier covered Sex Matters’ intervention along with the local angle: Professor George had been based at Dundee University. 

Maya’s letter was also quoted by Joan Smith in UnHerd, in an article arguing that the real scandal is the witch hunt and overreaction by organisations to the expression of perfectly normal beliefs.

27th February

The pausing of the puberty-blockers trial following an intervention by the MHRA was covered by Shaun Wooller for the Daily Mail, Laura Donnelly for The Telegraph and Brian Dillon for the Daily Express. Maya said that the change of course is testament to the clinicians and parents who have worked so hard to get the truth out about the harms of medicalising gender distress. Helen was interviewed on the story by Julia Hartley-Brewer on Talk TV.

The subsequent announcement that Wes Streeting will change the law to enable a data-linkage study was welcomed by parents, clinicians and campaigners. In coverage by Eleanor Hayward for The Times, Fiona said that it made no sense to put hundreds more children through the brutality of puberty suppression when no-one had followed up the thousands already treated.

The news that Sex Matters is seeking to appeal the High Court decision in our legal battle against the City of London over the Ladies’ Pond on Hampstead Heath was covered by BBC News, Niva Yadav for The Standard, Ben Lynch for MyLondon and Bridget Galton for Ham & High.

Geraldine Scott for The Times reported women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson’s comments that employers do not need to wait for EHRC guidance before obeying the Supreme Court ruling. HM Courts and Tribunals Service’s comments to Sex Matters that it was “awaiting the outcome” of the guidance process was cited among examples of public bodies delaying implementation of the judgment.

On Talk TV, Maya was interviewed by Julia Hartley-Brewer and Fiona by Kevin O’Sullivan on Phillipson’s comments about children experimenting with school uniforms in relation to the government’s new schools guidance, which says that “social transition” should be supported.

Sophie Church for the Daily Mail covered the news that motions expected to be passed at the Green Party conference include a call to overturn bans on trans-identifying men competing in women’s sport on the basis of it being a form of misogyny. Fiona said that opposing single-sex sport is shameless anti-woman sexism.

20th February

Alison Holt and James Melley for BBC News quoted Maya in coverage of the GLP v EHRC High Court decision as urging the government to issue the final EHRC guidance without delay. Fiona discussed the case with Josh Howie on GB News’ Free Speech Nation.

The Telegraph reported Dr Hilary Cass’s comments that social media influences children to identify as transgender following publication of the government’s schools guidance last week. The article referred to Sex Matters’ criticisms of the guidance for not ruling out social transition in school.

Fiona had two interviews on BBC Ulster radio with Stephen Nolan and William Crawley to discuss the news that Northern Ireland’s health secretary has suspended participation in the UK-wide puberty-blocker trial, pending an ongoing judicial review.

Daniel Sanderson for The Times revealed that NHS Fife said that smear tests are for “anyone with a cervix” in a recent public-health information update, while at the same time being clear that prostate cancer checks are only for men. Fiona said that this messaging demonstrated the deep-rooted sexism underlying gender ideology.

Gabriella Swerling for The Telegraph reported Maya’s congratulations on X to Christian social worker Felix Ngole, who won his appeal over comments about marriage and sexuality. Maya said that it was not reasonable to remove religious people from employment because some people find their views upsetting.

Mary Wright for the Scottish Sun (print only) reported that the Scottish Government’s “trans inclusivity drive” is promoting pronoun use among civil servants. Helen pointed out the contradiction with the requirement for civil servants to be impartial.

13th February

The government’s new draft schools guidance on “gender-questioning” children protects single-sex sports, spaces and data, but retains references to “social transition” without defining what this means. Its release was widely covered, including by Branwen Jeffreys and Nathan Standley for BBC News, Camilla Turner and Daniel Martin for The Telegraph, Geraldine Scott for The Times and Aine Fox for PA Media, as published by The Independent among others. Maya welcomed its integration into the statutory safeguarding framework, but warned that “social transition” has no basis in law or reality, and undermines safeguarding.

Maya’s comments featured on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, BBC Radio Four’s Today and Times Radio, and she was interviewed on GB News. Helen was interviewed on TalkTV and Times Radio, and Fiona was interviewed on GB News and TalkTV.

During a meeting with nurse Jennifer Melle, the minister for Women and Equalities, Bridget Phillipson, clarified that the much-anticipated EHRC guidance is intended for service providers rather than employers as part of her defence against concerns about its delay. As quoted by Sean O’Neil for The Courier and Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail, Helen pointed out that many employers have used the upcoming guidance as an excuse to delay action and that as long as Phillipson fails to lay it before Parliament, anyone who wants to ignore the law has a convenient excuse at hand.

The news that Good Law Project lost its legal challenge against the EHRC over its draft code of practice for service providers was covered widely. Sex Matters intervened in the case in support of the EHRC, and Maya was quoted in articles by Daniel Martin for The Telegraph, Libby Brooks for The Guardian and Millie Cooke for The Independent as saying that the judgment vindicates the EHRC’s swift action in publishing interim guidance weeks after the Supreme Court judgment.

David Thompson from The Newsletter covered the news that Northern Ireland is undertaking a review with Baroness Hilary Cass in a step towards aligning “gender services” with England in order to participate in the widely criticised puberty-blocker trial. Fiona said that studies should be carried out on the estimated 2,000 children who have already been given puberty blockers and urged NI health minister Mike Nesbitt to rethink.

6th February

A widely criticised study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine claiming that trans-identifying men’s fitness was comparable to that of women was reported by PA Media (as published by STV News and others), Michael Searles for The Telegraph, Xantha Leatham for the Daily Mail and Poppy Koronka for The Times (print only). Fiona said that statistical tricks cannot prove that men should be allowed to compete in women’s sport based on a claimed female identity.

Helen was interviewed by Julia Hartley-Brewer on TalkTV on For Women Scotland’s latest court challenge against the Scottish Government on trans-identifying men in women’s prisons.

Maya wrote for The Critic on the puberty-blockers trial, saying that every decision-maker involved has overlooked two crucial facts acknowledged by the Supreme Court judgment last year: human beings cannot change sex and other people have rights. Before proceeding, researchers need to understand that gender-distressed children’s goal of living as the opposite sex is neither realistic nor achievable.

Maya also appeared on GB News’s Free Speech Nation with Josh Howie for a wide-ranging interview on Kenwood Ladies’ Pond, a $2 million gender-medicine malpractice case in the US, and what the Council of Europe resolution on “conversion therapy” means.

Zoe Strimpel for The Telegraph wrote about Kenwood Ladies’ Pond following the High Court’s decision to deny Sex Matters permission to proceed with legal action against the City of London. She said that without the certainty that there will be no men present, a lot of women who swim at the pond now feel constantly on guard.

Also for The Telegraph, Daniel Martin covered UN expert Reem Alsalem’s warning that the UK government’s delay in issuing updated guidance following the Supreme Court decision harms women and girls. Fiona said the UK government should be deeply embarrassed by Alsalem’s intervention. The story was also covered by Sanchez Manning for The Times (print only).

In the same article, Daniel reported that the government has missed the last possible date for the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s code of practice for service providers to come into force before the first anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling. Maya said that the government’s dithering on both the code and its own HR policies is inexcusable.

30th January

Missing from last week’s roundup, Daniel Martin and Dominic Penna for The Telegraph broke the news that the Cabinet Office is hiring a senior civil servant to “lead on trans equality”, while refusing to withdraw a 2019 self-ID policy on toilets. Maya was quoted as saying that Sex Matters will be considering its legal options. Maya wrote a separate article saying that this reveals the civil service’s flawed approach of creating insider-advocates for interest groups.

This week, Jacinta Taylor for the Mail on Sunday broke the news that some NHS midwives are still being asked to record the “gender identity” and sexual orientation of newborn babies. This comes two years after NHS bosses called the issue an “error” in the £450 million Epic patient data software that would be corrected. Fiona and Maya were interviewed by TalkTV on the story.

Sanchez Manning for The Times revealed that Thea Sewell, one of the founders of the Cambridge University Society of Women, is threatening legal action against the Prince of Wales pub in Clapham for refusing to serve her because of her views on sex and gender. Helen said that the case should ring alarm bells for pub owners, shopkeepers and others that it is not lawful to behave in this bigoted manner towards people who hold ordinary, factual beliefs.

Fiona wrote for the Daily Express, saying that following the judgments in the cases of Jennifer Melle, the Darlington Nurses and Sandie Peggie, ideological capture in the NHS must be fixed from the top down, and that it’s past time for Health Secretary Wes Streeting to end the madness.

Samuel Montgomery for The Telegraph and Jon King for the Daily Express reported that Norfolk Constabulary are allowing detainees to be recorded according to gender identity rather than sex. Helen said that men commit far more crimes than women, especially violent and sexual crimes, meaning that even a small number of men recorded as female seriously skews crime statistics. 

The news that the High Court has not permitted Sex Matters to pursue a judicial review against the City of London over its policy to allow trans-identifying men to use Kenwood Ladies’ Pond was covered widely by the national media. Print and online coverage included BBC News, Sanchez Manning for The Times, Gabriella Swerling and Tom McArdle for The Telegraph and PA Media as published by The Guardian, as well as local outlets such as Holly Brencher’s article for Ham & High. It was also covered widely by broadcast media including Good Morning Britain and BBC London.

Maya was interviewed by ITV News and Talk TV, and Fiona was interviewed by LBC, Talk TV and GB News. In The Telegraph, Jill Foster wrote about women’s frustration about this continuing failure to protect single-sex spaces, quoting Fiona as saying that after For Women Scotland the law is clear and “we shouldn’t be having to debate this and relitigate this over and over.”

ITV’s Good Morning Britain referenced Sex Matters’ opposition to a resolution in the Council of Europe to call on member states, including the UK, to outlaw so-called conversion practices.

23rd January

The news that no further action would be taken against nurse Jennifer Melle, who was accused of “misgendering” a trans-identifying paedophile patient, was covered by Giles Shedrick for the Daily Express. Maya said Jennifer had been hung out to dry by her employer and her union, and that the health secretary Wes Streeting needs to stop the transgender obsession that is corrupting the NHS. Maya also wrote an article for the Daily Express on how transgender ideology has taken over the NHS, meaning that instead of focusing on healthcare priorities, many managers there have become obsessed with affirming false identities.

Alison Holt for the BBC wrote a feature on how the NHS became the battleground in the trans debate facing workplaces, with Sex Matters quoted as saying that we were relieved and delighted by the tribunal’s findings in the case of the Darlington Nurses. Fiona did two interviews following the nurses’ win, with Peter Cardwell on TalkTV and Rachel Johnson on LBC.

Writing for The Courier, Sean O’Neil broke the news that employment tribunals Scotland president Judge Susan Walker claimed that AI was not used in the drafting of Sandie Peggie’s judgment, and that Judge Alexander Kemp blamed “erroneous” quotes from Maya’s judgment on an unnamed “judiciary colleague”. Maya said that a proper review should be undertaken. The news was also reported by Simon Johnson for The Telegraph, and Sean followed up his piece with an opinion article arguing that the judiciary risks losing public trust.

Mark McLaughlin for The Scottish Sun covered the news that SNP ministers likened trans-identifying male prisoners in female jails to mothers taking their young sons to the toilet as part of their legal argument in For Women Scotland’s challenge on women’s prisons. Fiona said that it was said it was unforgivable and insulting to compare little boys with trans-identifying male criminals.

The Telegraph revealed that National Resources Wales has told employees that they can use the toilets of the gender with which they identify, and encourages staff to apologise if they use the “wrong” pronouns for a colleague. Helen said that this policy exemplifies the way many UK public bodies are sticking with policies that are clearly unlawful after last year’s Supreme Court judgment.

16th January

Katie Harris for The Express covered the news that a petition calling on health secretary Wes Streeting to halt the puberty-blocker trial hit 100,000 signatures at the weekend. Helen was quoted as saying that the government needs to take note as people loathe the idea of this trial and won’t forgive anyone who is involved.

Ben Chapman for GB News broke the news that the Cabinet Office confirmed in a letter to Sex Matters that it will not withdraw the 2019 model policy which allows civil-service employees to access opposite-sex workplace facilities and tells colleagues that questioning this is “transphobia”. Maya also appeared on GB News for an interview on the story. 

The Telegraph revealed that Wandsworth Council is encouraging staff to announce pronouns at the start of meetings and to add pronouns to their email signatures and social-media profiles. Fiona called it ludicrous to encourage staff to support the fantasy that people can be the opposite sex or no sex at all, and said the example pronoun zi/zir/zem is so silly it feels like satire. The news was also covered by Amelia Stout at The Times (print only) and Marcus Donaldson for GB News.

Two broadcast appearances over the Christmas period missed in last week’s round-up were Fiona’s interview with TalkTV’s Tom Dave on Girlguiding’s decision to restore female-only membership, and Maya’s interview with Miriam Cates and Charlie Peters on GB News about Sex Matters’ letter to the prime minister urging him to withdraw the unlawful civil-service model policy mentioned above.

9th January

News coverage continued over the Christmas period, with Luke Alsford for the Mail on Sunday revealing that transactivist group Bash Back is planning a series of attacks on offices, including those of the prime minister and health secretary. Maya said that after years in which police forces rolled out the red carpet for trans lobby groups and harassed women’s rights campaigners, it’s no wonder the group seems to believe it can cause criminal damage with impunity.

Genevieve Holl-Allen for The Telegraph reported that Sex Matters has written to Sir Keir Starmer to demand that he retract 2019 civil-service guidance for trans-identifying staff that falls foul of the 2025 Supreme Court judgment. 

Also for The Telegraph, Michael Searles wrote that the NHS is defying the Supreme Court by allowing transgender patients and staff to access opposite-sex spaces in English hospitals. Helen said that NHS trusts, like other public bodies, should not be waiting for guidance that is mainly intended to support smaller operators.

Writing for The Times, Sanchez Manning reported that the government faces renewed pressure to publish the EHRC code of practice following comments from new chair Mary-Ann Stephenson that the guidance is “legally sound”. Maya said that the government has only two choices: follow the law or change the law. If it continues to prevaricate, it will end up in court. 

Mark McLaughlin for the Scottish Sun revealed that the Scottish Qualifications Authority has banned school questionnaires that only offer male or female tick boxes. Fiona said that it’s astonishing that transgender identities are still being promoted to Scottish schoolchildren.

Into the new year, Katie Harris for the Daily Express wrote that Labour MP Jonathan Hinder and Conservative MP Rebecca Paul have urged Wes Streeting to halt the puberty-blocker trial. Helen said that it is deeply immoral to experiment on hundreds more children when we haven’t yet analysed data on how children who have already been given puberty blockers are doing in adulthood.

Daniel Martin for The Telegraph reported on correspondence between HM Courts and Tribunal Services and Sex Matters which confirmed that English courts are still allowing men to use women’s toilets in defiance of the Supreme Court ruling. Maya was interviewed by TalkTV and GB News on the story.

Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail broke the news that Stonewall’s income and reserve funds have plummeted. Maya said that this reflects the haemorrhaging of confidence in Stonewall’s advice.

Justin Bowie for The Courier wrote that suspected use of AI in the Sandie Peggie judgment has been raised in Holyrood, with the SNP’s victims minister saying it was a matter for the courts, and the justice secretary avoiding questions about its possible use. A bogus quote attributed to Maya’s tribunal judgment was among the errors, and she was quoted as saying that there needs to be a full investigation.

2025

19th December

Sanchez Manning for The Times broke the news that Sex Matters was appearing in the High Court this week for permission to take legal action against the City of London Corporation over its policy allowing men to access the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond on Hampstead Heath. The hearing was also covered by Amelia Gentleman for The Guardian, Gabriella Swerling for The Telegraph, Holly Brencher and Robert Collins for Ham & High, Danny Halpin and Ben Lynch for MyLondon, Tristan Kirk for The Standard, and Court News UK. Fiona was interviewed by Julia Hartley-Brewer for Talk TV on the story.

Calls for Health Secretary Wes Streeting to halt the planned NHS trial of puberty blockers were covered widely by the media last week. Jason Groves and Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail reported Streeting’s admission that he is “deeply uncomfortable” with the trial, with Helen quoted as saying that Streeting was rattled by the degree of resistance. Helen and Fiona were interviewed by Spiked at a rally in London protesting against the trial.

The publication of the Levy Review of adult gender clinics was widely reported as a story about unacceptably long waiting times. Maya’s comments that the review was a wasted opportunity to rethink a failed treatment model were reported by Alison Holt and James Melley for BBC News, Aine Fox for PA Media – in a story that was published widely by media including The Standard – and Michael Searles for The Telegraph.

The Telegraph’s front-page report that Women and Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson has blocked the EHRC draft code of practice was picked up widely by the media. Helen appeared on GB News to discuss the story.

Finally, the Sunday Telegraph reported that men who identify as women have been banned from women’s fencing in Britain. Fiona said that this is another victory for fairness for women and girls in sport, and that there are serious safety issues in fencing to consider, too.

12th December

Josh Pizzuto-Pomaco for The Herald, among many others, reported Maya’s first comments in response to the judgment. She said that Sex Matters was pleased that Peggie had won her claim of harassment against NHS Fife, and that the hospital trust was criticised for its terrible handling of the complaint against her, but that overall, we were disappointed with the tribunal’s attempt to reach a spurious balance between a woman’s right to undress with privacy and dignity, and the right of an employee with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment not to be discriminated against. Maya was interviewed on GB News and Helen on LBC following the judgment.

Later in the week, Justin Bowie for The Courier broke the news that the judgment had been amended to remove a bogus quote from the Forstater appeal judgment. Maya said that such gross errors reinforced the growing impression that the Peggie judgment was unsound. This was reported on BBC Radio 4’s Six O’Clock News, among other broadcast reports, and Maya was interviewed live at Peggie’s press conference by Tony McGuire for GB News.

Maya told Jacob Freedland and Simon Johnson for The Telegraph that a second bogus quote attributed to the Lee v Ashers Baking ruling might be an AI summary of general legal principles. 

In other news, Sex Matters did several TV interviews on the planned puberty-blocker trial and the launch of legal action in an attempt to halt it. Helen and Maya were interviewed on TalkTV, and Fiona was interviewed on GB News.

Geraldine Scott for The Times reported that the number of people applying for gender-recognition certificates has reached a record high in the past 12 months. Fiona said that the first generation of young people who were taught about gender identity in school and university are adults now, and that the huge rise in applications from people aged 18 to 35 suggests that promoting gender identity makes more people question whether they might be trans.

Fiona was quoted on the news broken by Tim Sigsworth for the Sunday Telegraph that men have been banned from female competitions by Table Tennis England. She was also quoted by Daniel Martin for The Telegraph on the news that Sharron Davies has been made a Tory peer, describing her as a wonderful role model and a powerful voice advocating for women and girls in sport.

Helen was interviewed by Mark Dolan for TalkTV on new research by the Women’s Rights Network on the harms done by mixed-sex changing areas to women’s safety, privacy and dignity, 

Health and safety publication IOSH Magazine covered the news that Sex Matters is calling for the HSE to publish a statement that access to single-sex facilities at work must be based on sex, not gender self-ID.

5th December

Media coverage this week was dominated by the news that Girlguiding UK and the Women’s Institute (WI) both revised their policies in line with the law by excluding boys and men who identify as female from their services. Maya Forstater’s comment that Girlguiding did the right and only thing for it to do was covered by James Melley for BBC News online. Helen Joyce was interviewed by Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio 2, in an interview that was clipped and ran in the hourly news bulletins across most BBC radio stations into the afternoon and evening.

On the WI, Helen’s comment that a group set up for women must be able to keep out all men was covered by Ben Hatton for BBC News, Sanchez Manning for The Times, Gabriella Swerling for The Telegraph and Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail (print only). 

Naomi Cunningham’s departure as chair of Sex Matters was mentioned in coverage of the news that Sandie Peggie has lodged further claims against NHS Fife’s chief executive and other staff, as reported by Sarah Ward for PA Media, which ran in dozens of newspapers including the Scottish Sun, as well as Dan Sanderson for The Times and Jacob Freedland in The Telegraph (print only).

The news that engineer Maria Kelly lost her employment tribunal against defence giant Leonardo UK in relation to the company’s workplace toilet policy, and that she plans to appeal, was reported across the media. Articles by Sarah Ward for PA Media were published by The Standard among many media outlets, and others included Jacob Freedland for The Telegraph (print only), Andrew Learmonth for The Herald, Catriona Stewart for The Scotsman and Eleanor Pugsley for the Scottish Sun. Maya said that the judgment interprets the law as transactivists would wish it to be, and is incompatible with the Supreme Court ruling in For Women Scotland in several places.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that “cash-stapped” Bristol City Council has spent £1,500 decorating street-sweeping vehicles and bin carts with the so-called Progress Pride flag. Fiona McAnena said that the designs belong in the bin rather than being displayed on the outside of them, as the flag represents a movement that causes significant harm to women, children and gay people.

Maya did two broadcast interviews on the case of Ryan Haley, a trans-identifying male perpetrator of child sexual abuse who was referred to in court with female pronouns, with appearances on LBC with Nick Ferrari and Patrick Christy’s show on GB News.

28th November

The release of details on the upcoming NHS England trials of puberty-blocking drugs for children dominated the news this week. As quoted by David Churchill in the Daily Mail, Eleanor Hayward in The Times, Carole Malone in the Daily Express and Elizabeth Ivens in the Mail on Sunday, Maya Forstater said that the trial was unethical, and that the only reason to research puberty blockers is to be able to offer long-term medical support to those who have already been exposed. Tim Sigsworth for The Telegraph reported that the trial will ask children if they are “two-spirit”, which Maya said demonstrates the lack of seriousness in its scientific basis. Helen Joyce and Maya were both interviewed by GB News on the story.

Naomi Cunningham’s interview on BBC’s Scotcast was covered widely by the media. BBC News, Alistair Grant for The Scotsman, Rebecca McCurdy for The Herald, Douglas Dickie for the Scottish Daily Express and Marc Horne and John Boothman for The Times all covered Naomi’s comments that the Scottish Government is in denial regarding sex-based rights following the For Women Scotland judgment.

Daniel Martin for The Telegraph revealed that the Minister for Women and Equalities, Bridget Phillipson, confirmed to Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), that she will not withdraw outdated EHRC guidance. Falkner had communicated this in a letter to Sex Matters, in which she said that she shared concerns about the 2011 code of practice being out of date.

Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail reported that the Cabinet Office paid £3,244 to organisers of Pride events across the UK so that groups of government employees could attend. Fiona McAnena said that the move raises questions about civil-service impartiality.

Writing for The Times, Mary Wright broke the news that Scouts Scotland is ignoring the Supreme Court ruling and allowing children and adults to use the toilets and sleeping quarters of the opposite sex. Helen said that the policy is a legal case waiting to happen and a huge failure of safeguarding.

Fiona went head-to-head with transactivist Paul Levene on Patrick Christy’s show on GB News to debate the trans-identifying male athlete who competed in the World’s Strongest Woman contest (he was later disqualified).

21st November

The leak of the EHRC’s draft code of practice to Geraldine Scott for The Times dominated news headlines this week. In response, Samuel Montgomery, Gabriella Swerling and Ruby Cline for The Telegraph quoted Maya Forstater as saying that it seems to be common-sense guidance which brings the code back into line with the law, and will help businesses stand up to activist demands. Fiona McAnena and Maya were interviewed by Times Radio on the story, and Maya and Helen Joyce were also interviewed on Talk TV.

Sex Matters’ letter to civil service head Sir Chris Wormald, warning that he must either defend or withdraw the Cabinet Office’s problematic 2019 gender-identity model policy, was covered by Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail and Geraldine Scott for The Times. Maya said that the policy gets the law wrong and has harmful impacts on the working life of half a million civil servants, and that Sex Matters will consider next steps in terms of legal action if it is not withdrawn. Geraldine also quoted Maya in her story revealing that the Cabinet Office referred to the 199 Days Later march as an “anti-transgender rights” protest.

Samuel Montgomery for The Telegraph revealed new plans by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust to fly the transgender and so-called “Progress” Pride flags from the roof of its building on the banks of the Thames, opposite the Houses of Parliament. Fiona said that these flags represent a campaign that has relentlessly advocated for harmful surgeries, puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, not to mention injury-causing breast-binders, and this kind of activity has no place in the NHS.

News that NHS Fife chief Carol Potter is resigning after presiding over the board during Sandie Peggie’s disciplinary proceedings and employment tribunal was covered by journalists including Andrew Learmonth for The Herald, Claire Warrender for The Courier, Dan Barker for the Daily Mail, and Marc Horne for The Times. All quoted Maya as saying that responsibility for ensuring that all policies are lawful and do not result in harassment or discrimination rests ultimately with the chief executive, and in NHS Fife the chief executive failed in this essential task.

Helen’s high-profile debate with Helen Webberley, hosted by Jo Coburn on Times Radio, was covered by Sanchez Manning for The Times, who reported that Webberley said she would give puberty-blocking drugs to children aged nine and younger.

14th November

The resignations of Tim Davie and Deborah Turness, amid chaos at the BBC over biased reporting including sex and gender, dominated news coverage this week. Sam Merriman for the Daily Mail quoted Maya Forstater in an article on a BBC producer’s attempt to block JK Rowling from appearing on Newsnight, while Sanchez Manning for The Times quoted Cath Leng as saying that Sex Matters was among organisations that seemed to be blacklisted. Fiona McAnena was interviewed by Josh Howie on GB News’ Free Speech Nation shortly after news of the resignations broke.

Sex Matters’ letter to the BBC board this week was covered exclusively by Daniel Martin at The Telegraph. Maya was quoted as warning the board that the BBC’s normalisation of transgender ideology has caused real-world harms, including children feeling pathological anxiety about normal puberty and increased demand for harmful puberty-blocking drugs. Later in the week Daniel revealed that news boss Richard Burgess had admitted to staff that the BBC has not got its coverage of trans issues right over the past decade, and quoted Helen Joyce as saying that this was a significant admission after several days during which the BBC sought to downplay the demonstrable bias in its coverage of sex and gender.

In other news, Jamie Gardner for PA Sport, as published in the Irish Independent and other outlets, covered the news that the International Olympic Committee is moving towards banning trans-identifying males from all female events. Fiona said that every international sports body must now fall into line. Suzanne Moore for The Telegraph highlighted the work of Sex Matters trustee Dr Emma Hilton in bringing this about.

The Sunday Telegraph quoted Maya in a report that Blackpool council spent £35,000 on a rainbow road crossing, while Jill Foster for The Telegraph quoted Fiona in an investigative feature on trans lobby group Gendered Intelligence. Kristina Wemyss for the Daily Mail quoted Helen on the news that more than 500 trans-identifying male patients diagnosed with an enlarged prostate and other men’s issues have been recorded as women by the NHS.

Sex Matters’ intervention in GLP’s high-court challenge against the Equality and Human Rights Commission was quoted by Alison Holt and James Melley for BBC News. Fiona was quoted by Ben Rumsby for The Telegraph on GLP’s legal action against the England and Wales Cricket Board on its trans-inclusion policy, and Gabriella Swerling for The Telegraph quoted Maya on the news that Girlguiding faces legal action from a parent over its trans inclusion policy.

7th November

Geraldine Scott for The Times reported concerns from Sex Matters that by delaying the implementation of updated EHRC guidance, ministers have fallen for transactivist pressure. Trans Solidarity Alliance’s recent letter signed by 650 “businesses”, mostly tiny operations, was compared with a Stonewall letter in 2020 that was backed by dozens of international companies. Maya Forstater said that rather than falling for this smoke and mirrors trick or yielding to pressure from activist civil servants, the government should notice that business support for the radical transgender agenda has fallen off a cliff in a few short years.

The news that a complaint against BBC newsreader Martine Croxall was upheld coincided with The Telegraph’s major exposé of editorial bias at the BBC this week, with coverage of sex and gender stories a major feature of the leak. Fiona McAnena was quoted by Grant Tucker for the Daily Mail and Alex Farber for The Times as saying that the activist term “pregnant people” should never have been in the news bulletin to begin with, so the BBC’s punishment of Croxall looks like more chilling proof of its willingness to put ideology before independent reporting. Maya was interviewed by GB News and Talk TV on the story, and Fiona appeared on LBC.

In an exclusive for the Mail on Sunday, Luke Alsford revealed that Newnham College, Cambridge University’s oldest women-only college, is continuing to admit men who identify as women. Maya said that following the Supreme Court ruling, the college should have been urgently reconsidering its policy to bring it back into line with the law, but has instead been looking around for loopholes, which is fruitless and foolish.

Tim Sigsworth for the Sunday Telegraph reported that England Rugby is promoting the use of gender-neutral terminology and preferred pronouns in a 2023 language guide which is still in use. Fiona said that there are only two sexes, as reflected in the rules of rugby, and that trying to force players to pretend otherwise is a fool’s errand.

GB News was on the ground to cover the 199 Days rally for sex-based rights in London last weekend, and reported on parallel rallies in Scotland and Wales. Reporter Sam Francis interviewed Maya and Fiona on the significance of the rallies, as reported by Susanna Siddell for the GB News website. Fiona said that the law is the law, and Maya said that everyone needs to get on with it.

31st October

This week’s news coverage began with Aaron Newbury’s story for the Daily Express that London City Hall prioritised the inclusion of trans-identifying staff in an announcement about its menopause programme. Fiona McAnena said it was a complete let-down for female employees that just as City Hall is finally recognising and addressing an important women’s health matter, its women’s network is prioritising scoring “ally” points with the transactivist movement.

Justin Bowie for The Courier broke the news that the manager of Hobbycraft Dundee asked designer Rebekah Chapman to leave after she challenged a staff member’s “no terfs, no Tories” badge. Maya Forstater was quoted as saying that even if they aren’t aware of the law, staff and managers should have the common sense to understand that such a badge would discriminate against customers with those beliefs or political views. The story was also covered by David Leask for The Times, Sam Lawley for the Daily Mail and Simon Johnson for The Telegraph.

Maya Forstater responded to the news that For Women Scotland’s Susan Smith faces charges for “breaking” transactivist Tom Harlow’s umbrella in the course of his disruption of the group’s rally outside Holyrood. As quoted by Dan Barker for the Daily Mail, David Walker for the Scottish Daily Express and Simon Johnson for The Telegraph, Maya said that Sex Matters stands with Susan, and that the police should do their job of protecting freedom of expression and public order, without fear or favour.

Also in Scotland, Mary Wright and Jennifer Hyland for the Daily Record reported that Police Scotland are under fire for failing to disclose how many non-crime hate incidents they have logged. Fiona said that NCHIs have long been weaponised by activists against people who hold mainstream views about biological sex, and that this does nothing to rebuild trust in the police.

Geraldine Scott for The Times broke the news that the government is planning to undertake a regulatory impact assessment (RIA) on the burden to businesses of the EHRC’s proposed statutory guidance on single-sex spaces, which could delay its introduction by more than a year. Maya said that RIAs are undertaken where there is a choice of options, and that it is a complete red herring for the government to suggest that there is any choice about complying with the Equality Act 2010 right now.

24th October

This week’s news coverage began with Geraldine Scott for The Times breaking the story that a group of House of Lords peers have been strategising to delay the introduction of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidance on single-sex services until its new chair is appointed. Maya Forstater said it was devastating to see a group of peers plotting to thwart the law.

The Sunday Telegraph revealed that HM Prison and Probation Service is telling prison officers and staff to supply trans-identifying prisoners with make-up and prosthetics. Fiona McAnena said that it’s no wonder that the prison service is still imprisoning women with cross-dressing men, since its policy is that those men should be supported to dress as women.

In a story that ran in Scotland’s Sunday Mail (print only), the Daily Mail (print only), and the Daily Record, Mary Wright and Jennifer Hyland covered Scottish Women’s Aid’s insistence that it needs to wait for EHRC guidance before implementing For Women Scotland’s Supreme Court ruling. Helen Joyce was quoted as saying that the law is clear and there is no excuse for the delay.

David Buck wrote for Conservative Home on concerns that warnings about the impact of social transitioning have been largely ignored across the education psychology profession. Concerns raised to regulators are being met with delay or silence, and David quoted Naomi Cunningham as saying that even regulators may be legally liable on their own account for belief-based discrimination.  

Helen made headlines in Australia this week. Rachel Baxendale for The Australian reported on the City of Melbourne’s cancellation of her speaking event at the Docklands Library. Julie Bindel also wrote for The Australian on the cancellation and reflected on the fallout from one of her own events several years ago. Alex White for the Herald Sun quoted Helen as saying that Melbourne is one of the worst cities in the world when it comes to shutting down debate on issues of gender and sex, and that Victoria has some of the most authoritarian overreaching laws on the topic.

17th October

A letter to MPs from Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, suggested that the Supreme Court’s decision in FWS v Scottish Ministers could “severely infringe on [transgender people’s] ability to participate fully and equally in society”, Aaron Newbury reported in the Daily Express. Maya Forstater was quoted as saying that it is not for O’Flaherty or anyone else to insist that some men should count as women in the UK.

Geraldine Scott revealed in The Times that Bridget Phillipson has been accused of delaying guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on single-sex spaces until after Labour’s deputy leadership race over concerns that she could lose support from some MPs. Helen Joyce said that politicians should pay more attention to voters’ opinions, pointing out that in a recent YouGov poll, 50 per cent of Labour voters think the Supreme Court made the right decision. Greg Heffer covered the story for the Daily Mail, and Sam Merriman followed up with a story of a row between the government and the EHRC over the delay. Maya commented: “The law has been clear for six months. The reluctance to comply with the law is shameful, and it harms everyone, particularly women who find themselves sharing female-only spaces and services with men claiming to be women.”

Alex West reported in The Sun that a trans-identifying man who assaulted three police officers avoided community service after claiming that he would feel “unsafe” in a mixed-sex group, a claim Fiona Mc­Anena described as ridiculous, and another example of how cowed and indoctrinated our institutions have become.

Sam Merriman in the Daily Mail broke the story that Labour’s digital ID card “may let people choose their own gender”. Maya was quoted as saying that the government’s plans were doomed to fail unless it accurately records sex rather than gender identity; she flagged the risks of false identities and the need for immediate action. Fiona was interviewed by Miriam Cates and Alex Armstrong on GB News and reminded them: “People like the passport office will let you change the sex marker on your ID just by sending them a letter.” 

Gabriella Swerling wrote in The Telegraph about criticism of the National Trust for putting vegan tampons in men’s lavatories. Maya was quoted, saying: “It can never be appropriate to place a tampon dispenser and urinals in the same room. Allowing people of one sex into a space reserved for the other sets the scene for unlawful harassment of the people who are meant to be there.” The story was also picked up by Shannon McGuigan in the Daily Mail, Ciaran McGrath in the Daily Express and Dan McDonald on GB News.

Helen made headlines in The Australian for accusing Australian officials of enabling human rights abuse through gender policies, and warning that the nation is making dangerous mistakes, as part of a wide-ranging interview with journalist Rachel Baxendale.

10th October

David Walker of the Scottish Daily Express broke the news that we have dropped our legal challenge against the Scottish Government after confirmation that it will operate facilities on the basis of biological sex. However, questions remain about the implementation of its updated guidance. The story was also picked up by Rachel Amery for The Scotsman.

In other legal news, Blaise Cloran and Tim Sigsworth for The Telegraph wrote about the City of London’s consultation on allowing trans-identifying men to use the Ladies’ Pond at Hampstead Heath, which is the subject of a current legal challenge from Sex Matters. Maya Forstater was quoted as saying that the City of London Corporation seems to think that the results of a consultation could somehow legitimise breaking anti-discrimination law.

Daniel Martin for The Telegraph first revealed that a new European Commission strategy proposes gender self-identification for children of any age and punishment for member states who don’t comply with gender ideology. Maya was quoted as saying that it is a mercy British campaigners for sex-based rights don’t have to deal with this sinister strategy and the pernicious capture of EU institutions on top of our own challenges in the UK, and was interviewed on the story on GB News. Further coverage, which coincided with the launch of Faika El-Nagashi’s Athena Forum to campaign for sex-based rights in Europe, included Bruno Waterfield for The Times, Adam Pogrund for the Daily Mail, David Walker for the Scottish Daily Express and Adam Toms for the Daily Express. 

In health news, Fiona McAnena was quoted by Michael Searles for The Telegraph on the news that a research project on the future of NHS care for gender-questioning children appears to have been heavily influenced by transactivists, while Claire Elliot for the Scottish Daily Mail quoted Maya in a story on 300 sexual assault attacks in Scottish hospitals justifying the need for single-sex spaces in wards.

In her column for The Critic, Helen Joyce wrote about BBC bias on sex and gender, and argued that the state-funded broadcaster is a biased and boring purveyor of propaganda. If a media outlet is determined to keep lying about something so obvious as biological sex, she asked, why would you trust anything it says?

3rd October

Sex Matters was quoted widely in coverage of the Scottish Government’s new schools guidance, with Maya Forstater saying that while it acknowledges For Women Scotland’s Supreme Court judgment, the guidance is still muddled and unlawful. Articles included Catriona Stewart for The Scotsman, Ben Borland for the Scottish Daily Express, Claire Elliot for the Daily Mail and Simon Johnson for The Telegraph.

Also in Scotland, we were much quoted on the news that NHS Fife has issued an equality and diversity impact assessment requiring staff toilets and changing rooms to be operated on the basis of biological sex. Helen Joyce said that the move was a devastating blow to the arguments made by the health board in Sandie Peggie’s tribunal. Coverage included BBC News, Alasdair Clark for The Courier, Daniel Sanderson and John Boothman for The Times, David Walker for the Scottish Daily Express, Scottish Legal News and Graham Grant for the Daily Mail. Fiona McAnena was interviewed by Forth1 radio for its news bulletin ahead of the announcement.

In an article that ran in The Herald among hundreds of outlets, Aine Fox for PA News covered the news that Health Secretary Wes Streeting is keen to get the puberty-blocker trial up and running as soon as possible. She quoted a letter to Streeting from Sex Matters and other groups earlier this year which urged for the trial to be cancelled. 

Aaron Newbury for the Daily Express covered the news that Eurostar has unveiled “gender neutral” uniforms which allow staff to “express their individuality”. Helen said that this tired trend is part of a vision of workplaces as locations where staff are validated, but what really matters is that customers and other staff are not expected to pretend to think that men wearing skirts are actually women.

Geraldine Scott for The Times broke the news that Green Women’s Declaration was banned from having a stall and recruiting members at the Green Party conference. Fiona McAnena said that it is extraordinary that the Green Party, which claims to stand for fairness and equality, is refusing women a platform simply because they uphold the reality of biological sex.

Fiona’s interview with Josh Howie on GB News on Emma Watson’s comments about JK Rowling on a recent podcast went viral after Rowling shared it on X in a post responding to Watson’s comments. The exchange was widely reported in the media, and Fiona and Maya did further interviews on TalkTV on the fallout.

26th September

Hayley Dixon for The Telegraph broke the news that Bristol City Council is insisting that women should be called “people with ovaries”. The story was also covered by Sanchez Manning for The Times. Maya Forstater said that erasing sex-based language for women in pregnancy, maternity and breastfeeding protections and services is not only scientifically absurd, but deeply offensive to women.

The Telegraph also revealed that Cambridge University’s oldest women-only college, Newnham, risks breaching equality laws by failing to provide women with single-sex lavatories. Helen Joyce said that the college is sending mixed messages by protecting research scholarships for women based on biological sex, but at the same time forcing female students and staff to share toilets, showers and changing facilities with men in so-called ‘unisex’ facilities.The story was also covered by Ruth Stainer in the Daily Mail. 

Helen wrote for The Critic about having been secretly logged as a criminal by police, after complaints by the same trans-identifying ex-police officer (sacked for gross misconduct two years ago) who has been targeting Graham Linehan. She was also interviewed on the story by Josh Howie on GB News.

Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail and Daniel Martin for The Telegraph broke the news that five trans-identifying male criminals are still being held in a women’s prison despite the Supreme Court ruling that sexes must be segregated, and despite calls for new Justice Secretary, David Lammy, to move them to the male estate. In the Mail, Helen said that Lammy seems to prioritise the trans lobby’s demands over women’s rights. In the Telegraph, Fiona McAnena pointed out that many female prisoners have also been victims of violent and sexual crimes at the hands of men but emails from Mr Lammy’s office simply “parrot trans activist talking points”. Writing for UnHerd, advisory group member Joan Smith described this as Lammy’s “first big test”.

19th September

Elysia Taylor-Hearn for The Times covered writer and book editor Susan Dalgety’s comments that the trade union movement “spat in the face of women in the workplace” when the TUC conference rejected For Women Scotland’s ruling in a unanimous vote. Maya Forstater said there are already some women who are bringing cases against their unions, and if trades unions don’t recognise the law and support their members, there will be more.

Also in The Times, Sanchez Manning reported that two-thirds of women believe that being female is an important part of their identity according to the British Social Attitudes Survey, with 52% of men saying the same. Fiona McAnena said that women are more aware of the significance of sex because our biology shapes the experience of our daily lives in a way that is profoundly different from men.

Writing for the News Letter, David Thompson reported that Sex Matters has rejected the Equality Commission Northern Ireland’s legal action to ascertain whether the legal definition of woman in Northern Ireland’s Windsor Framework is different from the one in the Equality Act, which does not apply there. Maya said that rather than raising the idea of uncertainty and asking for judicial direction, the commission should publish simple guidance in ordinary language.
Daniel Martin for The Telegraph reported on an extraordinary exchange between Piers Morgan and Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, when the latter refused to answer repeated questions on whether a woman can have a penis, despite professing his support for the Supreme Court judgment. Helen Joyce said that all politicians, but particularly party leaders, have a responsibility to give accurate answers to fundamental questions that underpin women’s rights, and that the time for evasiveness on these issues is over.

12th September

Geraldine Scott for The Times broke the news that the EHRC has handed its updated code of practice for service providers to women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson following a consultation period. Helen Joyce said it must leave no loopholes for those still seeking ways not to comply with the law on single-sex spaces.

In The Telegraph, Craig Simpson reported that the College of Policing has issued new guidelines which state that trans-identifying men are at risk of female genital mutilation. Helen said that the guidance is insulting to the women who suffer the barbarity of FGM as a cruel cultural practice for nothing more than the ‘crime’ of being female.

Sanchez Manning for The Times covered the news that University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust has issued new guidance for workplace nurseries which warns against using “gendered language” and that some children have feelings that “don’t match their bodies”. Fiona McAnena said that children know their own sex and that pretending otherwise is counter to safeguarding practices.

Daniel Martin for The Telegraph reported that the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is allowing trans-identifying boys to participate in a competition to encourage girls into the cyber industry. The article quoted Maya Forstater’s letter to NCSC’s chief executive, warning that the eligibility criteria breach equality law.

Finally, Fiona spoke to Stephen Nolan on BBC Radio Ulster about the Northern Ireland education minister advocating for sex-based policies in schools.

5th September

Graham Linehan’s arrest dominated front pages this week. Maya Forstater was quoted by Liam Kelly in The Telegraph as saying that Graham’s intervention in the debate about sex and gender has been huge, and that it’s been heartbreaking for him to see people whose careers he made shun him publicly. Also for The Telegraph, Craig Simpson wrote that disgraced ex-cop Lynsay Watson is believed to have reported Graham for the tweets that resulted in his arrest on Wednesday, and revealed that Helen Joyce has also been reported to the police by Watson. Maya and Helen were interviewed by LBC on the story:

In other news, Dan Roan for BBC News quoted Fiona McAnena welcoming World Athletic’s introduction of sex testing, and saying that every other sport that hasn’t yet done so needs to follow suit.

Fiona was also quoted by Katie Glass in the London Standard about Sex Matters’ legal action regarding the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond at Hampstead Heath. She said that women have long sought out the pond as a refuge from the male gaze, and the so-called trans-inclusive policy means that has been lost.

There was extensive coverage of Sandie Peggie’s tribunal in Scotland, with closing submissions delivered alongside a last-minute application from NHS Fife’s legal counsel to amend its core arguments and the news that Sandie will be launching a second claim. Sex Matters’ support for Sandie and mention in NHS Fife’s media statement was referenced widely, including in coverage by Jonathan Geddes for BBC News, Libby Brooks for The Guardian, Rebecca McCurdy for The Herald and Catriona Stewart for The Scotsman.

Also in Scotland, Andrew Learmonth for The Herald quoted from Sex Matters’ letter to the National Library of Scotland in a report on its decision to now include The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht in its centenary exhibition. Craig McDonald for The Times quoted Maya saying that the Scottish Government’s announcement that it would make “sex” a protected strand in its hate-crime law showed its priorities were wrong.

Daniel Martin for The Telegraph broke the news that a Lib Dem councillor has been suspended after posting a threatening image aimed at gender-critical women. Helen said that it is completely unacceptable for a democratic office-holder to express bigoted opinions about members of the public, and arguably to incite violence towards them.

Finally, Geraldine Scott for The Times broke the news that new guidance from the EHRC has been sent to women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson. Helen said the guidance must leave no loopholes for those still seeking ways not to comply.

29th August

Sanchez Manning for The Times broke the news that Sex Matters has filed its claim to the High Court over the City of London Corporation continuing to admit trans-identifying men into the Hampstead Heath Ladies’ Pond. The story quoted Maya Forstater and featured the testimonies of several women who have encountered men at the pond. Fiona McAnena was interviewed by Sky News and Talk TV on the case. Local coverage included stories by Ben Lynch for My London, The Standard and Harrow Online, and Holly Brencher for Ham & High and This is Local London.

An investigation by Michael Searles for The Telegraph revealed that private clinic Anne Health is helping British children and their parents to access puberty blockers through an EU loophole. Helen Joyce said it’s the duty of the GMC to act when UK-licensed medical professionals are acting outside the spirit, if not the letter, of the law.

The Telegraph also reported that HMRC still has guidance on its staff intranet that employees could “use the toilet appropriate to your new gender” and declaring that “trans women are women”. Fiona was quoted as saying that HMRC risks legal action by female staff for discrimination and harassment.

Helen appeared on Julia Hartley-Brewer’s show on Talk TV to discuss single-sex toilets and changing rooms in universities.

In Scotland, Andrew Learmonth for The Herald, Justin Bowie for The Courier and David Walker for the Scottish Daily Express reported that the Scottish Information Commissioner is investigating NHS Fife over its handling of freedom-of-information requests relating to the tribunal of Sandie Peggie. Helen said the news increases concern about NHS Fife’s standards of transparency and governance.

Finally, Craig McDonald for The Times reported that the Scottish Government plans to add sex as a protected characteristic in the Hate Crime Act. Maya said that the Scottish Government’s priorities were completely wrong, and that it should focus on implementing the Supreme Court judgment and stop putting violent men in women’s prisons and pushing gender ideology in schools.

8th August

This week’s coverage was dominated by Daniel Martin and Neil Johnston’s report for The Telegraph that a trans-identifying man who works for M&S approached a 14-year-old girl who was shopping with her mother in the lingerie section of a store. Fiona McAnena’s quote in the article was further reported by Seren Hughes in The Times, Jada Bas in the Daily Mail, Georgina Mumford for Spiked and Douglas Dickie in the Scottish Daily Express. Helen Joyce was quoted in a follow-up piece by Daniel on JK Rowling’s call to boycott the store, and Helen was also interviewed on the story by Julia Hartley-Brewer on TalkTV. 

In other news, Maya Forstater was quoted in Aaron Newbury’s coverage for The Telegraph on the vandalism of Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s constituency office by transactivists, and by Geraldine Scott for The Times, who reported on a series of emails from Labour MPs to constituents which misunderstood or resisted the Supreme Court judgment. George Chesterton’s report in The Telegraph referenced a Sex Matters report.  

Fiona was interviewed by Russell Quirk on Talk TV and quoted by Alasdair Clark for The Courier and Naomi Cunningham in coverage by Laura Paterson and Elysia Taylor-Hearn for The Times on the news that prison custody officer David Toshack is taking legal action after he lost his job at GEOAmey for refusing to use “preferred pronouns” for trans-identifying prisoners. Laura also quoted Fiona in a feature from the bundle from Nurse Sandie Peggie’s tribunal which revealed that Dr Upton, the man who was permitted by management to use female changing rooms at the hospital where both worked, had said that the hospital should have had clear guidelines about access to female changing rooms. 

Also in Scotland, Helen was quoted by Jacob Freedland for The Telegraph on an Edinburgh Fringe venue which allowed men to use the female toilets.

Jill Foster, writing for The Telegraph, mentioned Sex Matters’ legal action in a feature on the experiences of women who have encountered trans-identifying men at the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond on Hampstead Heath.

Sex Matters’ letter to the committees that interviewed Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson about her appointment as the next chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which called their questions “openly hostile to those who hold gender-critical beliefs” and “ill-informed about the law”, was featured in a piece by Lottie Winson for Local Government Lawyer website. 

Finally, Daniel Martin for The Telegraph quoted Helen in an article on NHS England’s delay in producing guidance which would set out policies on single-sex toilets and changing rooms for patients and staff, which was also reported by Shaun Wooller in the Daily Mail.

1st August

The final days of Sandie Peggie’s tribunal continued to dominate news coverage this week.

Sex Matters’ response to accusations of racism against Sandie was reported by Justin Bowie for The Courier, Douglas Dickie for the Scottish Daily Express, and Jacob Freedland for The Telegraph. Maya Forstater said that Sex Matters in no way defends the sentiments regarding the victims of the Pakistan floods, however unpleasant and ill judged. They do not change the facts at the heart of this case. “It takes extraordinary courage for someone to take a case against their employer, particularly knowing that ill-judged private communications between friends might emerge and be used with the intention of smearing their character”. 

Sex Matters’ administrator Emma Moore’s appearance as a witness regarding an anonymous call from an NHS Fife employee was reported by Rebecca McCurdy for The Herald, Rachel Amery for The Scotsman, Alasdair Clark for The Courier and BBC News.

In other news, Helen Joyce was quoted in The Telegraph as saying that signs displayed at Trans Pride in London demonstrate how central hatred of women is to transactivism.

Also for The Telegraph, Michael Searles reported that the NHS will conduct a six-month review of “unequal” treatment of LGBT+ patients. Fiona McAnena pointed out that LGBT+ is not a homogeneous group, with trans-identifying individuals ranging from school-age girls and boys to elderly men, both gay and straight.

25th July

This week’s media coverage was dominated by Sandie Peggie’s ongoing employment tribunal. 

On Friday afternoon, NHS Fife issued a statement mid-tribunal which contained criticisms of Sex Matters that were removed in later versions. NHS Fife’s accusations against Sex Matters were reported on the front page of Saturday’s Scottish Daily Mail in a story by Gavin Madeley and Paula Murray.

In this and other coverage, including Simon Johnson for The Telegraph, Andrew Learmonth for The Herald, David Walker for the Scottish Daily Express, Dan Sanderson for The Times and PA Media as reported in Dunfermline Press, Maya Forstater was quoted as saying that NHS Fife has dug itself into a reputational black hole and that the statement suggestions desperation.

Alasdair Clark for The Courier broke the news that NHS Fife confirmed that its legal representatives signed off the statement, while Douglas Dickie for the Scottish Daily Express reported on NHS Fife’s removal of Sex Matters from the statement.

Bumper coverage continued on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, a row erupted between the two legal teams over Naomi Cunningham’s use of male pronouns for Dr Beth Upton.

Also in Scotland, David Walker for the Scottish Daily Express referred to Sex Matters’ letter before action to the Scottish Government in his report on the SNP’s internal divisions on the issue. 

In other news, Geraldine Scott for The Times reported that Sex Matters has written to the chairs of the Women and Equalities Committees and the Joint Committee on Human Rights to express concern over MPs’ “openly hostile” attitude in a recent meeting towards Mary-Ann Stephenson, the government’s choice to take over the post of chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Craig Simpson for The Telegraph quoted Helen Joyce as describing a new campaign headed by BBC children’s presenter Dr Ronx Ikharia as a safeguarding catastrophe. The campaign encourages children and adults to wear a badge indicating that they are “safe” for trans-identifying people to approach and ask to accompany them to public toilets.

18th July

The news that Sex Matters is preparing to take the City of London Corporation to court over its failure to operate the Ladies’ Pond at Hampstead Heath as a single-sex service was first reported by Eleanor Hayward at The Times. Wider coverage and commentary continued as the week progressed, including Lauran O’Toole for the Daily Express, Ciaran Foreman for Mail Online and Holly Brencher for local newspaper Ham and High.

Andrew Learmonth for The Herald, Laura Pollock for The National, Dan Sanderson for The Times, and PA Media covered the Scottish Government’s offer to meet with Sex Matters following our letter before action regarding its policy on single-sex facilities.

Also in Scotland, news broke that Sandie Peggie has been cleared of gross misconduct in an internal disciplinary hearing on the eve of her tribunal resuming. Several outlets referred to Sex Matters’ role in issuing a statement by her lawyer Margaret Gribbon, including James Cook and Jonathan Geddes for BBC News and Jenness Mitchell for Sky News. Fiona McAnena discussed the update with Julia Hartley-Brewer on TalkTV.

Separately, Sex Matters chair Naomi Cunningham’s role as Sandie’s barrister was referred to widely by media, with the tribunal dominating front pages and broadcast news across the UK in the latter half of this week.

Tim Sigsworth for the Sunday Telegraph broke the news that the Welsh Government is flouting the Supreme Court judgment with a recently published HR document on “trans inclusion” which claims that “trans women are women”. Maya Forstater was quoted as saying that this is a ticking time-bomb for the Welsh Government and that the policy would not withstand a legal challenge.

Finally, Daniel Martin for The Telegraph revealed that the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee had told party members that “woman” must be interpreted on the basis of biological sex. Helen Joyce said that Labour’s move to base its policy on biology, not self-declared gender identity or £5 pieces of government-issued paper, was encouraging. Fiona discussed the story with Julia on TalkTV.

11th July

The news that Sex Matters has sent a further letter before action to the Scottish Government on its policy on single-sex facilities, giving it seven days to make a statement in alignment with the Supreme Court judgment, was widely covered by the media in Scotland and the UK more broadly. Coverage included articles by Andrew Learmonth for The Herald, David Walker for the Scottish Daily Express, Claire Eliot for the Daily Mail, Mark Macaskill for The Telegraph, Danyel VanReenen for STV and Neil Pooran for PA Media, whose article ran widely across UK press, including in The Times and The National. 

Iain MacWhirter for The Times called on the Scottish Government to act on the letter and said that taxpayers have been underwriting the “toilet wars”, given that Scottish transactivist pressure groups have received nearly £10 million in public funds over the past five years.

Also in Scotland was the news broken by Justin Bowie for The Courier and Georgia Edkins for the Daily Mail that NHS Fife has run up legal costs of £220,000 in Sandie Peggie’s employment tribunal. Andrew for The Herald and Neil for PA Media quoted Maya Forstater as saying that the costs were outrageous but also unsurprising.

In other news, Daniel Martin for The Telegraph quoted Fiona McAnena in his report on the BBC’s admission that it is still allowing men who identify as women to use female facilities, while Helen Joyce was quoted in the Sunday Telegraph’s coverage that Camden Council is facing legal action over road crossings in the colours of the transgender flag. 

Daniel also reported on the ruling that Allison Bailey faced unlawful discrimination by a veterinary practice for her belief that there are only two biological sexes. Maya was quoted as saying that this is the first case to come to court of discrimination based on gender-critical beliefs in relation to goods and services. Fiona appeared on a panel on GB News hosted by Renee Hoenderkamp to discuss the wider significance of the case.

Writing for The Scotsman, Jenny Lindsay mentioned the recently published report by Matilda Gosling for Sex Matters and SEEN in Publishing in an article which argued that employers should urgently assess their hiring practices if hounding people is an inevitable manifestation of holding genderist beliefs.

4th July

Daniel Martin for The Telegraph, along with Geraldine Scott for The Times and Katie Harris for the Daily Express, broke the news that Keir Starmer has told hospitals and universities to obey the Supreme Court judgment “as soon as possible”. Maya Forstater was quoted as saying that this is an important intervention from the Prime Minister, given the huge number of public bodies failing to implement the Supreme Court judgment and therefore operating outside the law.

Geraldine also broke the news that the Office for Equality and Opportunity is hiring a civil servant both to lead on the government’s response to the recent Supreme Court ruling and to oversee reforms to the Gender Recognition Act that were reported earlier this year to have been shelved. Maya said that the successful candidate for this £70,000 role will require extraordinary skills in managing cognitive dissonance, and asked whether mention of GRA reform in the job ad signals a stealth U-turn.

Writing for The Herald, Andrew Learmonth also quoted Maya in his report that the EHRC has urged the Scottish Government to stop delaying and update policies to reflect the Supreme Court judgment. Maya was also quoted by the Sunday Telegraph on fallout over Hackney Council flying the Progress Pride flag.

In broadcast news, Maya was interviewed by Birgit Maass for Germany’s Deutsche Welle News on the banning of trans-identifying men from women’s football, and by Eamonn Holmes and Ellie Costello on GB News on Alice Sullivan’s second report, which focused on barriers to research on sex and gender.

On Talk TV, Fiona McAnena was interviewed by Julia Hartley-Brewer on Ofcom’s order that broadcasters should air the opinion that trans-identifying men are women, while Helen was interviewed by Ian Collins on Sex Matters’ warning that the new Data Bill could enable “catfishing” by making it easy for predatory men to adopt seemingly government-endorsed female identities online.

2025

27th June

In broadcast news, Maya Forstater was interviewed by BBC News on transactivists lobbying Parliament for the right to access opposite-sex facilities, Helen was interviewed by Ian Collins on Talk TV on new guidance allowing judges to reject “preferred pronouns” and Fiona McAnena and Maya were both interviewed on GB News about Stephen Fry’s assertion that JK Rowling has been “radicalised”.

The launch of Matilda Gosling’s report for Sex Matters and SEEN in Publishing was covered by Craig Simpson for The Telegraph. Poet and author Jenny Lindsay wrote a column for The Scotsman and appeared on Talk TV with Ian Collins, while Helen Joyce was interviewed on the report by Matt Goodwin on GB News.

Sam Merriman for the Daily Mail and Daniel Martin for The Telegraph broke the news that Sex Matters has written a letter before action to the City of London Corporation concerning its policy of allowing trans-identifying men to use Kenwood Ladies’ Pond.

The news that the MSP Michelle Thomson (SNP) challenged Scotland’s top civil servant about Sex Matters’ threat to take legal action against the Scottish Government over its delay in complying with the Supreme Court judgment was covered by Simon Johnson for The Telegraph, Daniel Sanderson for The Times and PA Media, whose story ran widely, including in The Herald.

Also in Scotland, Simon Johnson for The Telegraph and Aidan Radnedge for Mail Online quoted Fiona on the news that Police Scotland will allow trans-identifying suspects to be searched by both male and female officers. Meanwhile, Charlie Peters for GB News quoted Fiona in his report that Leicestershire Police – a former Stonewall Top 100 employer – will allow opposite sex strip-searching by “consent”.

Finally, Shaun Wooller for the Daily Mail quoted Fiona in the news that the doctor who led the BMA’s opposition to the Cass Review, Dr Tom Dolphin, has been elected as the union’s new chair. 

20th June

The news that Sex Matters has written a letter before action to the Scottish Government was broken by Dan Sanderson for The Times, BBC News and Dan Barker for the Daily Mail. This was followed by coverage for PA Media by Neil Pooran, and by Libby Brooks for The Guardian, Simon Johnson for The Telegraph, Andrew Learmonth for The Herald and Rachel Amery for The Scotsman, and by STV News, among others. 

Maya Forstater was interviewed on the story by Laura Maxwell for BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland and later by Laura Maciver as the top story on BBC Scotland’s evening news.

This was followed by coverage of Maya accompanying NHS Fife nurse Sandie Peggie to Holyrood to meet MSPs along with Sandie’s solicitor Margaret Gribbon. Justin Bowie for The Courier broke the news that the First Minister John Swinney and Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes had confirmed that they would not be meeting Sandie. Nick Forbes for PA Media, Andrew Learmonth for The Herald, Michael Blackley and Dan Barker for the Daily Mail, David Walker for the Scottish Daily Express and Mark Macaskill for The Telegraph also covered the story, which was also reported by STV on the evening news.

In other news, Joe Pinkstone for The Telegraph reported that BTP is one of several police forces that will now bring their searching policies in line with the FWS judgment following a legal challenge from Sex Matters, while his colleague Richard Percival broke the news that staff at the Financial Conduct Authority are rebelling after the regulator announced that it would align its policies with the judgment.

13th June

Sanchez Manning for The Times quoted Naomi Cunningham and Sex Matters board member Emma Hilton in an article on a National Education Union network event at which members were told that there is no legal definition for biological sex and that the Supreme Court judgment said that trans-identifying people can use “correct gendered facilities”. Helen Joyce was interviewed on the story by Julia Hartley-Brewer on Talk TV.

Writing for The Telegraph on Baroness Kishwer Falkner’s appearance before Westminster’s Women and Equalities Committee, Daniel Martin quoted Maya as saying that she was shocked by the overly hostile questioning of some of the members of the committee.

Daniel also quoted Fiona McAnena on the news that ITV censored a social-media comment from Martina Navratilova and dozens of others who referred to the boxer Imane Khelif as male. 

Helen was quoted by Aidan Radnedge for Mail Online on the news that Brighton Council’s plans to install a “gender neutral” changing village at a new £5.5-million swimming pool. Fiona was quoted by Michael Searles on the news that Prostate Cancer UK described trans-identifying men as “women with a trans history” on its website.

The House of Lords canteen came under fire in The Telegraph this week. Sex Matters was quoted in stories by Daniel Martin, who reported that Progress Pride flags had been removed after an intervention by Baroness Emma Nicholson, and Genevieve Holl-Allen, who reported that the canteen later served a “Pride crumble” in the blue and pink of the transgender-rights flag.

6th June

Activism within the NHS dominated headlines this week. Michael Searles quoted Helen Joyce in his article for The Telegraph which revealed that a staff network at NHS Sussex had proposed giving trans-identifying staff extra breaks to tuck their genitals and bind their breasts. Helen was also quoted by Eleanor Hayward for The Times on the news that NHS mental-health hospitals in London are allowing male criminals to be housed in women’s accommodation. Daniel Martin for The Telegraph quoted Maya Forstater on the news that the NHS Confederation has been forced to withdraw guidance which told hospitals that they should allow trans-identifying people to use the toilets and changing rooms of their choice.

Daniel also quoted Maya in coverage of a report by Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur for violence against women and girls, which raised concern that a third of British police forces still take into account “self-identified gender” in cases of violence against females. Maya also appeared on GB News’ Free Speech Nation with Josh Howie to discuss JK Rowling’s new fund to support women fighting gender-critical legal cases.

In a BBC News report by Emma Saunders on the launch of its new TV drama based on the autobiography of male trans-rights activist Paris Lees, Maya was quoted as saying that presenting the idea of an effeminate boy “becoming a girl” as an edgy coming-of-age story is presenting delusion as self-discovery.

Fiona McAnena was quoted by Suzanne Wrack for The Guardian on an “inclusive” football tournament held in defiance of the Supreme Court judgment, saying that for every trans-identifying male player who dislikes this policy, there are dozens of female players who are relieved that they won’t have to face male players on the pitch any more.

Helen’s latest column in The Critic was shared widely. She described how transactivists are stuck in the early stages of grief following the Supreme Court judgment, and proposed “five stages of victory” to help understand how sex-realistic campaigners will feel as the consequences continue to unfold. 

30th May

Daniel Martin for The Telegraph reported that Helen Joyce has complained to the BBC about Woman’s Hour presenter Anita Rani’s misrepresentation of Helen’s views. Daniel also quoted Helen on news that the Quakers are the latest organisation to defy the Supreme Court judgment by refusing to provide separate toilets for women.

Gareth Roberts for The Spectator used a quote from a podcast interview with Helen in an article on the decline of the Pride movement.

Both Helen and Maya Forstater were quoted in coverage of developments in Sandie Peggie’s case. Georgia Edkins for the Scottish Daily Mail reported that Sandie is suing the Royal College of Nursing for failing to represent her; Andrew Learmonth for The Herald revealed that the Scottish Information Commissioner has reprimanded NHS Fife for failing to respond adequately to a freedom-of-information request about the costs relating to the tribunal; and Justin Bowie for The Courier reported that the maximum claim NHS Fife will have to pay if Sandie wins is £25K, with any further amount coming from a separate NHS fund.

In an exclusive by Jamie Hamilton for the legal news outlet Roll On Friday on a letter from leading law firms to the Prime Minister regarding the Supreme Court judgment, Naomi Cunningham said that it is embarrassing to see these firms making the legally illiterate claim that prior to the Supreme Court judgment the Equality Act had “codified” a right for trans people to use single-sex facilities provided for the opposite sex.

23rd May

Sex Matters’ poll by YouGov on views on the Supreme Court judgment was widely reported in the press. Aine Fox for PA Media, whose story ran widely across UK newspapers, wrote that almost two thirds (63%) of those surveyed said it was the right decision, while Geraldine Scott for The Times reported that 50% of Labour voters said the same.

Geraldine also reported on Labour’s plan to ban trans-identifying men from all-women shortlists and postpone its women’s conference to avoid controversy, which Maya Forstater warned would be direct discrimination against women in the Labour Party, while Daniel Martin for The Telegraph quoted Maya in the news that the Houses of Parliament are refusing to ban trans-identifying men from female facilities.

The EHRC’s new guidance was covered widely by the media. Maya was quoted as saying that there can be more excuses for organisations to follow the law in articles by Aine Fox for PA Media, whose piece ran in newspapers across the UK, Geraldine Scott for The Times, and Daniel Martin for The Telegraph.

Andrew Learmonth for The Herald reported that RCN Scotland is refusing to back Sandie Peggie, and it was widely reported later in the week that Sandie’s lawyer Margaret Gribbon has written to the union to ask it to intervene.

Janet Eastham for The Telegraph covered the news that the NPCC has issued new guidance that police searches should be done on the basis of biological sex, but Maya warned that a caveat allowing opposite sex strip-searches could see female officers pressured or coerced into searching men.

16th May

Ben Rumsby for The Telegraph had an exclusive interview with Cerys Vaughan, the girl who was banned by the FA for asking a male opponent in a female team if he was a man. Cerys and her mother thanked Fiona McAnena for her support.

Responding to the news reported by Genevieve Holl-Allen for The Telegraph that several major Pride events have banned politicians from attending, Helen Joyce said that hopefully now even politicians who have been sympathetic to trans demands, and ignored the harms done to the rights of women and gay people, are starting to wake up to the intolerant, anti-democratic nature of this movement.

In her first appearance on BBC R4’s Woman’s Hour, Helen gave a blistering interview with Nuala McGovern on the aftermath of the Supreme Court judgment.

Sanchez Manning for The Times quoted Fiona in her coverage of Gendered Intelligence charging more than £2,000 for “unlawful” inclusion training, including a £26,000 package for Sport England to deliver training to sports associations. 

Michael Searles for The Telegraph had a front-page story on NHS guidance that lowers the age of treatment for gender dysphoria to include toddlers. Helen said the question for NHS hubs is whether they perpetuate the failed “affirmation” model of the now-closed GIDS clinic or whether they offer genuinely holistic care based on evidence.

Writing for the Daily Mail, Martin Beckford quoted Helen in his coverage of the news that civil servants in the Public and Commercial Services Union are threatening legal action and strikes over what they claim is the “segregation” of transgender people in government toilets and changing rooms.

The BBC covered the news that Sandie Peggie is determined to continue with her legal claim against NHS Fife and called for the trust to immediately stop permitting any man who identifies as a woman access to female-only single-sex spaces.

9th May

Stonewall was accused of misleading the public over the Supreme Court ruling and warned that its charity status might be under threat. Geraldine Scott for The Times and Daniel Martin for The Telegraph reported on the letter that Sex Matters has written to Stonewall. 

Simon Johnson for The Telegraph covered the news that after years of Holyrood mistreating women trying to engage in the democratic process, the Scottish Parliament has revised its policy on toilets to ensure access is based on biological sex.

Daniel Martin for The Telegraph and Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail reported that Sex Matters has written to the NHS Confederation to warn that hospitals are breaking the law by continuing to allow trans women to use female facilities in defiance of the landmark Supreme Court ruling on single-sex spaces.

Helen Joyce joined Alex Phillips on Talk TV to discuss a committee that has written to the Equality and Human Rights Commission over concerns that it has taken an overly literal approach to the Supreme Court ruling.

Finally, George Chesterton for The Telegraph spoke to a number of experts who warned that the government’s data bill could ‘torpedo’ the Supreme Court ruling by bringing in self-ID through the back door. 

4th April

Tim Sigsworth, Ben Butcher and Matt Davis for The Telegraph broke the news that a toddler was suspended from nursery for transphobia/homophobia. Helen Joyce was quoted in the front-page story, which made headlines around the world, as saying teachers and school leaders should be ashamed for projecting adult concepts and beliefs onto such young children.

Also for The Telegraph, Simon Johnson broke the news that the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is considering enforcement action after recent correspondence with NHS Fife. However, NHS Fife’s chief executive, Carol Potter, said any changes would only occur after the conclusion of ongoing legal action and the publication of a national “gender transitioning guide” from NHS Scotland. Maya Forstater was quoted as saying that NHS Fife gives the impression of having calculated that it is safer to cling to legally shaky policies motivated by trans ideology than to admit and fix its failure to provide single-sex toilets and changing rooms.

Georgia Edkins for the Scottish Mail on Sunday reported that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Scotland’s largest health board, had received 16 complaints between 2019 and 2024 regarding the use of single-sex facilities by trans-identifying people. Helen was quoted as saying that the onus shouldn’t be on members of the public to ensure that hospitals provide basic privacy and safeguarding measures.

Daniel Martin for The Telegraph reported that transactivists within the NHS are asking their colleagues to oppose plans for recording sex, rather than gender identity, as recommended by the Sullivan Review. Fiona McAnena was quoted as saying that said the comments showed why Health Secretary Wes Streeting needs to get gender ideology out of the health service.  

Daniel also broke the news that Advance HE, the professional membership body for lecturers, has written to all vice-chancellors urging them to check that their equality policies don’t discriminate against gender-critical people. Sussex University adopted guidance in 2018 by Advance HE’s predecessor which stated that “transphobic propaganda” would not be tolerated. Maya said she welcomed the move as Advance HE had previously promoted gender ideology through its guidance and the Athena Swan charter.

Helen’s appearance at the Oxford Literary Festival was covered by arts correspondents David Sanderson for The Times and Anita Singh for The Telegraph, who both selected the same quote for their headline – that Helen called for medics who have performed gender-related surgeries should be imprisoned. Helen was responding to Richard Dawkins, who asked during the Q&A when gender clinicians who had broken their Hippocratic oath would finally face consequences. 

Finally, Fiona appeared on Mike Graham’s TalkTV show with Sharron Davies to discuss the controversy surrounding Stephanie Turner, a female fencer who was expelled by USA Fencing for refusing to fight a male opponent.

28th March

Fiona Hamilton for The Times, Rob Moss for Personnel Today and Lara Bryant for HR Magazine reported that Peter Wilkins, a scientist working at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in Porton Down, won his case for constructive dismissal. The articles reported that the harassment was triggered by Wilkins liking a post by Sex Matters on LinkedIn about preferred pronouns in the workplace.

Natasha Leake and Daniel Martin for The Telegraph, covered the news that The University of Sussex (UoS) has been fined £585,000 by the Office for Students (OfS) for failing to uphold free speech and governance standards. Its investigation was launched after Professor Kathleen Stock resigned in 2021 because of harassment by students and fellow staff. Helen Joyce was quoted as saying that for too long, many vice-chancellors have calculated that it is safer and easier to permit trans activists to dictate policies and hound their opponents, rather than standing up for evidence-based research and academic freedom. Maya appeared on Jeremy Vine’s BBC Radio 2 show to discuss the story alongside trans-rights activist Peter Tatchell.

Sam Merriman for the Daily Mail broke the news that officials at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have admitted that the number of trans-identifying people recorded in the 2021 census was incorrect but claimed that the data can be used with “high confidence”. A review last year removed the figures from the list of accredited official statistics. Fiona McAnena was quoted as saying that the ONS ignored expert input that would have avoided the debacle and instead listened to ideological activists.

Coverage of the Sullivan Review continued this week. Fiona discussed the story on GB News’ Free Speech Nation with Josh Howie and Jill Foster, writing for The Telegraph, quoted Maya as saying that the conflation of sex and gender identity is a damaging dereliction of duty. The review was cited in several related stories, including the news reported by Les Roopanarine for Mail Online that Surrey police referred to a male suspect as female.

21st March

Professor Alice Sullivan’s review on the problems with official data collection on sex, in areas including health, justice, education and the economy, was splashed on the front pages of three newspapers in stories by Geraldine Scott for The Times, Daniel Martin for The Telegraph and Sam Merriman for the Daily Mail. All quoted Maya as saying that the review is devastatingly clear about the harms caused by carelessness with sex data and a decade-long failure of the civil service to maintain impartiality and uphold data standards.

One of the case studies in the Sullivan Report concerned a three-week-old baby, whose records were altered at a parent’s request to change the sex recorded. In coverage by Geraldine Scott for The Times on Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s move to end the practice, Maya was quoted as saying that changing sex markers on children’s medical records should never have been allowed, and that it was not just misguided but reckless.

Georgia Edkins for the Scottish Mail on Sunday broke the story and quoted Helen Joyce as saying that the guidance is a terrifying failure of the state’s duty to protect some of Scotland’s most vulnerable young people. She added that the policy is grossly negligent and puts young people who deserve so much better at significant risk.

Sam Merriman for the Daily Mail broke the news that a new research paper claims that the term “midwife” is outdated and should be replaced with “lead perinatal practitioner” to be more inclusive. Helen was quoted as saying that maternity services are under enough pressure without ideological nonsense being foisted upon them. Critics condemned the proposal, arguing that it erases women from maternity care. One of the paper’s authors, Dr Sally Pezaro, is a fellow of the Royal College of Midwives and her work was cited by NHS England’s LGBT health lead Michael Brady in 2022 when launching a £100,000 training programme that recommended midwives use terms such as “chestfeeding” and “birthing parent”. The programme was paused and later cancelled following a campaign by gender-critical group With Woman. 

In a rare news story on gender-identity ideology in the financial-services sector, Financial Times journalist Aliya Shibli had an exclusive for The Banker on banks operating in the UK that may be breaking the law in their efforts to diversify their workforces. Deutsche Bank and NatWest are currently advertising programmes ringfenced for self-identified women, but the initiatives risk being challenged as unlawful. Helen was quoted as saying that people can believe in self-identification of gender if they want, but it’s not the position in UK law.

14th March

Naomi Cunningham was profiled by Mandy Rhodes for Holyrood magazine in a moving feature interview for International Women’s Day which focused on her personal story and career journey. The interview was later reported on by Sarah Ward for PA Media in a piece which ran in multiple outlets including The Times and The Independent (which appears to have since removed the article from its website).

St John Ambulance has been criticised for referring to women as “people with breasts” in CPR guidance. The charity has since updated its guidance to “women and people with breasts”. Fiona Parker for The Telegraph and Aidan Radnedge for the Daily Mail broke the story and quoted Maya as saying that sex-based language is particularly important in public health messaging, which needs to be clearly understood by people with learning difficulties or English as a second language. 

The founder of a new gym in London has faced online attacks after announcing that it would be for women only. Reporting in The Telegraph, Janet Eastham quoted Fiona McAnena as saying that Natalee Barnett was well within her legal rights to admit only biological women to her gym, and this type of situation is exactly what the single-sex exceptions ni the Equality Act are for.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has withdrawn its proposal to collect data based on gender identity rather than biological sex, following a years’-long campaign by Conservatives for Women and SEEN in the City, a network advocating for sex-based rights in financial services. 

Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust has a new policy which tells staff who identify as transgender that they can use the toilets and changing rooms of their choice, and that all employees must refer to peers with the pronoun of their choice, even if they do not believe in gender ideology. Daniel Martin for The Telegraph broke the story and quoted Fiona as saying that the policy is inexplicable given the Darlington nurses and Sandie Peggie cases under way, and that the trust’s leaders need to get a grip and pull this new policy.

Dan Barker for the Daily Mail and Andrew Learmonth for The Herald broke the news that Edinburgh University also has a new policy which says that male staff (and students) who identify as female can use the women’s toilets. Fiona was quoted as saying that the university is putting itself at risk by ignoring the 1992 regulations which make it perfectly clear that single-sex facilities must be provided in workplaces and there was nothing in the Equality Act which changes that fact.Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement that she would be standing down as an MSP attracted widespread criticism of her role in the erosion of women’s rights in Scotland and her zealous pursuit of gender self-ID.

7th March

This week’s coverage was dominated by news relating to the NHS. First, Shaun Wooller and Billy Bowkett for the Mail on Sunday breaking the news that the NHS has spent £250 million in the past five years on mastectomies and genital surgeries for people who identify as transgender. Fiona McAnena said that this is an obscene amount for the NHS to spend on experimental and often dangerous surgeries for people who want to look more like the opposite sex.

Next, Tim Sigsworth for The Telegraph broke the story that NHS England is ignoring health secretary Wes Streeting’s crackdown on language linked to gender-identity ideology by advertising dozens of midwifery jobs which refer to “birthing people” rather than mothers. Helen Joyce said that this sort of dehumanising language has no place in healthcare, and that it’s particularly ironic given that the origin of the word “midwife” means “with woman”.

Justin Bowie for the Press and Journal followed with the news that NHS Grampian, like NHS Fife, has no policy in place on which facilities should be used by trans-identifying staff. Helen said that any NHS board which fails to have a policy is risking the same kind of legal action as NHS Fife, and that the law is clear so there’s no need to look for further guidance from the equalities regulator or anyone else. Fiona was interviewed on the story by That’s TV Scotland.

David Walker for the Scottish Daily Express covered the news that claims against Sandie Peggie were deemed “unlikely” by an NHS Fife officer as part of an internal investigation. Naomi Cunningham was quoted in her role as Sandie Peggie’s barrister, when she put to the court that it was a “lie” that Sandie had walked away from a patient because respondent Dr Beth Upton had been treating them.

In other news, Geraldine Scott for The Times broke the news that Lord Arbuthnot has warned the government that its introduction of digital identities risks becoming a problem on the scale of the Post Office’s IT scandal if public bodies are not forced to record a person’s biological sex. The article mentioned that Arbuthnot’s comments appeared in a foreword to a new report by Sex Matters. The news was also covered by Masha Borak for Biometric Update.

Helen wrote for The Critic on how critics of Donald Trump were engaging in the practice of “bullshitting” when they asserted that his executive order which defined male and female as relating to biological sex “accidentally” abolished the male sex since it alleged that all of us are conceived female.

Susan Kelly for Solicitors Journal mentioned Sex Matters’ intervention in an article on the significance of the ruling in Higgs v Farmor’s School.

Finally, James Saunders for GB News covered the news that the BBC has added two childless male drag queens as “inspirational mums” on the CBeebies website to mark International Women’s Day. Helen was quoted as saying that this endless promotion of men under the banner of women and motherhood is a long way from the BBC’s mission to inform, educate and entertain, and that it is tragic to see a once-trusted organisation replacing accurate information with transgender propaganda.

28th February

This week’s coverage opened with John Boothman for The Times and Simon Johnson for The Telegraph on the EHRC’s intervention to “remind” NHS Fife and Scottish ministers of their duty to have an accurate understanding of the Equality Act. Helen Joyce said that Sex Matters other groups had warned the Scottish government on Tuesday that new NHS Scotland guidance was legally flawed, and that by defending it, First Minister John Swinney is committing as serious an error of judgment as when his health minister, Neil Gray, said that the leadership of NHS Fife had his ‘full confidence’.

Richard Mardsen for the Daily Mail covered the news that yachtswoman Tracy Edwards had called out her childhood sailing club in Wales for allowing a male member who identifies as a woman to use the women’s changing facilities. Fiona McAnena said that the Royal Yachting Association’s guidance is simply wrong, and that it is both a safeguarding failure and intrusion on privacy.

Sam Merriman for the Daily Mail and Daniel Martin for The Telegraph broke the news that the National Police Chiefs’ Council has tabled guidance that would allow male officers who identify as woman and hold a gender-recognition certificate to search female detainees, similar to the British Transport Police. Maya Forstater said that paying £5 for a piece of paper from the government doesn’t turn a male police officer into a female one, any more than wearing a dress or putting on lipstick would. The news was also covered by Eliana Silver and Gabrielle Wilde for GB News. 

Next, Katie Harris for the Daily Express and Scottish Daily Express broke the news that Sex Matters has written to the Health and Safety Executive to urge it to do its job in enforcing the 1992 regulations that mandate separate-sex facilities in workplaces. Maya said that it is scandalous that women such as Sandie Peggie and Eleanor Frances have had to put everything on the line because regulators have failed to uphold laws that have been in place for decades, and that fighting these cases has been an inexcusable waste of scarce public funds.

Justin Bowie for The Courier wrote that NHS Fife is understood to have made no attempts to settle with nurse Sandie Peggie, and quoted Maya from a previous interview as saying that this will be a landmark case across the UK.

Finally, Eleanor Hayward for The Times and Michael Searles for The Telegraph covered the news that the NHS trial of puberty blockers will cost £10.7 million and the children involved will only be monitored for two years. Helen said that it’s as if the NHS was planning a trial of lobotomies long after concerns first started to be raised – in fact, even worse because the test subjects are children.

21st February

This week’s coverage was dominated by news relating to the employment tribunal of NHS Fife nurse Sandie Peggie.

Naomi Cunningham’s remarks as barrister in the final day of the tribunal – which focused on evidence given by nurse manager Esther Davidson – were reported by Mark Macaskill for The Telegraph and Sarah Ward for PA Media, whose story ran in the Daily Mail, The Scotsman and The Standard, and in The Mirror in a piece co-authored by Ruth Suter and Tim Hanlon. Sally Hind for the Daily Record reported that Sandie’s legal team have called for a forensic examination of Dr Upton’s phone.

Features on the case at the weekend which mentioned Naomi included a comprehensive write-up on the background of the case by Ed Cumming for The Telegraph, followed by an article by Stephen McGinty for The Times, which took some licence in describing the events of the past fortnight.

On Sunday, Andrew Learmonth for The Herald broke the news that Scotland’s health secretary Neil Gray was contacted in June 2024 by Sandie’s solicitor, who warned him that NHS Fife was acting illegally in the matter. Gray asked a Scottish government official to respond, who said that individual NHS Scotland boards were responsible for such matters and signposted Sandie and her solicitor to a whistleblowing hotline. Maya Forstater was quoted as saying that Neil Gray’s reticence contrasted with Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s willingness to voice support for the Darlington nurses in a similar case in England, and Health Minister Karin Smyth’s one-word answer – “No” – to whether female NHS employees should be expected to put up with male colleagues in their changing rooms. The news was also covered by Chris McCall for the Daily Record and Sarah Ward for PA Media, whose article was published by a number of news outlets including the Daily Mail and The Times in a piece co-authored by Lottie Hayton.

Next, Justin Bowie for The Courier broke the news that Sex Matters, Murray Blackburn Mackenzie, For Women Scotland and Fair Play For Women have written to Neil Gray to express dismay in his lack of intervention in the case, in a piece which also reported that the SNP presiding officer moved to block parliamentary questions on the subject.

Further coverage of the letter, along with our warnings about new NHS Scotland guidance that encourages NHS boards to flout the law on single-sex facilities, was further covered by Simon Johnson and Daniel Sanderson for The Telegraph, and in a second article by Daniel which referenced the news he broke at the weekend that Sandie has been called in for a disciplinary hearing in parallel to the tribunal. Michael Blackley for the Daily Mail, David Walker for the Scottish Daily Express, John Boothman for The Times, and Sarah Ward for PA Media; her article was published by several newspapers including The National, and also covered our letter to Neil Gray and scrutiny of the draft NHS Scotland guidance.

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay challenged First Minister John Swinney about the guidance at First Minister’s Questions in Holyrood on Thursday, which Swinney defended by misrepresenting the Equality Act. Simon Johnson for The Telegraph, John Boothman for The Times and Michael Blackley for the Daily Mail (print only) reported Maya as saying that John Swinney and NHS Scotland are simply wrong about the Equality Act, and that employers are required by the 1992 workplace regulations to provide separate-sex facilities for toilets, washing and changing. She went on to say that Swinney appears to be following “Stonewall law” rather than the rule of law.

After silence from the nursing sector press during the tribunal, Ella Devereux for the Nursing Times wrote a comprehensive report on the case so far.

Shaun Wooller for the Daily Mail broke the news that the Royal College of Nursing failed to support Sandie in an article which quoted the Darlington Nurses. Maya said that Sandie had been let down unforgivably by the RCN, which refused her request for legal assistance.

Finally, in a front-page story for The Telegraph, George Chesterton revealed that the General Medical Council has provided 62 new records to doctors who identify as the opposite sex, such as Dr Upton, which effectively obfuscates aspects of their career history, including suspension. Helen Joyce was quoted as saying that there shouldn’t be any changes of GMC numbers and that there needs to be clear sex data of the doctor for the patient. She added that there always seems to be a desire to centre everything around a person who wants to do the impossible and that patients have the right to know this information. The news was further covered by Kamal Sultan for the Daily Mail, and Helen was interviewed on the story by Mike Ferrari on LBC.

In other news, there was further coverage of the disruption of Helen’s talk at Oxford University’s Balliol College by Tom McArdle for The Telegraph. Helen wrote about the experience for The Critic, and her host at the event, John Maier, wrote about it for UnHerd.

Katie Hind for the Daily Mail wrote about a storyline in BBC’s Waterloo Road which depicted an elderly character with dementia as “transphobic”. Maya said that the storyline is a new low for the BBC and is incredibly insensitive to dementia sufferers and their families. The storyline and Maya’s quote were also referenced in a follow-up piece by Tom Midlane for Mail Online.

Writing for The Telegraph, Sanchez Manning wrote an investigative article on the influence of activist group Gendered Intelligence on the English Cricket Board. Fiona McAnena was quoted as asking why a sporting body is listening to an activist organisation that recommends letting men access women’s changing rooms and play in women’s teams. The news was also covered by Callum Vurley for GB News.

Finally, Fiona was interviewed by Mike Graham on TalkTV to discuss inclusive language in folk dancing.

14th February

This week’s news began with Laurence Sleator for The Times in further coverage of the Science Museum exhibition that refers to Lego being “heteronormative” and “anti-LGBT” because blocks are often referred to as “male” and “female”, which quoted Fiona McAnena. 

Then Sanchez Manning for the Sunday Telegraph wrote that new guidance from the Judicial Office has warned judges that it is “extremely inappropriate” to refer to male rapists who identify as female as women. The guidance was issued in response to a recent ruling on pronoun use in relation to NHS Fife nurse Sandie Peggie’s employment tribunal in Scotland, which outlined that Sandie was allowed to refer to Dr Beth Upton as a man. Maya Forstater welcomed the news and said that for too long, victims of these crimes have not only had to hear male perpetrators being referred to as women in court, but have themselves been pressured to address perpetrators as women. The news was also covered by Noor Qurashi for Mail Online. 

Also writing for the Sunday Telegraph, Tim Sigsworth revealed that the NHS is allowing women who identify as men the opportunity to freeze their eggs for free, despite denying the treatment to millions of women. Helen Joyce said that testosterone is so harmful to a woman’s reproductive system that it may stop her from being able to sustain a pregnancy, and may even require her to have a hysterectomy. Most trans-identifying women sold this fantasy of ‘fertility preservation’ will never be able to use their frozen eggs to become pregnant.

Next, Geraldine Scott for The Times broke the news that the Labour government has shelved plans to relax the requirements for obtaining gender-recognition certificates in a step to counter the Reform Party in the polls. Helen welcomed the news with great relief and said that we’ve long argued that any change that makes it easier to obtain gender-recognition certificates risks introducing self-ID through the back door. The news was further covered by Kumail Jaffer for the Daily Mail and The Australian. David Wilcock and Kumail for Mail Online referenced Helen’s quote in further coverage of the story which brought in comments from JK Rowling. 

Noa Hoffman and Harry Cole for The Sun covered the news that the Labour government’s new health minister Ashley Dalton made “absurd” comments about gender in 2016, including the claim that people can identify as a llama. Helen said that these comments were made at the height of gender-identity insanity, and that what matters is whether Ashley Dalton now realises they were absurd. David Churchill for the Daily Mail also reported on the story and quoted Maya as saying that we hope Dalton quickly clarifies that she has rethought since then, and now accepts her party’s position that single-sex spaces are important and must be protected.

Also writing for The Sun, Sam Blanchard revealed that Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS trust has spent £5,000 on the production of a new rainbow Pride badge for LGBT+ history month, despite comments from Health Secretary Wes Streeting that the NHS “can’t afford to be distracted by ideologues”.    

Rob Moss for Personnel Today covered the news that school assistant Kristie Higgs won in the Court of Appeal following her dismissal from Farmor’s School over “transphobic” social-media activity. Sex Matters was quoted as saying that employers facing complaints about personal social-media posts concerning contentious topics should take this judgment as a signal to think twice before taking action.

John Boothman for The Times covered the news that the SNP has announced plans to “refresh and modernise” a law from 1967 which mandates single-sex toilets in Scottish schools. Maya said that so-called gender-neutral toilets rob schoolgirls of their right to privacy, dignity and safety, and so does a policy of allowing boys who wish they were girls into girls’ toilets, and vice-versa for girls who wish they were boys.

Also writing for The Times, Georgia Lambert and Arina Makarina covered the news that protesters disrupted a talk given by Helen at Balliol College, Oxford University last night.  

The remainder of this week’s coverage was dominated by the employment tribunal of NHS Fife nurse Sandie Peggie.

Justin Bowie for The Courier interviewed Maya on the wider implications of Sandie’s case. Maya said that the case is likely to be very significant as all kinds of employers are running the same sorts of policies as NHS Fife, and that if policies are found to be unlawful in this case, they will be unlawful across the NHS and other employers.

Writing for The Observer, Sonia Sodha referenced Sex Matters’ resources on the principles and evidence around women’s privacy, dignity and safety in a piece arguing that no woman should be forced to change her clothes in front of a male colleague. 

Sex Matters advisory group member Michael Foran wrote articles on the case for The Critic and UnHerd, and was interviewed by Dominic O’Connell on Times Radio. 

Maya wrote about the case for the Daily Express, in an article that was previewed on the front page, arguing that it can no longer be left to brave women to single-handedly fight massive battles to secure single-sex spaces and services.

Sandie’s statement thanking Maya and Sex Matters for their support was covered by The Courier and David Walker for the Scottish Daily Express.

Naomi Cunningham’s role as barrister for Sandie Peggie was referenced widely in coverage this week.

Coverage of Friday’s proceedings on the withholding of documents by NHS Fife included David Walker for the Scottish Daily Express and Sarah Ward for PA Media, whose article was published widely, including in The Independent.

At the weekend, David also wrote that radio presenter Jeremy Vine backed Dr Upton in his use of the female changing room. 

Monday’s coverage of the tribunal on the first day of Dr Upton’s evidence included articles by Sarah Ward for PA Media, whose piece was published widely including in The Independent and in a piece co-authored by Ben Borland for the Scottish Daily Express, Justin Bowie for The Courier, and Katy Scott for BBC News.

Coverage of Tuesday’s proceedings on the second day of Dr Upton’s evidence included articles by Daniel Sanderson for The Telegraph, BBC News, Sky News, Dan Barker for the Daily Mail, David Walker for the Scottish Daily Express, and Sarah Ward for PA Media, whose piece ran widely, including The Scotsman and an article co-written by Ben Borland for the Scottish Daily Express. Justin Bowie from The Courier reported on further delays to court due ot NHS Fife’s failure to disclose documents.

Wednesday’s coverage of the third day of Dr Upton’s evidence included Dan Barker for the Daily Mail, BBC News, Daniel Sanderson for The Telegraph, Justin Bowie and Alasdair Clark for The Courier, Lucy Garcia for The National, David Walker for the Scottish Daily Express, and Sarah Ward for PA Media: her article was published widely including in The Herald and a piece co-authored by Ryan Thom in the Daily Record. 

Mentions of Naomi in coverage of Thursday’s proceedings on nurse manager Esther Davidson’s evidence included articles by Mark Macaskill for The Telegraph, BBC News, Sean O’Neil for The Courier, David Walker for the Scottish Daily Express, and Sarah Ward for PA Media whose article was published widely including in The Scotsman and The Standard.

In commentary in the Daily Mail, Euan McColm referenced the Forstater case and Jan Moir was full of praise for Naomi Cunningham. 

7th February

This week’s coverage opened with Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail who broke the news of a poll showing that “gender neutral” toilets have fallen out of favour with the public and that fewer people feel comfortable using such facilities. Helen Joyce said that pressure has built in recent years for women to ignore their own needs and preferences in order to demonstrate “inclusivity”, but increasingly more women – and men – are rejecting emotional blackmail and voicing their sincere concerns about the loss of single-sex spaces.

Henry Mance for the Financial Times referred to Maya Forstater’s case in a lengthy feature on the global phenomenon of “wokeness” and where it went wrong.

Noor Qurashi for Mail Online wrote that children as young as 11 at a Merseyside school, as part of LGBTQ+ History Month, will be shown a film featuring a child who uses cross-sex hormones and chest binders. A previous comment from Naomi Cunningham on the banning of puberty blockers was included in the article.

Craig Simpson for The Telegraph covered the news that a self-guided tour at the Science Museum states that Lego can be anti-LGBT, given that parts are sometimes referred to as “male” and “female”, and the process of putting them together is called “mating”. Fiona McAnena said that people expect to be informed, educated and inspired when visiting the Science Museum, not to have dubious claims rooted in gender ideology forced on them. Fiona was interviewed by Nana Akua and Ben Leo on GB News on the story. 

Commenting on the new executive order by US president Donald Trump banning men from women’s sport, Fiona wrote an op-ed for the Daily Express which called on the UK government to protect women’s and girl’s sport. She was also quoted in a news article on the story by Sam Merriman and Taryn Pedler for the Daily Mail as saying that we would love to see the Labour government step up and demand this on behalf of sportswomen.

The rest of the week was dominated by coverage of nurse Sandie Peggie’s employment tribunal against her employer NHS Fife and Dr Beth Upton, a male doctor who used the female changing rooms at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy. 

Naomi’s role as barrister for Sandie was referred to in opening coverage by Dan Barker for the Daily Mail, and Sarah Ward for PA Scotland, whose article ran in The Standard, The Herald and Ireland Live. Further coverage quoting Naomi at the tribunal ran later in the week in articles by Sarah, including the Daily Record in a piece co-authored by Ryan Carroll, The Independent, Mail Online, and eight regional newspapers.

Maya’s evidence at the tribunal was also covered by Sarah, in an article that ran in The Independent, The National, STV News and 150 regional newspapers around the UK. Maya was quoted from the proceedings as saying that Sex Matters’ position is not that men are dangerous predators, but that men as a group are a risk, and men who identify as transwomen continue to form part of that group.

31st January

This week’s coverage began with Fiona Hamilton’s article for The Times on the news that every major UK government department has now left Stonewall’s Diversity Champions scheme. The Times contacted 15 ministerial departments and all confirmed that they were no longer part of the programme. Maya Forstater was quoted as saying that this is just the first step, as gender-identity ideology is now deeply entrenched in the UK civil service.

This was followed by Noah Eastwood and Sanchez Manning for the Sunday Telegraph on HMRC’s advertisement for a new deputy chair of its LGBT+ staff network, which would permit the successful candidate to dedicate 20% of their working week to activism. HMRC should be focused on service delivery rather than selecting an employee who will dedicate a fifth of their working hours to promoting transgender rights to other HMRC employees.

Next, Sanchez and Mark Hookham wrote for the Mail on Sunday on the accusation that the Women and Equalities Committee held a biased and partial hearing into the safety and effectiveness of puberty blockers. Maya said that the committee has no mandate to hold any sort of hearing on medical evidence and that two hours of inexpert questioning by non-specialists who appeared to have a trans-activist agenda can’t begin to compare to the Cass Review.

Dan Sanderson for The Telegraph covered the news that nurse Sandie Peggie has been granted permission to use male pronouns for Dr Beth Upton, the male doctor who has been using female changing facilities at an NHS Fife hospital, at her upcoming employment tribunal. Fiona McAnena was quoted as saying that the whole case is centred on the fact that Upton is a male who uses a female changing room, and that the use of a female name does not make him female.

The news that a second teenage footballer has been banned by the Football Association for asking if a transgender opponent was a man was covered by Ben Rumbsy at The Telegraph. Fiona was quoted as saying that many sports have waited until a man is about to hit the big time in the women’s game before acting to protect the female category, and that a cynic might speculate that we won’t see fairness in football until a male player demands his place in the Lionesses. The news was also covered by Francine Wolfisz for Mail Online, Georgia Pearce for GB News and Chris Rosvoglou for The Spun. Fiona was interviewed on the story by Patrick Christys for GB News.

Michael Searles for The Telegraph covered the news that the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) has warned NHS England to stop conflating sex and gender in official data. A complaint had been made by the SEEN in Health network that NHS England had conflated the two terms in its staff survey, which asked about “gender discrimination” and whether a person’s gender had an impact on career progression, rather than their sex. Fiona said that when data about sex is needed, it’s perfectly reasonable to ask a straight question and expect an honest answer.

Helen did two broadcast interviews this week. One was with Miriam Cates on GB News on school guidelines regarding sex and gender, and the other was with Julia Hartley-Brewer for TalkTV on US president Donald Trump’s new executive orders on trans-identifying people in sport and the military.

Finally, Helen wrote for The Critic on the slippery-slope fallacy in policy making and argued that there is little evidence for the idea that successive steps can be objectively accepted or rejected independently in contentious policy areas such “gender recognition” and assisted dying. She said there are three reasons slopes can be slippery in policy making relating to assisted dying: people are less high-minded than legislators imagine, safeguards can turn out to be mere rubber stamps, and human-rights law can be misused.

24th January

One story missed from last week’s round-up was Craig Simpson’s coverage for The Telegraph of the news that Spanish actor Karla Sofía Gascón has been nominated for best actress at the Baftas. The article quoted Fiona McAnena’s comments when Gascón won best actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024, that this was yet another illustration of the way trans ideology takes from women and gives to men.

Next, Janice Turner for The Times referenced Maya Forstater’s case in an article on Eleanor Frances’ settlement with DCMS and DSIT related to ideological capture and intolerance. Janice argued that the case could have been prevented if the departments had not adopted “Stonewall law”. Also writing about the case, Eliana Silver for GB News wrote that Eleanor was grateful for the support of figures such as Maya.

Daniel Sanderson for The Telegraph covered the news that NHS Fife is attempting to ban nurse Sandie Peggie from referring to Dr Beth Upton – a male doctor who identifies as a woman – as male at her upcoming employment tribunal. Naomi Cunningham, who is representing Sandie, was quoted as saying that the question of whether Dr Upton is a woman is right at the heart of the claimant’s case and that the claimant can’t put her case, clearly and forcefully, without using correct-sex pronouns. The news was also covered by Reduxx and Eliana at GB News.

Finally, in an article outlining employment law cases to watch this year, Dentons referred to Sex Matters’ intervention in For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers in the Supreme Court, which is currently awaiting decision. 

17th January

This week’s coverage opened with the news that NHS Fife nurse Sandie Peggie successfully blocked an attempt to anonymise reporting of her employment tribunal regarding her suspension after a complaint she made about a male doctor who identifies as a woman using female changing facilities. Sex Matters’ intervention in the case was referenced by Lottie Hayton for The Times, who also reported that Peggie has requested that the court does not refer to the doctor using she/her pronouns, as well as Jennifer Hyland for the Sunday Mail. Justin Bowie from The Courier quoted Peggie’s comments published on the Sex Matters website. Clare Buchanan from Dunfermline Press cited our submission and quoted Sex Matters in saying that the decision to have the case heard in private would have turned open justice on its head.

Next, Matthew Field for The Telegraph reported that Meta has updated its “hateful conduct” policy and will allow users to say that trans-identifying people are “mentally ill”. The article quoted past comments from Sex Matters, at the time of our suspension from Instagram, that Meta’s former rules had led to a chilling effect which left our social-media accounts vulnerable to vexatious complaints.

Writing for the Sunday Telegraph, Ethan Croft reported that two Whitehall departments have pledged to revise their policies on sex and gender following a settlement with civil servant Eleanor Frances, who said she had no choice but to resign after facing backlash for her gender-critical views. Maya Forstater said that if the civil service is to avoid wasting more public money on payouts, it needs to stop taking direction from extreme transactivist organisations and that it is way past time departments found their courage and tore up policies that adhere to gender-identity ideology. Helen Joyce was interviewed on the story alongside lawyer Peter Daly by Josh Howie for GB News’ Free Speech Nation.

Adam Kula from Belfast’s News Letter reported that Alliance Party leader and justice minister Naomi Long has come under fire after saying that male-born prisoners could be housed in Northern Ireland’s female jail. Fiona McAnena was quoted as saying that studies show that the majority of women in prison have already been victims of male violence, and that locking them up with a violent male is further abuse, this time by the state.

In commentary, writing for UnHerd, Joan Smith reported that the Oxford Literary Festival is facing growing backlash for platforming Helen and Julie Bindel at this year’s event, while Jenny Lindsay for The Spectator referenced Helen in an article on the “self-cancellation” trend that is taking over the literary world. Writing for the Daily Express, Sam Lister referenced Maya’s case in a piece arguing that Britain has a new class system in which people are defined by what they think about social issues.

10th January

Coverage in the lead-up to Christmas began with articles on the five-year anniversary of JK Rowling’s tweet in support of Maya Forstater, which was Rowling’s first public comment on sex and gender. Lauren Smith for Spiked, Jacob Stolworthy for The Independent, Amanda Harding for the US Daily Wire, and Amy Hamm for Canada’s National Post all mentioned Maya in their coverage of the anniversary, as well as Rowling’s influence on debates surrounding sex and gender.

Jo Bartosch also mentioned Maya’s case in a round-up for Spiked of the events of 2024 on sex and gender, which argued that the Cass Review was a game-changer and predicted that 2025 will be the year that the “trans trend” crashes. Former SNP leadership candidate Chris McEleny quoted Maya’s case in an article for The National on his suspension from the Ministry of Defence in 2016 for allegations of misconduct linked to his social-media activity.

Helen Joyce was interviewed by Alex Phillips on TalkTV on a court judgment that extends protection for all under-18s when parents are in dispute about their child’s treatment with cross-sex hormones.  

Michael Searles for The Telegraph revealed that the NHS England will recognise events such as “gender-fluid visibility week” and “transgender parent day” in 2025. Helen said that endless tripe about special identities is not only tiresome, it’s a distraction from what medical professionals should be doing and over time that’s bound to erode patients’ trust.

Michael also wrote that the NHS Blood and Transplant website offers advice for men going through the male “menopause”, despite the condition not being clinically recognised, on a page dedicated to menopause that makes reference to “people” several times but does not use the word “woman” once. Helen said that the historical overlooking of women’s health issues won’t be fixed as long as NHS leaders are too squeamish to name the sex that experiences menopause.   

Maya was interviewed by Josh Howie on GB News’s Free Speech Nation on the Labour government’s position on single-sex services, in which she called on the government to clarify its understanding of the issues.

Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail and Daniel Martin for The Telegraph broke the news that new guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) allows people to lawfully hide their biological sex from their romantic partners. While the guidance says that rape or sexual assault charges may be brought if a victim was not aware of the suspect’s birth sex, it sets out a long list of reasons why people may choose to keep their birth sex hidden, which could be exploited by predators. Maya said that the CPS guidance offers suspects a get-out-of-jail-free card, and that the approach is not grounded in law and shows no recognition of ordinary standards of consent to intimate contact or sexual relations. The news was also covered by Jonathan Ames for The Times and Maya was again interviewed by Josh on Free Speech Nation on the story.

Connor Stringer for The Telegraph broke the news that Sex Matters is suing the British Transport Police (BTP) over guidance that allows male officers who identify as women to strip-search women. Connor reported that we have made the move following BTP’s response to our letter calling for the removal of the advice on the basis that it breaches human rights, which BTP refused to do. Maya was quoted as saying that Sex Matters is bringing this case to ensure that no woman in the UK has to suffer this degrading treatment, and to protect female officers from being forced to search male suspects who decide to declare themselves “women”. The news was also covered by Genevieve Gluck for Reduxx and Holly Bishop for GB News; Joan Smith argued in UnHerd that BTP deserves to lose the court challenge. 

David Thompson for the News Letter mentioned Sex Matters’ BTP case in an article on a Police Service of Northern Ireland policy which enables male officers who possess a gender-recognition certificate to strip-search females.

In the New Year, Andrew Levy for Mail Online broke the news that a quarter of UK police forces let officers carry multiple warrant cards to reflect their biological sex and the gender they identify as, while dozens of forces allow male police officers who identify as female to use female showers, toilets and changing rooms. Maya said that female police officers, suspects and victims should be given respect and protected from abuse, but instead police forces are using them as props to validate trans-identifying male officers: police forces carrying out these policies are engaging in state-sponsored harassment and sexual assault. The news was also covered by James Beal for The Times, Steve Bird for The Telegraph and James Saunders for GB News, and Maya was interviewed on the story by Matt Goodwin on GB News.

Martin Beckford wrote for the Daily Mail about Stonewall’s increasing reliance on taxpayers’ money as its income declines. Maya was quoted saying that the charity made a huge mistake in 2018 when it ignored a petition asking for respectful debate on sex, gender and transgender politics signed by 10,000 people. By taking a hardline approach to trans rights, the charity had drifted away from its founding principles and charitable objects, she said. “It’s no wonder that companies and many public bodies that used to pay for its guidance have walked away.”

2024

20th December

The week began with Janet Eastham for The Telegraph reporting that Helen Joyce had accused the press watchdog IPSO of double standards after it upheld Juno Dawson’s objection to being described in The Spectator as “a man who claims to be a woman” but dismissed her own, in which The Argus misreported the sex of a trans-identifying man with a criminal record who had made violent threats to her. “Ipso placed the feelings of a violent criminal who threatened extreme violence against a woman who refuses to pretend he is a woman ahead of the feelings of his victim, and ahead of the plain truth,” she said.

Later in the week, Craig Simpson in the same paper reported that Sex Matters is calling for IPSO to scrap its guidelines on gender – which support self-identification of sex even for violent criminals – or for editors to ignore them. Helen pointed out: “The guidance as it stands contravenes the Editors’ Code, the first clause of which is accuracy, sides with violent male criminals and against their female victims and forces media outlets to mislead their audience.”

Helen joined Alex Phillips on TalkTV to discuss the ruling in a case taken by a mother that her 16-year-old daughter, who identifies as a boy, will have to wait for a full mental-health evaluation before she can be prescribed testosterone by Gender Plus, a private provider. The judge accepted that the findings and recommendations of the Cass Review, and Wes Streeting’s ban on puberty blockers on the NHS, meant it might not be in the child’s best interests to take cross-sex hormones. 

In GB News, Eliana Silver reported that women had gathered outside BBC headquarters to protest about the award for “Women’s Footballer of the Year” going to Barba Banda. Fiona McAnena explained: “There is serious doubt that Banda is female – it is much more likely that he is a male with a disorder of sex development based on reports that he failed a gender test.” She suggested that the BBC should celebrate female players instead. Sailor Tracy Edwards, who has just joined Sex Matters’ advisory group, called the award a “destruction of women’s sports”.

The rest of the week’s coverage was on the Labour government’s disappointing and legally inaccurate response to a call for evidence issued under the previous government, which asked for guidance and policies that suggested men who identify as women have the right to use female-only spaces. 

Fiona Parker and Michael Searles reported in The Telegraph, where Maya Forstater said: “The Government is saying it’s fine for a service provider to allow men who identify as women into women-only spaces, as long as it doesn’t say that’s the law. In plain language, it’s saying it’s fine for any man who’s willing to claim he’s a woman to come into women’s changing rooms and showers – spaces where people get naked.”

Susanna Sidell in GB News wrote that Helen had called Labour’s new guidance “legally illiterate” – lawyer Michael Foran, who has joined Sex Matters’ advisory group, pointed out that it “fails to consider the prohibition on indirect discrimination and harassment”. Maya labelled the document a “lazy kick in the teeth to women”. 

Martin Beckford covered the same issue for the Daily Mail. Maya said: “How can you stand against male violence against women while giving away female-only spaces to any man who wants to walk in?” Helen was also interviewed by Ian Collins on Talk TV about the guidance. 

Feminist Joan Smith wrote a scathing piece for UnHerd, saying of the policy: “It’s self-ID by the back door, as Sex Matters was quick to point out.”

Finally, Helen appeared as guest host on a special episode of the Gender: a wider lens podcast to interview Marian Tompson, one of the founders of the global breastfeeding-support network La Leche League, about why she quit the organisation over trans ideology.

13th December

Michael Searles for The Telegraph opened this week’s coverage with the news that NHS England has rolled out a “safer spaces” programme for various “genders” and sexual orientations, including aromantic, non-binary, bi+ and trans. Helen Joyce said that NHS England is perpetuating the myth that people with a so-called “gender identity” are automatically at elevated risk of harm, and that it should instead provide genuine “safer spaces” for female NHS staff in light of the Darlington nurses case.

Next, Steven Edginton for GB News revealed that officials in the Cabinet Office were sent a memo last month celebrating Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR). Civil servants were told that it is “a significant day” to remember people killed by “acts of anti-transgender violence”. Maya Forstater said that TDoR events perpetuate the myth that identifying as transgender is a risk factor for experiencing violent crime or being murdered – a claim that is unsupported by evidence – and that no civil-service body should be promoting events based on extreme transactivist claims.

Compact magazine published a piece by Connie Shaw, a university student who was suspended from Leeds Student Radio for her gender-critical views. Connie wrote that reading Helen’s work led her to become more invested in the topic.

Janet Eastham for The Telegraph reported on the criticism faced by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) following its ruling on The Spectator in favour of trans-identifying male author Juno Dawson, who had complained about how he was referred to in an article by Gareth Roberts. Maya said the decision was reckless and hostile, and that it could not be further from IPSO’s mission to “protect the public and freedom of expression”. She also said that the regulator should not be penalising editors and journalists for pulling back the curtain on those who want to manufacture belief in the magic of sex change.

Along with her colleague Craig Simpson, Janet followed up this story with the news that The Spectator is evaluating its relationship with IPSO in light of the decision, which was condemned by the paper’s new editor Michael Gove. Helen said that IPSO’s guidance is biased and illogical, and that journalists and editors feel under pressure to accept the fringe belief that people can change sex as settled fact. Helen’s comments were also referenced in a further story by Janet alongside Charles Hymas on criticism from Conservative politicians that IPSO has engaged in “blatant political activism”.

Fiona McAnena appeared on Kait Borsay’s TalkRadio show along with trans-rights activist Steph Richards to discuss Judy Murray’s comments on sex testing to address trans-identifying men in women’s sports. 

Michael Searles for The Telegraph reported that the devolved government has moved to ban puberty blockers in Northern Ireland permanently, closing a loophole that private clinics – such as Susie Green’s Anne Health – had planned to take advantage of. Fiona said this was a significant shift from the main parties’ stance in favour of blocking the puberty of healthy children and that the decision will be a huge blow to private clinics.

The rest of the week was then dominated by the news that Health Secretary Wes Streeting has extended the ban on puberty blockers in the UK indefinitely. Nick Triggle for BBC News, Eleanor Hayward for The Times, Nuray Bulbul and Emma Loffhagen for The Standard, and NDTV published Helen’s comment that Streeting showed integrity and bravery, and that the ban marks another step towards puberty blockers being relegated to a shameful chapter of history, in which parents and health professionals were emotionally blackmailed into harming children in the name of “progress”.

Michael Searles’ coverage of the news for The Telegraph was also published in major newspapers across Australia, including The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times and WA Today. Michael quoted Helen as saying that it will be an emotional day for families whose children experienced the physical harms caused by puberty blockers and the campaigners subjected to abuse, discrimination and scorn for raising the alarm in the years before the Cass Review.

Jacquelin Magnay for The Australian quoted Helen’s post on X saying that Streeting not only stood firm on the temporary ban on puberty blockers he inherited from the previous government, but carefully closed loopholes and made it indefinite despite a sustained campaign of lies and emotional blackmail. Writing for UnHerd, Jo Bartosch referenced Maya Forstater’s police investigation in the context of “trans inclusion” policies that will remain in spite of the new ban on puberty blockers.

Naomi Cunningham was interviewed by Iain Collins for TalkTV on the ban, while Fiona was interviewed by Jeremy Kyle, also on TalkTV.

6th December

This week’s coverage began with Kit Shepard for The Times on the news that USA women’s football team head coach Emma Hayes defended the awarding of the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year to Barbra Banda, who is suspected to be a male with a DSD. Kit referenced Sex Matters’ letter to the BBC, which has warned that the controversy will cast a shadow over its upcoming Sports Personality of the Year event.

Next, Helen Joyce wrote for The Critic on the downfall of the Women’s Equality Party (WEP) and argued that its failure to give a straight answer to the question of our time – “What is a woman?” – was a fatal error, making the party irrelevant in the most active decade in women’s rights activism since the 1970s.

Writing for the Mail on Sunday, Sanchez Manning revealed that University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust now says that its controversial guidance stating that men who identify as women can produce breastmilk “comparable” to women was never intended to encourage men to “chestfeed”. Helen said it was disturbing that it had taken the trust so long to reveal that staff at UH Sussex do, in fact, know that men can’t breastfeed.

Fiona McAnena was interviewed on TalkTV by Jonathan Gullis on the fallout from Rosie Millard’s decision to quit as chair of BBC’s Children in Need charity over its ties to LGBT Youth Scotland. 

Finally, Gareth Corfield for The Telegraph covered the news that LNER refused to respond to an FOI request on the £58K spent to redecorate a train for Pride month on the basis of the requester Carol Fossick’s gender-critical social-media activity. Despite the Information Commissioner’s Office ruling in favour of Fossick, the information requested has still not been disclosed. Maya Forstater said that LNER’s attempt to thought-police passengers for blaspheming against the rainbow suggests a corporate culture that is more akin to a medieval church than a modern business. The story was also covered by John James for Mail Online.

29th November

Connor Stringer for The Telegraph and Sam Merriman for the Daily Mail kicked off this week’s coverage with the news that British Transport Police (BTP) have issued new guidance that allows male officers with gender-recognition certificates to strip-search women. Maya Forstater said that the policy is a shocking breach of human rights and that states have an absolute duty to protect citizens from degrading and inhuman treatment.

Connor then wrote that Sex Matters has sent a letter before action to BTP and plans to bring a judicial review of the guidance. Maya said the legal action is on the basis that the guidance is state-sponsored sex discrimination and sexual abuse, and breaches the Human Rights Act, the Equality Act and PACE, the law that requires strip-searches to only be carried out by someone of the same sex. 

The story was also covered by David Shipley for The Spectator, Susanna Siddell and Eliana Silver for GB News, Lauren Smith for Spiked, and Andrea Tode Jimenez for International Business Times. JK Rowling’s reaction to the story was covered by Daniel Sanderson and Connor for The Telegraph.

Meanwhile, James Beal for The Times reported that police officers in Britain are logging hate incidents against people with gender-critical views despite guidance warning that their opinions are legally held. Helen Joyce was quoted as saying that it’s disgraceful that police forces across Britain continue to ignore this guidance and are recording the personal details of people who accept the scientific fact that people’s biological sex — male and female — cannot change.

Helen had a world-exclusive interview in The Times with Marian Tompson, 94, who recently quit the global breastfeeding support organisation La Leche League International, which she co-founded in 1956, over its support for male breastfeeding. Marian told Helen about how she came to found La Leche and gave her account of how gender-identity ideology took over the organisation by stealth.

For Women Scotland’s challenge to the Scottish government in the Supreme Court dominated news for the rest of the week. Sex Matters’ intervention was mentioned in coverage by Susan Dalgety for The Scotsman, Iain MacWhirter for The Spectator, Julie Bindel for the Daily Mail and Julie again for UnHerd, as well as articles by Libby Brooks for The Guardian covering day one and day two of the hearing. Helen was interviewed by Julia Hartley-Brewer on TalkTV on the first day of the hearing, as was Fiona by Jeremy Kyle,  while trans-rights activist Robin Moira White, writing for The Independent, criticised the approach of Sex Matters’ lawyer, Ben Cooper KC. 

Fiona Hamilton for The Times quoted Naomi as saying that the long-held conventional wisdom among lawyers that a £5 piece of paper can turn a man into a woman for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 was shaken on day one of the hearing. 

Naomi was also quoted by Catherine Nixey in The Economist as saying that the idea that a certificate transforms a man into a woman is as stupid as giving someone a certificate to say that they are dead when they are alive or that they are alive when they are dead.

Sam Merriman for the Daily Mail quoted Helen as saying the case was forcing the legal system to face up to the destructive ambiguity concerning the legal definition of the word “woman”, which has done great harm to the rights of actual flesh-and-blood women.

Also writing for the Daily Mail, Tom Gordon quoted Maya as saying that the Scottish government’s arguments had been shocking in their hypocrisy, while Fiona McAnena told Alex Philips on TalkTV that the Scottish government had shot itself in the foot by contradicting all the arguments it made when trying to push through self-ID. 

In other news, Matt Lawton for The Times covered the news that Sex Matters wrote a letter to the BBC after Barbra Banda – who is thought to be a male with a DSD – won its award for women’s footballer of the year. The letter, signed by Fiona, warned that the controversy will cast a shadow over the BBC Sports Personality of the Year and that female athletes deserve better than for the national broadcaster to promote this player as if there were no questions to be answered. Fiona was interviewed by Mike Graham on TalkTV on the story.

Finally, former Bracknell Forest Council employee Sarah Holman noted her appreciation of support from Sex Matters in an article by Frances Hardy for the Daily Mail on her upcoming employment tribunal on the grounds of discrimination against her and other female staff who were forced to share facilities with men following a shift to “gender-neutral” toilets.

22nd November

This week’s coverage opened with mentions of the now-dropped police investigation against Maya Forstater for social media posts in 2023. Writing for the Daily Mail, Julie Bindel mentioned Maya in an article on her own experience of being investigated for a “hate crime”, which was covered by Eliana Silver for GB News. Maya was also mentioned by Mary Harrington in an article for UnHerd on how Franz Kafka predicted the age of “petty tyranny” in modern-day Britain.

Next, Fiona McAnena wrote an article for The Telegraph on why the Football Association and Gary Lineker’s silence on the plight of a 17-year-old female football player who was disciplined for asking if a bearded opponent was a man must be fought. Fiona highlighted the hypocrisy of the FA focusing on female health, wellbeing, and safeguarding in its newly launched strategy for women’s and girls’ football, and flagged that in 2003 the FA pointed out that letting male players with trans identities into women’s games could threaten the requirement for a level playing field in sport. 

Helen Joyce was interviewed by Claire Foges on LBC on the scandal surrounding breastfeeding charity La Leche League GB (LLLGB), which has seen whistleblowing trustees forced out for trying to protect the organisation’s charitable aim to provide services for mothers, as defined by UK law, in the face of bullying and pressure from LLL International to include men who want to breastfeed as beneficiaries.

Sex Matters’ concerns that the government’s new digital identity and verification system could be compromised due to incorrect data on sex was covered by a number of IT and technology media outlets. Catherine Knowles for TechDay’s IT Brief and Security Brief, as well as Masha Borak for Biometric Update, cited Sex Matters’ criticism of the reliance on data from DVLA, the passport office and the NHS, which routinely alter sex markers on official records. Maya was quoted as saying that corrupted data on sex will cause serious harm to individuals in areas including healthcare, policing, sport and single-sex services.

Maya’s employment tribunal was mentioned by Kimi Robinson for USA Today, Brendan McFadden for Daily Express US, and The Week in coverage of HBO’s statement that JK Rowling has the “right to express” her gender-critical views.

Fiona was interviewed by Alex Phillips at TalkTV on comments made by Alex Sobel MP on “gender neutral” language in healthcare.

Finally, Sex Matters’ submission to For Women Scotland’s Supreme Court case next week was mentioned in an article by Susan Dalgety and Lucy Hunter Blackburn for The Critic. The article speculated whether the case could be First Minister John Swinney’s “Isla Bryson moment”, referencing the controversy that contributed to Nicola Sturgeon’s political downfall.

15th November

This week’s coverage began with Sam Merriman for the Daily Mail reporting that councils are asking parents what gender their three-year-old children identify as when registering for school. The software comes from an external provider and is used by more than 100 local authorities in London and the north of England. Maya Forstater called for the question to be scrapped and said that projecting the adult beliefs and concepts of transactivism onto children is not only ludicrous but also harmful. The news was also covered by Alex Barton for The Telegraph.

Martina Navratilova and Sharron Davies’ challenge to Gary Lineker to address football’s failure to stop men playing in women’s leagues was covered by Tom Morgan for The Telegraph. Sex Matters trustee Emma Hilton asked why he isn’t speaking up for women and girls, and said that men need to raise this given that women have been carrying this issue for years. She also said that it was hard to see the hero men of football history struck dumb by these issues. The news was also covered by Tom Parsons for the Daily Express. 

James Beal for The Times, Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail, Tom McArdle for The Telegraph, and Perry Chiaramonte for the New York Sun covered the news that the US-based La Leche League (LLL) founder Marian Tompson, 94, and British trustee Miriam Main have quit over the new generation of leadership’s inclusion of men in breastfeeding support services. Helen Joyce said that the situation at LLL is one of the starkest examples of how gender-identity ideology turns organisations upside-down, and that by including men who want to breastfeed in its services, LLL is destroying its founding mission to support breastfeeding mothers. Helen was interviewed by Jeremy Kyle on TalkTV about the story.

Martin also reported that EHRC chair Baroness Kishwer Falkner is being kept on in her role for another year. Maya said that the extension of Baroness Falkner’s leadership sends a clear message to the activist lobby that went as far as trying to involve the United Nations to unseat her, and that she has been heroic in her battle to ensure everyone’s rights are respected

Sophie Perry for Pink News reported that equalities minister Anneliese Dodds was facing flak on social media for meeting with Sex Matters. The article reported Sex Matters’ photograph and post on social media about the meeting, but didn’t elaborate on or give examples of any criticism faced by Dodds.

Dominating news the rest of the week was coverage of the police investigation faced by Maya for “malicious communication” over a tweet, following the news that Allison Pearson of The Telegraph faces a similar investigation. Charles Hymas of The Telegraph reported that Maya had been under investigation since June 2023 and was initially only told that this related to a post “targeted” at a member of the transgender community. She then attended an interview and discovered that it related to a transgender GP who she had claimed “enjoys intimately examining female patients without their consent”, for which she said she has evidence. Maya was quoted in the article as saying that she expresses her views because they are important to her, and that she considers them to be a legitimate contribution to an ongoing political debate. The news was also covered by Alex Farber for The Times, Shannon McGuigan for Mail Online, Julia Hartley-Brewer for The Sun, and Eliana Silver for GB News. Maya appeared on Nick Ferrari’s show on LBC to discuss Allison’s story.

Following these reports, the police announced that they had dropped their investigation in a story broken by Katherine Lawton and Shannon at MailOnline, following which Maya was interviewed by Ben Leo on GB News. The update was subsequently reported by Charles Hymas for The Telegraph and GB News in two articles by Gabrielle Wilde and Jack Walters.

8th November

This week’s coverage began with Richard Marsden and Sam Merriman’s article for the Daily Mail revealing that Scouts as young as eight are being made to play a ‘pronoun’ game and urged to use language such as ‘parents’ instead of mum and dad. Maya Forstater said that the activities are a shocking abuse of the trust parents place in the Scouts, and that requiring children and families who join the Scouts to be indoctrinated into this ideology is belief discrimination. The news was also covered by Craig Simpson for The Telegraph, and Maya’s remarks were quoted on Sky News’ Breakfast with Anna Jones.

Writing for The Spectator, Julie Bindel mentioned Maya as one of the women who spoke at the protest against Germany’s new self-ID law on 1st November at the German Embassy in London.  

Next, Max Stephens for The Telegraph covered the news that Marks and Spencer was advertising girls’ first-time bras as being for “young things” instead of girls. Helen Joyce said that it is incredible to see retailers bend over backwards to accommodate the feelings of a tiny number of men and boys who are unhappy about being male and want everyone else to pretend they are female. The story was also covered by Mario Ledwith for The Times, Rebecca Robinson for the Daily Express, Matt Strudwick for Mail Online and Jack Walters for GB News.

Sex Matters’ intervention in the For Women Scotland vs Scottish Ministers case, which will be heard in the Supreme Court later this month, was mentioned in an article by Scottish Legal News on the publication of Scottish Lesbians’ intervention.

Tom Morgan and Ben Rumbsy wrote for The Telegraph on the news that a 17-year-old female footballer with suspected autism has been given a six-match ban by the Football Association (FA) for asking a trans-identifying male player if he is a man. Fiona McAnena was quoted as saying that the FA has declared open season on women and girls by determining that no one can question a male player participating in a women’s game and that the FA’s new strategy for women’s and girls’ football is worthless as long as its transgender inclusion policy is in place.

Helen wrote for The Critic on how the normalising of violent sex acts offers predators a plethora of new paths to semi-plausible deniability, and that even as consent is increasingly understood as vital, other protections against bad sexual encounters are being dismantled.

Finally, Maya appeared on Julia Hartley-Brewer’s show on TalkTV to discuss the news that Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre has been ordered to pay £70,000 to Roz Adams, who was found by a tribunal earlier this year to have been unlawfully discriminated against by the centre over her gender-critical beliefs.

1st November

This week’s coverage began with Fiona McAnena’s article for the Daily Express on the recent controversy which saw the Football Association discipline a 17-year-old female player, possibly autistic, for asking a player on a female team if he was a man. Fiona argued that women are losing fairness and safety, as well as privacy, as a result of the FA’s policies, and that with the FA disciplining players on such matters, they are losing the right to even say so.

Sam Merriman for the Daily Mail revealed that NHS England had been doing mandatory equality and diversity training since August which involved telling staff members that women are “transphobic” if they don’t want to share a bathroom with a male colleague who identifies as female. NHS England removed the training after Maya Forstater wrote to chief executive Amanda Pritchard, saying that the training in respect of sex, gender reassignment and belief discrimination conflicts with and in some places actively contradicts the law. The news was also covered by Alex Barton for The Telegraph and Holly Bishop for GB News. 

Fiona appeared on Kevin O’Sullivan’s show on TalkTV to discuss the NHS England training story in a segment which also covered the rise of so-called “species dysphoria” following reports that another child in a Scottish school is being permitted by the local council to identify as an animal.

Writing for the Sunday Post, Mary Wright covered the news that many of Scotland’s frontline police officers have not been given essential domestic-abuse training, while almost 15,000 have undergone hate-crime training. Helen Joyce was quoted as saying that most citizens care a lot more about preventing and punishing violent crimes than about policing words, especially when factual statements about biological sex have been rebranded “hateful” under Orwellian hate-crime law. Mary’s story also ran in the Edinburgh Reporter.

Two broadcast interviews on GB News were missed from last week’s media roundup. Maya appeared on Free Speech Nation with Andrew Doyle to outline what For Women Scotland’s upcoming Supreme Court case means for women’s rights, while Fiona was interviewed by Ben Leo about the SNP’s claim that there are 24 genders in official guidance issued to public bodies about recording identities.

25th October

This week’s coverage began with Sam Merriman for the Daily Mail and Connor Stringer for The Telegraph revealing that the National Governance Association (NGA) has been advising school governors and trustees that teachers who identify as transgender can use the bathrooms and changing rooms of their choice. Maya Forstater said that the NGA’s interpretation of the Equality Act is incorrect and that the NGA and schools that follow its guidance could leave themselves vulnerable to legal challenges.

Michael Searles for The Telegraph revealed that, in a recent job advertisement for a clinical psychologist position, the new Nottingham Young People’s Gender Service listed a requirement to practise in line with WPATH’s widely criticised SOC8 guidelines. Helen Joyce warned that the clinic risks becoming “Tavistock v2” and that leaked materials from WPATH revealed the cavalier attitude of many gender clinicians towards patient wellbeing and informed consent.

Also for The Telegraph, Fiona McAnena contributed an op-ed on the news that the Football Association is disciplining a 17-year-old girl with likely autism for asking a male player in a women’s football match whether he was a man. Fiona argued that while allowing male players into women’s football is bad enough, the FA has compounded the problem by making it a disciplinary matter to question it. 

Next, Jonathan Ames reported for The Times (print only) that Andreas Mueller and Elspeth Duemmer-Wrigley – from the Sex Equality and Equity Network (SEEN) in the civil service – are being sued by a colleague who claims that their view that people who identify as transgender cannot change sex is discriminatory. Maya said that the harm would be felt not only right across the civil service but in workplaces all over the UK if they lost the claim, and that it would give transactivists something close to an ideological veto over staff networks. The news was also covered by Alex Barton for The Telegraph and George Bunn for GB News.

Sex Matters’ intervention in For Women Scotland’s Supreme Court case next month was mentioned in an article by Scottish Legal News. 

Sex Matters was also mentioned by Helen Dale for Quillette in a review of Helen Pluckrose’s new book on surviving social justice ideology in workplaces and schools. The author mentioned Sex Matters as one of a number of UK organisations in the “anti-cancellation sector”.

James Saunders for GB News covered the news that Tory councillor Ed Pitt Ford criticised his Labour-run council for not consulting “trans and non-binary communities” on new public toilets. Fiona was quoted as saying that everyone is either male or female, and that if this local councillor thinks there should be a third, gender-neutral option for public toilets, he could say so.

Sex Matters had three appearances on TalkTV this week. Fiona was interviewed by Ian Collins on the England and Wales Cricket Board’s decision to allow men who identify as women compete in amateur female leagues and by Kevin O’Sullivan on the SNP’s claim that there are 24 genders in official guidance issued to public bodies about recording identities. Maya was interviewed by Julia Hartley-Brewer on the damning findings from the Charity Commission’s inquiry into the charity Mermaids.

18th October

This week’s coverage began with Craig Simpson for The Telegraph on the news that a Welsh council has included King Arthur in a historical “LGBTQ+ timeline” because of a legend that he once wore women’s clothing in order to visit a girl. Fiona McAnena said that whether it’s Joan of Arc or King Arthur, it makes no sense to apply today’s baffling ideologies to historical or legendary figures who wore clothes typical of the opposite sex for whatever reason.

Next, Sam Merriman for the Daily Mail covered the news that one of the UK’s most respected doctors, Professor Karol Sikora, weighed in to correct James Paget Hospital on its guidance that babies are “assigned” a “gender” at birth. Helen Joyce had said that the  leadership at the hospital needs to get a grip, say no to its transactivist staff and return to recognising that accurate language about the two sexes matters in healthcare.

Jennifer Hyland for the Sunday Mail mentioned Naomi Cunningham’s role as barrister for a nurse in Fife who is taking a case against the NHS. The nurse is taking the NHS to an employment tribunal after she was disciplined for complaining about a male staff member who identifies as female using the women’s changing room.

Naomi was also mentioned in an article by Mike Wade for The Times in her capacity as counsel for Roz Adams, who was found by an employment tribunal to have unfairly lost her job at the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre. At a redress hearing, Adams said that it beggars belief that Rape Crisis Scotland has yet to agree on a clear definition of “women”.

JK Rowling’s first tweet in support of Maya Forstater was mentioned in an article by Lydia Spencer-Elliott for The Independent on the author’s response to the recent incident at a Butlin’s holiday camp which saw a security officer suspended after removing five trans-identifying men from a female toilet.

Analysis by Sex Matters that 21 government bodies have distanced themselves from Stonewall was mentioned by Sanchez Manning for The Telegraph in an article on the demise of the charity’s Diversity Champions programme. 

Next, Sam Merriman and Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail reported that trans and non-binary categories have been added to official forms for reporting the death of a child. Helen said that the ill-conceived, agenda-driven question on the gender identity of the dead child needs to be dropped immediately.

Albert Tait for The Telegraph covered the news that Robert Laverick was suspended as a volunteer at Samaritans after he publicly called for the charity to drop its ties with Gendered Intelligence and posted about the independent review by Professor Louis Appleby which debunked transactivist claims about child suicide. Maya was quoted as saying that organisations like the Samaritans should be taking the review on board, not reprimanding volunteers for sharing it publicly.

Writing on the news that the BBC has nominated a male footballer with a DSD for the Women’s Footballer of the Year prize, Paul Revoir and Sam Merriman for the Daily Mail (print only) quoted Fiona as saying that the BBC is spreading confusion around this problem for women’s sport.

Finally, Ben Rumsby for The Telegraph revealed that the English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has released a new policy which will see male players who identify as women banned from elite female competition, but not from amateur leagues. Fiona called the move a disastrous, two-tier policy and said that anyone who has played cricket knows that it’s neither fair nor safe for women to face male bowlers and batsmen. She warned about the potential impact on the pipeline of player development and said that the ECB is sending a message to women and girls that unless you’re a top player, you don’t get fair play. The news was also covered by SkySports.

11th October

Anita Singh for The Telegraph kicked off this week’s coverage with the news that Cheltenham Literature Festival issued a warning notice to speakers which compared gender-critical views to racism and homophobia. Festival organisers sent an email asking session hosts to reinforce that the festival does not endorse any “harmful” views that might be shared on stage, together with a list of such views, in which gender-critical was listed first. Helen Joyce said that the festival is only revealing publicly the degree of hostility routinely suffered in private by gender-critical women in literary circles, and that organisers should be pressed to explain exactly how these views might be “harmful”. The news was also reported by Lettice Bromovksy for Mail Online.

Andrew Learmonth for The Herald covered the news that Sex Matters, along with the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Amnesty International, Scottish Lesbians, LGB Alliance and the Lesbian Project, has been granted permission to intervene in the landmark Supreme Court case brought by For Women Scotland, which is due to be heard next month. Maya Forstater said that Sex Matters will be calling on the Supreme Court to focus on the protections for universal human rights that are at stake, and to recognise that while everyone has the right to express themselves, dress how they please and call themselves what they want, this does not override the right of women to privacy, dignity, fairness and autonomy.

Spiked published the full transcript of Helen’s recent interview with Fraser Myers, in which she talked about how the pro-trans movement sold the lie of “gender-affirming care”.

Next, Michael Searles for The Telegraph and Shaun Wooller for the Daily Mail reported that the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) is the latest organisation to cut ties with Stonewall. Fiona McAnena said that the college’s decision sends a clear message that it is putting evidence and the wellbeing of patients ahead of the demands of transactivist lobbyists. She added that RCPsych’s recognition that the ideological position of Stonewall may conflict with the professional practice of its members is a significant statement, and that it will put pressure on the college’s peers, such as the Royal College of GPs and Royal College of Midwives, to follow suit.

Finally, Michael and his colleague Tim Sigswoth at The Telegraph covered the news that James Paget University Hospitals Trust in Great Yarmouth has issued a new document that urges staff to not describe babies as “born male or female” and that they should use the phrase “assigned female/male at birth”. Helen said that it is hard to fathom that any hospital is still promoting transactivist language more than two years after the then Health Secretary instructed the NHS to return to biologically accurate language, and that the hospital leadership needs to get a grip, say no to its transactivist staff and return to recognising accurate language. Helen was interviewed on the story by Mike Graham for TalkTV.

4th October

This week’s coverage began with Michael Searles and Connor Stringer’s article for The Telegraph on a leaflet given to patients at NHS cancer centres, including Weston Park Cancer Centre in Sheffield, which states that surgery to remove body parts containing tumours can be “gender-affirming”. The leaflet was made by Macmillan in partnership with a charity called Outpatients. Helen Joyce said that the material was staggeringly insensitive and inappropriate, and the suggestion that life-saving surgery for cancer patients might offer some kind of two-for-one deal, with gender affirmation thrown in, is frankly disgusting.

Rebecca Camber for the Daily Mail reported that rapist Lexi Secker, a man who identifies as a woman, has been sentenced to six and a half years in a men’s prison. Wiltshire Police faced criticism last month after refusing to specify the defendant’s biological sex, saying that “the crime was recorded as being committed by a male”, but Secker went on trial “as a woman”. The article quoted Fiona McAnena’s comment at the time that it is very concerning to see the police pandering to the feelings of trans-identifying males, which does not give confidence that they are policing without fear or favour.

Sex Matters’ appointment of four new trustees was reported by Emily Moss for Civil Society in the publication’s fortnightly roundup of appointments and people moving roles in the charity sector. Naomi Cunningham was quoted as saying that Sex Matters was blown away by the number – over 50 – and calibre of the applicants, all passionate about the protection of sex-based rights, and that the new trustees will play a crucial role in shaping the organisation and taking our influence and impact to the next level.

Helen’s article for The Critic this month focused on gender clinics offering “post-truth medicine” in a charade that relies merely on the symbols of evidence-based medicine. Also for The Critic, Victoria Smith mentioned Maya Forstater among women who have experienced suffering such as job losses, public shamings and physical assaults in a review of Jenny Lindsay’s new book Hounded.

Rod Minchin for PA news agency mentioned Sex Matters’ intervention in the case of school worker Kristie Higgs, who is appealing against her dismissal from a Church of England school in relation to posts on her personal Facebook page regarding relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) at primary schools (which her children were attending). Minchin’s article was published by The Independent, the Evening Standard, BBC News in a piece co-written with Steven Mellen, and 17 regional newspapers from across England, Wales and Scotland.

Staff writers at Christian Today and Lydia Davies at Premier Christian News also mentioned Sex Matters’ intervention in their coverage of the story, as did Tim Dieppe for The Critic and Kate Jones for the Wilts and Gloucestershire Herald, the area in which the school is located.

A second story by Tom Pilgrim for PA, which also referenced Sex Matters, covered day one of the Court of Appeal hearing, at which lawyers for Higgs claimed she lost her role because of the unlawful stereotyping of her beliefs over gender and sexual ethics as homophobic and transphobic. The story was published by 33 regional newspapers across the UK, including Bury Times and the Oxfordshire Herald.

Also for PA, Storm Newton reported that delegates at the Royal College of GPs annual conference were told that GPs should consider pronoun badges, progress pride flags and posters signposting teenagers to “transgender services”, as well as changing the “gender” on children’s medical records. Fiona said that the last thing vulnerable children and their parents need when seeking evidence-based treatment is to have collateral representing a harmful, anti-science agenda pushed in their faces, and that GPs should follow the recommendations of the Cass Review instead. The story was published by Yahoo News, The Irish News, Shropshire Star, Rutland Times and the Express and Star. Michael Searles for The Telegraph also picked up the story. Fiona was interviewed on the story by Mike Graham for TalkTV. 

Finally, Dan Barker and Claire Elliot for the Mail Online reported that JK Rowling was among nearly 3,000 people who declared themselves to be a “believer in biology” in the 2022 Scottish census. Maya Forstater was quoted as saying that this is further proof that sex and gender is not a fringe issue to be dismissed, and that it is a direct reflection of deep dissatisfaction that the census did not ask clearly and simply for biological sex.

27th September

This week’s coverage began with Albert Tait and Connor Stringer for The Telegraph on new guidance for care homes on “trans and non-binary inclusion”. The “Circle” guide, which was one of the outputs of a £70K study, was dismissive of evidence that people with dementia can become distressed by changes to their body that they no longer understand, such as breast implants in men. Helen Joyce said that the guide is a shocking example of the way transactivism harms the most vulnerable in society and that rather than offering practical, compassionate advice on how to provide care in these difficult situations, the guide treats vulnerable residents as props in a fantasy of gender affirmation.

Next, Jennifer Hyland for Scotland’s Sunday Mail wrote two articles on the crisis facing Sandy Brindley of Rape Crisis Scotland following the damning independent review into Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre. Maya Forstater was quoted in her article, which described how Brindley offered the Sunday Mail the phone numbers of female survivors of sexual assault who would back her up amid calls for her to quit. Maya said that it is clear that for years, Brindley has put her own ideological position ahead of all other considerations, including the wellbeing of survivors.

A second article by Jennifer (print only) reported that analysis by Sex Matters has found that Rape Crisis Scotland (RCS) is in breach of 80% of its own standards by including trans-identifying men as women. Our analysis found that the organisation has broken or not adhered to 51 of 61 Rape Crisis National Service Standards, which are set by RCS and its peers across the UK. 

Maya was also quoted in an article by Jeremy Watson for The Times on the fallout following JK Rowling’s call for Brindley to quit her post. She said that as long as Brindley fails to accept that men who identify as women are not actually women, and have no place in women-only organisations, Rape Crisis Scotland will continue to fail in its crucial mission.

Coverage of Sex Matters trustee Dr Michael Biggs’ work to scrutinise the failed 2021 Census question on gender continued this week. Francine Wolfisz for the Mail Online wrote about Michael’s two-year battle to get the ONS data reviewed and discredited, while Marina Terrangi for the Italian newspaper Il Folgio referenced Michael’s role in coverage of the news. Michael was also interviewed by Tim Harford on the BBC Radio 4 programme More or Less, which reported the story behind the flawed statistics.

Helen was interviewed by Fraser Myers for Spiked’s video series on the damage the trans movement is doing to society and how gender-identity ideology threatens women, children and gay people. She explained how it became taboo to tell the truth about biological sex, and how the spread of gender-identity ideology is giving licence to misogyny and homophobia.

Finally, Ben Rumsby from The Telegraph wrote about the return of footballer Francesca Needham, a man who identifies as a woman, who played at least three times in a female league this summer after pledging to quit the game earlier this year. Needham had caused a female opponent to suffer a season-ending injury by kicking a shot that went to her knee. Fiona McAnena was quoted as saying that the FA needs to get a grip and that it cannot approach this one case at a time. She said that female players need to be confident that they won’t have to face a male player on the pitch or in the changing room.

20th September

This week’s coverage began with an article by Henry Bodkin for the Sunday Telegraph on Sex Matters’ warning that guidance put out by the NSPCC’s Child Protection in Sport Unit potentially puts children at risk by encouraging them to use opposite-sex changing rooms. In a letter to minister Janet Daby, Maya Forstater said that remembering what sex children are is crucial to safeguarding children, and that the guidance actively encourages organisations to put children in situations of potential risk and harm, and to undermine record-keeping.

Mridul Wadhwa’s quitting of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC) and pressure on Rape Crisis Scotland chief Sandy Brindley to do the same was covered widely by the media. Helen Joyce was quoted by Jennifer Hyland for the Daily Record, Mary Wright and Lizzie Roberts for The Times, and Sam Merriman and Graham Grant for the Daily Mail (print only), saying that Brindley needs to go as she backed Wadhwa long after it was apparent his leadership was disastrous and defended ERCC’s trans-inclusive policy, which was found by the employment tribunal to be unlawful.

Mary also wrote for The Times about the surge in referrals to Scotland’s Sandyford gender clinic before rules were tightened around assessment, with more than 600 adults and 350 children, one aged just seven, seeking treatment in the past year. Helen said that it is heartbreaking that so many Scottish children are being railroaded onto a dangerous treatment pathway for gender distress based on the falsehood that it is possible to change sex, and that no matter what measures the Scottish government takes, high numbers of children will continue to be referred as long as ideological lobby groups like LGBT Youth Scotland have a stranglehold on Scottish schools.

Following last week’s damning report  from the Office for Statistics Regulation’s on the Office for National Statistics over its handling of the 2021 Census question on sex and gender, Sex Matters board member Michael Biggs wrote a powerful article for The Spectator on why this is the first time that data from the decennial census – the backbone of British statistics since 1801 – has been downgraded. 

This was followed by articles by Hannah Barnes for The New Statesman, who mentioned Michael’s role in highlighting idiosyncrasies early on in a piece outlining why good data matters, and Sanchez Manning for The Telegraph, who interviewed Michael about what led to his scepticism about the data and his detailed investigation. 

Next was Katie Harris for the Daily Express on the row at the Liberal Democrat conference last weekend, after the party’s chair Mark Pack claimed that some people would feel “unhappy and unsafe” about the presence of campaign group Liberal Voice for Women. Fiona McAnena said that party groups have been sidelined from conferences for a number of years, and the ludicrous suggestion from Pack that delegates might feel “unsafe” just exacerbates the hostility these women face when participating in the political environment.

Richard Williams for the Shropshire Star wrote about two local women being among the hundreds of constituents who went to Westminster to meet their MPs as part of Sex Matters’ lobby day last week. Laura Williams and Sally Leighton met with MP Stuart Anderson, who listened to their concerns over the erosion of female-only spaces and said he was extremely receptive and understanding.

Finally, Fiona appeared on TalkTV with Alex Phillips to discuss the new artwork on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, which features hundreds of plaster casts of people who identify as transgender and non-binary, as well as “species dysphoria” and safeguarding in schools following reports that a child at a British school identifies as a wolf.

13th September

This week’s coverage began with the news that Valentina Petrillo, a male athlete who identifies as female, failed to qualify for the 200m finals at the Paralympics in Paris. Elgan Alderton for The Times quoted Fiona McAnena as saying that Petrillo’s presence meant a woman lost her dream of getting to the Paralympics, and that World Para Athletics had put male feelings ahead of fairness for female athletes.

Oliver Brown for The Telegraph also covered the story and quoted Fiona as saying that allowing places in women’s sport to be taken by men is not progressive or inclusive.

Also for The Telegraph, George Chesterton wrote a feature a week in which the trans lobby was in retreat. Stonewall announced the ending of its schools training programme; the Good Law Project said it would no longer take on trans-related legal cases; and the SNP health minister made a statement to the Scottish Parliament that it accepts the Cass Review. Maya Forstater was quoted as saying that it feels like the grown-ups are back in the room.

Next, Luke Andrews for Mail Online wrote an article exploring why celebrity children are more likely to identify as transgender. Helen Joyce was quoted as saying that people who have gone down this path with their children become cheerleaders for the trans movement because they have to convince themselves that they’ve made the right choice.

Mary Wright for the Scottish Daily Express covered a letter from former John Lewis employee Lesley Pickup that slammed the retailer’s “trans-inclusive” policies. Fiona was quoted as saying that female staff members and customers have been saying to John Lewis for some time that its so-called “trans-inclusive” policies are causing harm and distress, but that it had failed to listen.

Finally, the Office for Statistics Regulation’s damning report on the 2021 Census question on sex and gender was widely reported in the media. Sex Matters trustee Dr Michael Biggs was quoted by James Melley for BBC News, Sam Merriman for the Daily Mail, Robert Booth for The Guardian, Connor Stringer for The Telegraph, James Beal and Steven Swinford for The Times, and Will Conroy for LBC. Michael said that the admission the question was fundamentally flawed was long overdue, and that it is disgraceful that it took the ONS 18 months to admit this.

6th September

This week’s coverage opened with a story by Oliver Brown for The Telegraph on the signing of a male goalkeeper, Blair Hamilton, to Sutton United’s women’s team, which follows the appointment of Lucy Clark, a man who identifies as a woman, as manager earlier this year. The article quoted Maya Forstater’s comments from 2022, when Hamilton was signed onto the women’s England Universities team, that women will lose out from being on the squad and will also potentially be put under pressure not to speak up about it.

Next was Geraldine Scott and Shayma Bakht’s coverage for The Times on Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick saying that the protection of single-sex spaces is not top of the agenda for 90 percent of people. He pledged to spend the most time on issues such as the cost of living, housing and public services and said that doing so would win back Lib Dem voters. Helen Joyce said that attempting to ignore the harms caused by gender ideology will solve nothing, and indeed will only worsen conflicts over women’s rights and child safeguarding. She also said that Sex Matters polling showed that Tory manifesto pledges on sex and gender were popular with voters across the political spectrum — including the Lib Dem supporters Robert ­Jenrick says he hopes to attract. The story was also covered by Amy Gibbons for The Telegraph.

Helen appeared on TalkTV with Alex Phillips to discuss the British Medical Association’s investigation into the leaking of news about a vote on the Cass Review.

Elgan Alderman for The Times covered the news that Valentina Petrillo, a male runner who identifies as a woman, reached the semi-finals of the women’s 400 metres at the Paralympics. Fiona McAnena said that Petrillo’s presence means that a woman has lost her dream of getting to the Paralympics and it’s a shame World Para Athletics has put male feelings ahead of fairness for female athletes.

Writing for The Telegraph, Dan Sanderson revealed that an Edinburgh high school is teaching children that people who identify as transgender are “often killed” as part of a worksheet that outlines how protected groups, excluding women, are impacted by crime. Fiona said that the exercise marked a new low in how sex and gender is being taught in Scottish schools, and that whoever drafted this worksheet has ignored the many ways in which women are disproportionately victims of crime. The news was also covered by David Walker for the Scottish Daily Express and Dan Woodland for the Daily Mail. 

Finally, Ben Rumbsy for The Telegraph covered the news that the World Darts Federation has threatened female darts players with disciplinary action if they refuse to play male opponents who identify as women. The move follows the withdrawal of British and Danish female players from matches against trans-identifying men in recent months. Fiona said that female darts players are losing twice over by being forced to play or lose their future chances, and that it shouldn’t be left to women to take a stand. The story was also covered in The Sun by Michael Hamilton.

30th August

This week’s coverage began with the news that more than 500 academics have written to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to urge her to implement the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act after her announcement last month that it would be halted. In response to the letter, which had Richard Dawkins and Niall Ferguson were among the signatories, a government source said that it makes “no apology for pausing the Tories’ hate speech charter”. In an article by Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail, Helen Joyce said the government’s statement was astonishing and that the planned law would have protected staff and students with a wide range of lawful beliefs.

Writing on the same topic, Robert Tombs for The Telegraph mentioned the attempts to cancel Helen’s talk at Cambridge University’s Gonville & Caius College in 2022. He referenced the actions of students as well as the Master and Senior Tutor’s efforts to sabotage her appearance, and said that basic legal protection is the indispensable first step to protecting freedom of speech on campuses.

Helen was also quoted in commentary following the conclusion of Tickle v Giggle in the Federal Court of Australia. Jo Bartosch for Spiked and Holly Lawford-Smith for Quillette referenced the judge’s dismissive comments about Helen’s expertise following her submission of evidence to the case.

Sex Matters did two TalkTV interviews on the news that the British Medical Association has launched an investigation to determine which council members may have leaked news of a vote on the Cass Review to the media. Helen was interviewed by Julia Hartley-Brewer and Maya Forstater by David Bull.

Helen was interviewed by Nick Ferrari on LBC regarding the news that the Red Cross has adopted “inclusive” language, with the banning of descriptions such as “born a man or woman” and “biological male or female”.

Mary Wright for the Scottish Daily Express and Scottish Daily Mail broke the news that Scottish Women’s Aid will consider applications from men who identify as women for a woman-only role, on the basis of protections relating to gender reassignment. Maya said that it was inexcusable that Scottish Women’s Aid continued to misinterpret equality laws and put the feelings of men with trans identities before the needs of vulnerable women. She also said that if a job needs to be done by a woman, as is usually the case in the women’s sector, employers can lawfully discriminate by excluding men from consideration for the role. The story was also picked up by Simon Johnson for The Telegraph.

23rd August

In continuing coverage of the boxing scandal, Tom Morgan’s exclusive in The Telegraph on the Taiwanese government’s attempt to silence Fair Play For Women began this week’s news. London-based officials from Taiwan asked the group to delete posts on social media about boxer Lin Yu-ting, claiming that it “wrongly” referred to Lin as biologically male. Sex Matters trustee Dr Emma Hilton said that if Lin is actually female, it would have been very straightforward to successfully challenge the IBA’s decision through the Court of Arbitration for Sport last year, and that we can only speculate about the reason this option was not taken up. The story was also picked up by the Irish Independent.

Also in The Telegraph, Helen Joyce wrote a comment piece on the sexualised insults and death threats faced by pregnant sports presenter Laura Woods after she retweeted an article by The Telegraph’s Oliver Brown on the boxing controversy. Helen said the treatment of Woods is far from unusual, and that women who stand up to bullying by the trans lobby are told that accepting other people’s identities does them no harm, and that they must “be kind”. As she said, being punched in the face by someone whose biology means they’re more than twice as strong as you is pretty obviously harmful.

Fiona McAnena and Emma were quoted in a Daily Mail article by Barbara Davies on Khelif’s mother Nasria’s reaction to the scandal. Fiona said that both Khelif and Lin are believed to have a disorder of sex development (DSD) that means they benefit from male sporting advantage, while Emma said that inclusion must not be offset against safety.

Maya Forstater was mentioned in a Newsweek article by Ryan Smith on Khelif’s filing of a legal complaint in France for alleged cyber harassment. The article speculated that JK Rowling has gone “silent” since the complaint was filed, and mentioned that Rowling’s share of a post by Maya was her last activity on X since 7th August. (She has syarted tweeting again since.)

In other news, Alex Ward for the Daily Mail reported that the BBC referred to “people who have periods” in an article about a new Edinburgh Fringe stand-up show by comedian Bella Humphries, who uses her experience of a period-related health condition as material for her show. Noting that when the BBC talks about prostate or testicular cancer, it refers to “men”, Helen said that the channel’s longstanding double standard when it comes to stories relating to women’s and men’s health is deeply sexist and frustrating. The BBC amended the article to use the word “woman” after being contacted by the Daily Mail.

Michael Searles for the Sunday Telegraph revealed that schools and education services referred 160 children directly to the Tavistock clinic, with more than 30 under the age of ten. Helen said that this is the most extreme example to date of what experts call the “school to clinic pipeline”, and proves that schools have been directly responsible for setting children on a pathway that leads to irreparable physical harm. She also said that once Parliament resumes, the Education Secretary should move swiftly to publish guidance for schools on how to support gender-distressed children while protecting all children’s rights and upholding safeguarding principles.

A follow-up article in The Telegraph by Amy Gibbons reported that nearly two-thirds of teachers who have read the draft schools guidance on how to deal with gender-distressed children think it is more divisive than helpful. Helen said the survey showed how little teachers seem to have absorbed the messages of the Cass Review, and that activist teachers may exploit any wiggle room in the final version or even breach their legal duties by ignoring the guidance entirely. She also said that if gender ideology is to be rooted out of the school system, all head teachers will need strong, unambiguous guidance and a simple, clear model policy based on proper safeguarding of children.

16th August

This week’s coverage began with Helen Joyce’s essay in The Times on the new government’s shelving of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, which would have protected gender critical academics and students, as well as Jewish students. She wrote that the act would also stand up to Chinese influence on what is said on UK campuses.

Fallout from the Olympic boxing scandal continued to dominate the news this week after biologically male boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu Ting won gold in their respective weight categories. Helen Lewis for The Atlantic quoted Sex Matters trustee Dr Emma Hilton’s research on the performance gap between males and females, which argued that the Olympics could have avoided ugly debate by addressing legitimate questions about unfair advantage.

Oliver Brown for The Telegraph said that it was a phone call with Emma which first gave him an inkling as to the significance of what was going to be taking place in the Olympic boxing tournament. He quoted Emma as saying that the IOC is trying to balance fairness, inclusion and safety, but that safety is not about balance and there is a cut off.

Tom Morgan for The Telegraph covered the news that sports presenter Laura Woods received death threats for praising Oliver’s article. Woods said that she had learnt a lot from reading Emma’s work which explains how confusion surrounding DSDs in sport can occur and what it means. Helen was interviewed on the story by Mike Graham on TalkTV.

Also in The Telegraph, Suzanne Moore praised Emma’s work explaining the science behind DSDs in sport in an article which argued that Lord Sebastian Coe could be the saviour of women’s sport if he becomes the next IOC president.

Writing for Reduxx, Bryndis Blackadder referenced Sex Matters’ media briefing on why sex matters in sport in relation to the boxing scandal and DSDs. She quoted Emma as saying that allowing a male into the female boxing ring is the equivalent of letting a heavyweight into the ring with a lightweight, and that a female has to be well over 30 kilograms heavier than a male to match strength levels. 

Mike Keegan and Sam Lawley for Mail Online referenced previously reported comments by Maya Forstater and Fiona McAnena in their coverage of Khelif’s gold medal win, as did their colleague Cameron Roy in his coverage of Olympic rower and BBC presenter Matthew Pinsent’s criticism of the IOC’s handling of women’s boxing at the Olympics.

Fiona’s podcast interview with Spiked’s Brendan O’Neill, discussing how this disturbing display of violence against women came about, was written up in an online article, with Fiona arguing that women’s sport is not a consolation prize for men.

Fiona was also interviewed by Julia Hartley-Brewer on TalkTV on the news that a trans-identifying man Valentina Petrillo is set to be the first transgender athlete to compete in the Paralympic Games. Fiona said that there is no world in which anyone thinks it can be fair that when you get too old for male sprinting, you then become a female sprinter.

In other news, Michael Searles at The Telegraph broke the news that NHS radiographers are required to ask men and boys over the age of 12 if they are pregnant, in line with guidance from the Society of Radiographers. Fiona said this is among the worst examples of professional bodies losing their senses, and that putting healthcare staff and male patients through such a humiliating farce is both inappropriate and a waste of time. The story was also picked up by Charlotte Wace for The Times and Xantha Leatham for the Daily Mail (print only), whose story was picked up by several Australian newspapers including The West Australian, Perth Now, Sound Telegraph, Great Southern Herald and Bunbury Herald. Fiona was also interviewed on the story by Mike Graham from TalkTV.

Olivia Peden for the Belfast Telegraph interviewed Helen on the news that the UK government extended the ban on puberty blockers in July for the newspaper’s podcast.

Finally, Simon Johnson for The Telegraph covered the news that Scotland’s Sandyford gender clinic will still treat more than 1000 children and young people, despite banning self-referrals. Fiona said that ensuring referrals can only be made by suitably qualified clinicians will help protect vulnerable people, especially children and young people, from activists.

9th August

The Olympic boxing controversy continued to dominate much of this week’s coverage.

Fiona McAnena was quoted by Sports Pro Media and Jamie Gordon for The Sun as saying that it’s grossly unfair that at the pinnacle of her sporting career, Italian boxer Angela Carini had to concede for her own safety.

Tom Morgan for The Telegraph quoted Fiona as saying that the IOC could have prevented this scandal by acting on the evidence in front of them. She also said that the IOC is responsible for two athletes being thrust into the global spotlight unnecessarily, and for the grief, physical pain and missed opportunities suffered by female boxers at these Olympics.

Oliver Brown also quoted Fiona in a profile of Daley Thompson, saying that it is enormously valuable to have his advocacy for the protection of women’s sports. She also said that people often ignore non-athletic, middle-aged women speaking about this topic but Thompson is listened to because he is both male and a hero.

Writing for The Australian, Jacquelin Magnay quoted Fiona as saying that the Olympic boxing scandal has broken through into the mainstream and many non-sports fans are now concerned.

Fiona did several interviews on the controversy, including LBC with Matthew Wright, Free Speech Nation on GB News with Andrew Doyle, TalkTV with Kevin O’Sullivan and GB News again on Monday at 3.30pm.

Sex Matters trustee and developmental biologist Dr Emma Hilton’s research that a male boxer’s punch is 160% more powerful than a woman’s was quoted by Gustavo Muñana for Inside the Games.

Emma was also quoted by Will Pugh for The Sun, saying that athletes with “typically male” XY chromosomes, like Khelif, should be barred from competing against those without.

In a feature by Sofia Bettiza for BBC News on the science behind the boxing controversy, Emma was quoted as saying that the gene called SRY, which stands for “sex-determining region of the Y chromosome” – also known as the make-male gene – is the master switch of sex development.

Emma and Sally Parkin were quoted by Sam Greenhill for the Daily Mail (print only), with Emma saying that it’s not just unfair but dangerous for someone with male biology to punch a female boxer. Sally said that sex is a material reality and is not changed by what is written on a piece of paper.

Emma appeared on GB News with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster to discuss the story.

Maya Forstater’s reaction on X to one of the boxing matches in question was mentioned by Iwan Stone and Shekar Bhatia for Mail Online.

Sex Matters’ briefing on disorders of sex development (DSDs) in sport was cited in the print version of an article by Matt Lawton, Martyn Ziegler and David Brown for The Times, as saying that sporting bodies worldwide need to act now to protect fairness and safety for women.

It was also mentioned by Susan Dalgety in a column for The Scotsman, clarifying that the DSD 5-ARD is the condition that South African athlete Caster Semenya has, and which led to the Court for Arbitration in Sport ruling that 5-ARD athletes can be barred from women’s competitions.

In an attempt to address a lot of the misinformation circulating amidst the controversy, Sex Matters hosted a media briefing on Thursday that was widely attended by international journalists, producers and broadcast presenters. Fiona chaired the session and Emma, Sharron Davies MBE and Mara Yamauchi spoke and answered questions. Sharron’s comments at the briefing led to stories by Tom Morgan for The Telegraph and Daniel Boffey for The Guardian.

In other news, writing for the Scottish Daily Mail and the Edinburgh Reporter, Mary Wright reported that National Galleries of Scotland continues to display a photograph of former SNP equalities officer Cameron Downing, who was recently jailed on charges of sexual assault and violence. Fiona was quoted as saying that simply putting up a trigger warning is insulting to his victims, and all victims of sexual violence.

Naomi Cunningham was quoted widely on the news that the NHS will conduct clinical trials on puberty blockers as part of its plan to overhaul services for children. She told Shaun Wooller and Alex Ward at the Daily Mail that while well-meaning, these trials pose the very real risk of the NHS sacrificing the otherwise good health of vulnerable children and causing them grave physical harm in the name of research.

Denis Campbell for The Guardian, Sam Blanchard for The Sun, James Rodger for the Birmingham Mail and Matthew Lodge for Mail Online quoted Naomi as saying that Sex Matters understands why the NHS and Dr Hilary Cass believe that clinical trials of puberty blockers are necessary, but we would urge them to reconsider. She also said that such trials are ethically unjustifiable, given the known risks of permanent damage to fertility, sexual functioning and general health. BBC Radio 4 reported Naomi’s comments on the 6pm news.

Fiona appeared with Alex Phillips on TalkTV and Nana Akua on GB News to discuss the inclusion of services for detransitioners as part of the new NHS plan.

Finally, Alex for the Daily Mail covered the news that Dr Hilary Cass sent a letter to senior NHS England figures warning them about concerns relating to adult gender clinics. The letter relayed the concerns of medical professionals who had worked at the clinics, with fears about rushed consultation processes, patients being put on hormones on their second visit, and a philosophy that it was up to patients to make their own mistakes. Maya was quoted as saying that adults who believe they can change sex often have complex mental-health histories and are in the grip of “magical thinking”.

2nd August

This week’s coverage began with Alex Ward for the Daily Mail (print only) on the news that Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson plans to drop legislation to protect free speech on university campuses that was due to be implemented imminently. Helen Joyce was quoted as saying that this was a serious misstep. In a follow-up article by Alex, Helen shared her own experience of being harassed by students and said that the move will have a chilling effect not just on academics, but on students and speakers whose views aren’t popular on campus. 

This was followed by the news that the High Court has upheld the government’s ban on puberty blockers for gender-distressed children following a legal challenge from Jolyon Maugham’s Good Law Project. Alex covered the news for the Daily Mail, as did Jonathan Ames for The Times. Both quoted Maya Forstater as saying that the legal challenge had been brought by activists and was not in the best interests of children, and that the Cass Review had debunked the falsehood that puberty blockers are life-saving. Fiona McAnena appeared on Julia Hartley-Brewer’s show on TalkTV to discuss the story.

Next was reporting on the British Medical Association council’s vote in favour of a motion for prompt access to so-called “gender medicine” for under-18s and a vow to lobby ministers and NHS leaders to oppose implementing the Cass Review’s recommendations. Eleanor Hayward for The Times, Laura Donnelly and Daniel Martin for The Telegraph, Shaun Wooller and Alex for the Daily Mail, and James Saunders for GB News all quoted Helen as saying that the move was scarcely believable and that the Cass Review is most authoritative synthesis of the evidence concerning the treatment of gender-distressed children and young people.

In commentary, Ella Whelan cited Sex Matters in a piece for Spiked that analysed pressure on Team GB athletes to be champions of social justice. She mentioned that only certain causes are “acceptable” and questioned what would happen if a female athlete decided she wanted to campaign for a group such as Sex Matters or LGB Alliance.

Helen wrote a powerful column for The Critic on the glorification of self-mutilation in popular culture in the form of mastectomies. She said that asserting mastery over their future selves is a feature rather than a bug of mastectomy, and that while anorexia has been widely understood as self-harm, mastectomy is being sold as liberation.

Helen’s book was referenced in a review of new books by Helen Pluckrose and Eric Kaufmann by Gavin McCormick for The Critic, as part of a wave of recent books tackling culture-war topics.

Dominating global headlines for the rest of the week was the news that Italian boxer Angela Carini was forced to abandon her fight against Algerian Imane Khelif in the women’s boxing event at the Paris Olympics. Khelif had previously been excluded from women’s boxing after failing a sex test. Jamie Gardner for PA Media quoted Fiona as saying that the incident should be enough to end the absurd and dangerous spectacle of males in women’s sport once and for all. Fiona explained that testosterone levels in healthy men and women don’t overlap, and said that most elite female athletes want a return to sex testing as a condition of eligibility to protect the integrity of women’s sport. The PA story was picked up by ITV and The Newsletter, and included in stories by Mark Atkinson for The Scotsman, Mairin de Barra for Gript, and Aidan Radnedge and Arthur Parashar for Mail Online.

Sex Matters did several interviews on the topic. Fiona was interviewed on GB News by Tom Harwood and LBC by Shelagh Fogarty. Helen was interviewed on GB News by Ben Leo and Alex Phillips on TalkTV.

26th July

This week’s news began with coverage by Eleanor Hayward for The Times and Jack Maidment and Tim Sigsworth for The Telegraph of the watershed report by government suicide advisor Professor Louis Appleby, which found there was no evidence to support activist claims of a “surge” in suicides among gender-distressed children. Maya Forstater said the report tackles the darkest and most extreme narratives used to embed gender-identity ideology, and that we are relieved the government is standing up to the most vile bullies in the transactivist movement with truth and common sense.

Michael Searles for The Telegraph revealed that NHS equality training tells staff that using the wrong pronouns for trans-identifying people raises the risk of suicide. Maya said this was grossly irresponsible and that the suggestion that not affirming gender identities increases suicides not only goes against available evidence, but also completely contradicts the Cass Review’s recommendations.

Next, Fiona McAnena was quoted in stories by Amy Gibbons for The Telegraph, Martyn Brown for the Daily Express, and Greg Heffer for Mail Online on Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy’s comments on men in women’s sports. Nandy said that biology matters but that it should be up to individual sports to decide their own policies, arguing that “most” sports had got the balance right. Fiona said that policies are all over the place from sport to sport, meaning that women and girls face unfairness, the risk of injury and exclusion at all levels. Fiona was interviewed on the topic by Jeremy Kyle on Talk TV and Ben Leo and Miriam Cates on GB News, and Helen Joyce was interviewed by Kevin O’Sullivan on Talk TV. 

Finally, Maya’s case was mentioned by Jo Faragher in Personnel Today in coverage of the news that barrister Allison Bailey lost her appeal against Stonewall after she claimed the charity tried to silence her for her gender-critical views.

19th July

This week began with further coverage of Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s commitment to make the previous government’s emergency ban on puberty blockers permanent. Helen Joyce was quoted in articles by Geraldine Scott and Jonathan Ames for The Times and Steph Spyro for The Express saying that the move is an excellent sign that Labour intends to take an evidence-based approach and will prioritise child safeguarding, but urged him to rein in the private sale of cross-sex hormones. Helen was interviewed by TalkTV’s Jeremy Kyle on the move and described how gender clinics have been prescribing off-label puberty blockers to children.

Helen was also quoted in an article by Marion Scott for the Sunday Post which revealed that LGBT Youth Scotland met with the Scottish government’s cabinet secretary for education, Jenny Gilruth, earlier in the year to raise concerns about school staff being reluctant to engage with its beliefs relating to gender identity. Helen said that any group that takes an approach incompatible with the findings of the Cass Review should not be anywhere near children.

Next was an exposé by Adele Waters for the Daily Mail which revealed that there are 33 rapes and assaults in NHS hospitals every week. The article referenced Sex Matters’ position that single-sex wards and spaces are key to protecting the safety of female patients.

Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail, Daniel Martin for The Telegraph, Jonathan Ames for The Times and Rob Moss for Personnel Today quoted Maya Forstater in coverage of new guidance issued by the Equality and Human Rights Commission which states that men who self-identify as women should not be considered for female-only roles, unless they possess a gender-recognition certificate. Maya was quoted as saying that the move to clarify that self-ID is not the law was long overdue, but that it is never appropriate for a man to try to access female-only roles or services, even if he has a piece of paper which claims he is a woman. Helen was interviewed by Ian Collins for TalkTV on the new guidance, and said that if a man isn’t suitable to do a job, the government can’t give him a piece of paper that will make him suitable.

In the lead-up to the King’s speech, several articles ran preview stories in anticipation of a ban on so-called “trans-inclusive conversion therapy” being included in the new government’s agenda. Amy Gibbons for The Telegraph referenced Sex Matters’ call for the Prime Minister to resist calls for speedy action on the matter and warning that any legal changes must be approached with utmost caution. Amy mentioned Sex Matters in an overview of what to expect in the King’s Speech, as did Rhianna Benson writing for Tyla. 

Sam Lister for the Daily Express quoted Maya as saying that the people who will be harmed by the proposed law are distressed kids. Maya also had an op-ed in the Daily Express, which said that “conversion therapy” is thankfully a thing of the past and that the evidence isn’t there to justify a ban.

Following the King’s speech, Maya was quoted in an article by Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail on concerns that a ban on so-called “conversion therapy” risks criminalising parents, teachers and doctors. Maya said that the measures could be a Trojan horse that harms the very children it is meant to protect.

Maya had a full-page opinion piece in the Daily Mail which said that it will take courage for Wes Streeting to stand up to bullying and death threats from transactivists for taking an evidence-based approach to the banning of puberty blockers. She referenced Jolyon Maugham, who has made outrageous claims about the threat of child suicide and said that NHS managers have sought to surpress related evidence. Justin Webb referenced Maya’s article in the paper review on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Sex Matters was featured in an article by Lynne Walsh for the Morning Star on how campaigners for sex-based rights see their priorities under a new government. Lynne reported on Maya and Helen’s remarks at an event organised by the group Outspoken Women at Swansea University earlier this month. Maya said that the Equality Act is a priority, as this puts the focus on women’s rights. Helen made the point that during the election campaign, politicians who were asked about women’s rights often responded by talking about “trans rights”. 

Finally, Shaun Wooller for the Daily Mail reported on the British Medical Association’s failure to publicly back the Cass Review and its lack of transparency regarding a reported council vote this week on whether or not to back Dr Cass’s findings. Fiona McAnena said the situation was a shocking sign of the times and shows that even respectable medical organisations can fall prey to an activist agenda that is not in patients’ best interests.

12th July

This week’s coverage began with an article by Sam Lister in The Express setting out a “10 point common sense plan” the paper thinks the new Labour government should adopt, quoting Maya Forstater as saying: “Keir Starmer promised to protect single-sex services: now he needs to deliver.” 

The following day Lister wrote for The Express about JK Rowling’s criticism of the appointment of Anneliese Dodds as Minister for Women and Equalities. The story was also covered by Daniel Martin for The Telegraph. Both quoted Maya, who pointed out that the prominence of sex-based rights during the election campaign showed that “most people think genuinely single-sex spaces are essential, and that the government should move swiftly to fix the legal muddle that means service-providers are frightened to provide them”.  

On Wednesday SWLondoner ran an article by Mizy Judah Clifton giving a transactivist take on what to expect from the new Labour government. It quoted Steph Richards, a trans-identifying man who writes for the TransLucent website, as saying: “[Labour is] not going to be perfect. [But] groups like Sex Matters will lose a lot of their venom, for a time. They’ll still have influence, but less than they had with the Tories.”

Our main coverage for the week came in response to our first letter to Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister, in which we and other groups called on the new government to exercise extreme caution concerning so-called “conversion therapy”. Amy Gibbons and Daniel Martin in The Telegraph, Katie Harris in the Daily Express (print-only) and Amy Gibbons in a follow-up article for The Telegraph, all covered the letter. 

Helen Joyce was quoted as saying that “It is vital that the new government takes the time to think through the knock-on impacts of any legislation in this complex and sensitive area. If it rushes, it risks catastrophic harm to the vulnerable children and young people it is seeking to protect.” Maya was quoted urging the government to move responsibility for conversion therapy from the equalities minister to Wes Streeting, the new Health Secretary, and Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary. “I think that the danger is, if they take a woke approach rather than a science approach, that the legislation will harm children and vulnerable people that it’s aiming to protect,” she said.

The week finished with Michael Searles reporting for The Telegraph that Streeting is expected to extend and make permanent the emergency ban on new prescriptions of puberty blockers put in place by his predecessor, Victoria Atkins. Helen was quoted as saying that this was “an excellent sign that Labour intends to take an evidence-based approach to child gender medicine, and to prioritise child safeguarding”.

5th July

This week’s coverage began with articles by Jeremy Watson in The Times and Justin Bowie for The Courier on the news that a female NHS Fife staff member is taking legal action against her employer. The woman was suspended for complaining about NHS Fife being in breach of the Equality Act for allowing a man who identifies as a woman to use female changing facilities. The case is being supported by Alba candidate Neale Hanvey, who referred the woman to Sex Matters. 

The news was also covered by Kate Foster for the Daily Mail, who quoted Fiona McAnena as saying that the situation showed that gender ideology has been allowed to trump all other considerations, and that it looks like a Scottish government body prioritising the feelings of men over the safety and wellbeing of female staff members. Fiona’s comment was also reported by Jack Walters for GB News.

Next, Chris Hastings for the Daily Mail reported on a cast member of the West End production of the Disney musical Frozen appearing on stage with a placard that read “Protect trans youth with your vote”. Helen Joyce said that it is inappropriate to proselytise about trans identities to little girls, since teenage girls are most likely to get caught up in the trans social contagion. She also said that the move played on children’s naivety and vulnerability, and is the opposite of child safeguarding.

Helen wrote a powerful essay for The Critic on the weaponisation of language by gender ideologues; specifically the use of irregular verbs and euphemisms, and the manipulation of word definitions.  

Sex Matters’ biggest news story for the week was the publication of our general-election survey, which found that those who voted for Labour in the 2019 general election are more aligned with the Conservative Party’s position on sex and gender. 48% of Labour voters support the proposal to clarify sex in the Equality Act, and 40% oppose plans to make it easier to change the sex on birth certificates. The Telegraph, Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail, Katie Harris for the Daily Express and Jack Elsom for The Sun quoted Maya Forstater as saying that politicians should take serious note of the overwhelming support for sex-based rights across the political spectrum.

Writing for the Daily Mail, Harriet Line wrote about the Liberal Democrats’ pledge to make the gender-recognition process “easier” and to recognise non-binary identities in law. Helen was quoted as saying that these measures would drive a coach and horses through protections for women, and that granting legal recognition to ‘non-binary’ identities is about as sensible as granting legal status to star signs.

Meanwhile, Steerpike’s column in The Spectator told the story of a woman going by the name of “Amelia Sparrow” who is taking legal action against the Liberal Democrats for discrimination, harassment and victimisation after three days of working for one of the party’s MPs. Sparrow told the columnist that she noticed there were no Lib Dem MPs at a Sex Matters event earlier this year.

Rounding off pre-election coverage, Daniel Martin for The Telegraph reported Keir Starmer’s confirmation that the Labour Party would not amend the Equality Act to clarify the definition of woman. Maya said that the next government must grapple with the serious lack of clarity about the law on single-sex services, which is undermining the rights and safety of women and girls in practice, and that if the Labour Party will not do this by amending the Equality Act, it will fall to the EHRC to issue usable statutory guidance.

Finally, in her capacity as an expert on women in sport, Fiona was interviewed by Martin Daubney on GB News on a new campaign to promote sport to teenage girls which saw Team GB rugby players dressed in lingerie for a photoshoot. Fiona said the campaign was regressive and sexualised female athletes.

2024

28th June

This week’s coverage began with Michael Searles’ story for The Telegraph on the ongoing influence of activist group TransActual on NHS England, including programmes linked to Pride Month. Helen Joyce said that NHS England bosses need to act firmly to remove all traces of gender-identity ideology throughout the healthcare system.

Sex and gender dominated the national conversation in relation to the general election for the rest of the week. Writing for The Telegraph, Daniel Martin covered Bridget Phillipson’s refusal to confirm that she would keep the schools guidance published by the government earlier this year, despite agreement that such guidance is necessary. Maya Forstater said that it was encouraging that Phillipson prioritises the wellbeing of children, but was disappointed to hear her refer to questions about the government’s work on this topic as “culture wars”.

Julie Burchill for The Spectator mentioned Sex Matters’ review of the Green Party’s manifesto, while Neale Hanvey, writing for The National, mentioned Sex Matters among a group of gender-critical campaign groups that exposed deep flaws in the Scottish government’s plans to reform the gender-recognition law.

Sex Matters did several broadcast interviews on the election in relation to sex and gender, with much of the media focused this week on Labour Party policies and positions. Helen was interviewed by Channel 4 and by Ian Collins for TalkTV, Naomi Cunningham appeared on Mike Graham’s show on TalkTV, Maya was interviewed by Camilla Tominey for GB News, and Fiona McAnena appeared on Kevin O’Sullivan’s show on TalkTV.

Several more broadcast interviews focused on the news that actor David Tennant expressed a wish that Kemi Badenoch would “shut up” during a recent awards ceremony. Helen appeared twice on TalkTV, with Julia Hartley-Brewer and Jeremy Kyle, and was also interviewed by Tom Swarbrick on LBC. Fiona was also interviewed on the story by Jeremy Kyle on TalkTV.

In other news, Madeleine Kearns for the US-based National Review covered the police investigation of Maya Forstater for “malicious communications”. 

Amelia Brand wrote for HR Review on the legalities of single-sex toilets in the workplace. Looking at the Office for National Statistics as a case study, Fiona was quoted as saying that it was perfectly reasonable for a woman not to want to encounter a male colleague in the women’s toilets or changing rooms, yet this has been treated by the ONS as if it is unreasonable.

Marion Scott for the Sunday Post covered For Women Scotland’s report revealing a shocking failure to provide adequate single-sex facilities for both boys and girls across Scottish schools. Maya said that it was clear that updated guidance for Scottish schools is urgently needed to halt this state-sanctioned failure to safeguard children of both sexes, but especially girls.

Next, Alex Ward for the Daily Mail reported on Wiltshire police’s refusal to specify the biological sex of convicted rapist Lexi Secker, who is male and identifies as a woman. Fiona said that it is concerning to see the police pandering to the feelings of trans-identifying males, and that it does not give confidence that they are policing without fear or favour. Lara Wildenberg for The Times also covered the news.

Alex also broke the news that hundreds of gender-critical accounts on Twitter/X were temporarily suspended. Naomi said that she thought we were through the dark days of people being banned from social media for speaking the truth about sex and gender, but that there has been a recent surge in the silencing of dissenting voices.

Finally, Sex Matters board member Michael Biggs was quoted by Benjamin Ryan in the New York Sun, writing that Jolyon Maugham’s claims of a surge in suicide among gender-questioning children is undermined by the findings of the Cass Review. Michael’s 2021 paper analysing suicide deaths among GIDS patients was referenced as conflicting with the Good Law Project’s claim of one suicide death prior to the Bell v Tavistock judgment.

21st June

Beginning this week’s coverage, Jamie Hamilton, writing for Roll On Friday, mentioned that Maya Forstater has lodged complaints about Victoria McCloud, a male judge who identifies as a woman, in an article on McCloud featuring rainbow-coloured kittens in election posts made on LinkedIn.

Writing for The Critic, Jean Hatchet included a tongue-in-cheek reference to Sex Matters in an article on Sir Keir Starmer’s reference to women’s rights being part of the “culture wars”. Jean said it was unlikely that Starmer’s comments will lead to Maya and other women involved in campaigning deciding to quit. 

Also writing for The Critic, Sarah Phillimore mentioned the banning of Sex Matters and other gender-critical accounts from Instagram in an article on how social-media platforms are stifling debate. Caroline Ffiske mentioned the work of Sex Matters in an article which argued that the Conservative Party deserves credit for the evolution in its work on sex and gender.

In an interview by Kevin O’Sullivan on TalkTV on Tony Blair saying that only men can have a penis and only women can have vaginas, Maya said that his comments about the “muddle” we find ourselves in now can be traced back to the Gender Recognition Act, which came in when Blair was prime minister, in 2004. Maya was also interviewed on TalkTV by Julia Hartley-Brewer on the Labour Party’s election promises on sex and gender, and the treatment of Rosie Duffield. 

James Beal and Jonathan Ames, writing for The Times, broke the news that Maya is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police for the crime of “malicious communications” after a post on social media about Dr Kamilla Kamaruddin, a male GP who identifies as a woman. In a number of interviews and articles, Kamaruddin had talked about having more opportunity to carry out medical examinations on female patients than when he identified as a man. The story was also covered by Arthur Parashar for the Daily Mail, Cameron Henderson for The Telegraph, and Georgina Cutler for GB News.

Jo Bartosch wrote for Spiked on why the police are hounding Maya when bullying and harassment from transactivists get less police attention, while Maya wrote for UnHerd, arguing that the state apparatus meant to safeguard women has been turned against those who stand up against abuse.

Finally, Fiona McAnena was quoted in an article by Robbie Meredith and Matt Fox for BBC News on the removal of guidance for primary schools in Northern Ireland telling children that they can become “transgender”. Fiona said that everyone should be free from stereotypes and that children should not be encouraged to think that if they don’t conform to stereotypes they are the other sex. Fiona was also interviewed on the topic by Sarah Brett and Chris Buckler on BBC Radio Ulster and quoted in coverage by Adam Kula for the News Letter.

14th June

This week’s coverage began with an article for Reduxx by Bryndís Blackadder on Instagram’s decision to ban Sex Matters for breaching “community guidelines”, in an apparent wave of censorship of account users with “gender critical” beliefs who are critical of trans activism. 

In an article for The Scotsman, Susan Dalgety mentioned Sex Matters’ election campaign in an article on the lack of women fronting political parties in Scotland and the wider UK this election. 

Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail broke the news that Sex Matters, Women’s Rights Network, LGB Alliance and retired police officer Cathy Larkman have written to the National Police Chiefs’ Council about flaws in its review of guidance that allows trans-identifying officers to strip-search women. During the meeting, the groups were told that a participant in another session had said there were 72 recognised genders.

The Liberal Democrat Party was the first to launch its general-election manifesto this week, with pledges to make it easier for people to get gender-recognition certificates and granting legal recognition to “non-binary” identities. In an article by David Wilcock for Mail Online, Helen Joyce said that the Lib Dem proposals would be disastrous for women’s rights. Maya Forstater wrote to the editor of The Times, expressing disappointment that the paper’s detailed coverage of the Lib Dems’ manifesto did not include mention of the party’s major proposals on sex and gender.

Maya’s case was referenced by Alex Mizzi in The HR Director in an article on how employers can deal with conflicts of rights at work, and by Nicolas Shepherd for Sky News Australia on the turning of the tide on trans-rights activism, while Naomi Cunningham was interviewed by Jeremy Kyle on TalkTV about Exeter University’s insistence on staff using preferred pronouns.

Next, in the Daily Mail, Alex Ward reported that public support for people’s ability to change the sex on their birth certificate has fallen from 58% in 2016 to 24% in 2023. Responding to the NatCen report, Fiona McAnena said that the huge swing in opinion is down to the fact that the more the public understand the real-world impact of pretending that people can change sex, the less they like it. Helen appeared on TalkTV with Mike Graham to discuss the story.

Tim Sigsworth for The Telegraph reported on support for the Conservative Party for not including a ban on so-called conversion therapy in its election promises. Helen said that the Tories’ decision reflects growing evidence that such measures are unnecessary and even harmful, and that campaigners have misled many politicians, in all parties, by conflating historical outrages inflicted on gay and lesbian people with ethical, evidence-based talking therapy for the growing number of children and teenagers experiencing gender distress today.

The Labour Party’s manifesto was widely covered by the media following pledges to introduce a ban on conversion therapy and “simplify and reform” the process of obtaining a gender-recognition certificate, which would amount to self-ID by the back door. Quoted by Fiona Parker in The Telegraph, Claire Ellicott in the Daily Mail and Sam Lister in The Express, Maya said that the party’s election pledges relating to sex and gender are deeply worrying for anyone campaigning for sex-based rights. Maya also had an article in the Daily Express which said that Labour’s manifesto was silent on how it would protect women-only spaces and services.

Finally, James Beal for The Times broke the news that UN Women described gender-critical activists as an “anti-rights movement” in an Instagram post earlier this week. UN Women made the outrageous claim that campaigners are “putting … “the lives of LGBTIQ+ people at risk” and “falsely portray” the rights of LGBTIQ+ people as competing with women’s rights. Fiona said that it’s a sad day when UN Women lectures women’s rights campaigners on the need to include trans-identifying men in our work.

7th June

Writing for the Daily Mail, Alex Ward kicked off this week’s coverage with an article on the UK government updating statutory guidance on keeping children safe in education. The change will make it compulsory for teachers to inform parents if a pupil is questioning their gender, except in very limited circumstances where there are already serious concerns about the child’s safety. Maya Forstater said it was a relief that the guidance had been updated, especially since the official response to the government’s consultation on its guidance on gender-questioning children in schools has been delayed by the general election.

Sanchez Manning wrote for The Telegraph on female ice-hockey players as young as 14 being made to play against men who identify as women, who have been permitted to participate in female leagues. Fiona McAnena said that it is not just unfair, but is unsafe for girls to play ice hockey against biological males. 

Also in The Telegraph, Charlotte Gill wrote about the chair of NHS England’s national clinical network of sexual assault and abuse services calling for more gender categories in the NHS. Helen Joyce said that it is imperative that everyone involved in the care of patients needs to be clear about their actual sex, and that doctors don’t need lists of self-declared identities to treat everyone with courtesy and respect.

Next was the announcement that the Conservative Party pledged to amend the Equality Act to make it clear that “sex” is about biology, not paperwork. Martyn Brown for the Daily Express and Daniel Martin for The Telegraph quoted Maya saying that politicians should be in no doubt that women will hold those who fail to protect their rights to account.

Helen was interviewed about the Conservatives’ announcement by Nick Ferrari on LBC, Julia Hartley-Brewer on TalkTV, and Jayne Secker on Sky News. Maya was interviewed by Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio 2 and Stephen Nolan on BBC Radio Ulster. Fiona was also interviewed by Stephen on BBC One’s Nolan Live.   

Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail quoted Helen in an article on Labour’s response to the Conservatives’ pledge. Helen said that it would be disappointing to see Labour dismiss the need to amend the Equality Act and that the next government, whichever party is in power, should show leadership and fix the muddle, rather than claiming there isn’t one.

In an article questioning whether free speech at the University of Cambridge really is under threat, Calum Murray for Varsity mentioned the transactivist protest Helen faced when she spoke at Caius College last year.

Sex Matters was mentioned in a piece by Lola Salem for The Critic on what children are being taught in sex education, with reference to the withdrawal of various Whitehall departments from Stonewall’s diversity scheme following pressure from gender-critical campaigners.

Maya’s case was referred to in an article by Danielle Summer in the International Business Times. After describing the case of a receptionist who lost an employment claim following dismissal for failing to correctly pronounce the name of her law firm, the article went on to give an overview of notable employment-tribunal rulings, including Maya’s. 

Daniel Martin for The Telegraph and Shaun Wooller for the Daily Mail broke the news that public-health charity Ovarian Cancer Action marked Pride Month with a post on social media that asked whether men can get ovarian cancer. Fiona said the post was an insult to women who have suffered from the disease, and that to suggest men can get ovarian cancer is both misleading and dangerous, particularly when it comes to the health of women with learning difficulties or those who speak English as a second language. The story was also covered by Ali Mitib for The Times and Richard Ashmore for the Daily Express.

31st May

This week’s coverage began with mention of JK Rowling’s sharing of Sex Matters’ election campaign in an article by James Beal for The Times (print only). Maya Forstater was quoted as saying that the next government must stand up for single-sex services, and that it has to know what a woman is and be willing to say it.

Sex Matters’ campaign was also mentioned by Susan Dalgety in The Scotsman, who wrote that Keir Starmer’s “snub” of one of his own MPs suggests he still has a gender problem, and by Sam Lister for the Daily Express, who covered the five key questions party leaders must answer on sex and gender.

Maya wrote a piece for the Daily Express alongside Lister’s, which outlined why voters’ concerns about sex and gender cannot be ignored. She mentioned that polls show that only a minority of people want access to single-sex spaces to be granted on the basis of self-declared gender, and that the election campaign gives voters the opportunity to ask clear questions in everyday language when candidates come to their doorstep.

Fiona McAnena was interviewed by Emily Carver and Patrick Christys on GB News about the Labour Party’s position on sex and gender, and by Alex Phillips on TalkTV on how 26 nurses are considering legal action after being forced to share single-sex changing facilities with a man who identifies as a woman.

Colin Fernandez wrote for the Mail Online about the rejection by BMJ Online of articles by Sex Matters board member Dr Michael Biggs and fellow academic Dr John Armstrong because of their gender-critical activism. Also writing for the Mail Online, Jonathan Brocklebank referenced Sex Matters’ report on trans ideology’s capture of the women’s sector in an article on the “Kafkaesque nightmare” at Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre.

Maya’s case was referred to in an article by Jean Hatchet in The Critic that also covered Roz Adams’ successful employment tribunal against the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, and described how women are not permitted to speak the truth about the two sexes because transactivists cannot bear to hear it. Maya also appeared on Andrew Doyle’s show Free Speech Nation on GB News to discuss the case.

Fiona was quoted in an article by Craig Simpson for The Telegraph on how Karla Sofia Gascón, a male actor who identifies as a woman, won a best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival. Fiona said that this is yet another illustration of the way trans ideology takes from women and gives to men.

An extract from the essay by JK Rowling in the newly published book The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht was published in The Times, in which the author wrote about how Maya’s case gave her the impetus to speak out on women’s rights. This was then picked up by Rachel Amery in The Scotsman, as well as The Telegraph and Irish state broadcaster RTÉ. Ellie Iorizzo’s coverage for PA was picked up by the Evening Standard, the Irish Independent and the Daily Record, in an article co-written by Ruth Suter. Lauren Smith also commented for Spiked.

Helen Joyce was referenced in an article by Wilf Vall for Varsity on the University of Cambridge’s new free-speech code, which included concerns from Professor Pippa Rogerson, Master of Caius College, who claimed she “couldn’t say no” to the decision to invite Helen to speak in 2022.

Helen’s latest column for The Critic covered the way some public figures are seeking to save face following the publication of the Cass Report, including Keir Starmer, Wes Streeting and Ruth Hunt. 

Finally, James Beal and Eleanor Hayward, writing for The Times, covered emergency legislation banning the supply of puberty blockers from both via the NHS and private clinics. Helen said that this decisive measure will protect vulnerable children from private clinics, both in the UK and abroad, that offer vulnerable children life-altering treatments without any evidence that this will resolve their distress.

24th May

This week’s coverage began with an appearance by Helen Joyce on Kevin O’Sullivan’s show on TalkTV, where she discussed Education Secretary Gillian Keegan’s comments on gender recognition.

News of Roz Adams’ victory in her claim of constructive dismissal against Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre followed. In an article by Mike Wade for The Times, Helen was quoted as saying that sex-based boundaries matter for everyone, but most especially women who have experienced male violence and sexual assault. Maya Forstater said that the centre employed a man who wishes he was a woman as CEO, and allowed that to corrupt the whole purpose of the organisation. Conor Matchett for the Scottish Sun also quoted Helen in his coverage of the story.

In a follow-up article for The Times, Mike quoted Helen as saying that Wadhwa’s position was clearly untenable, and that the unlawful harassment of Adams and policies that fuelled that harassment can all be traced back to Wadhwa. Helen’s comments were further quoted by Martyn McLaughlin for The Scotsman. Adams’ barrister was Sex Matters chair Naomi Cunningham, who was referred to in articles by Scottish Legal News and Ann Henderson for the Morning Star.

Next was an article by Alex Ward for the Daily Mail on the NHS pregnancy app ‘Badger Notes’, which prompts expectant mothers to provide their pronouns and gender identity, with the option to select “male”. Maya said this is yet another example of the NHS getting it wrong, and that asking mothers-to-be if their “gender” is the same as their sex, which is supposedly “assigned at birth”, bakes in activist assumptions.

Annaliese Dodds’ surprise announcement that the Labour Party plans to “simplify” the process of obtaining gender-recognition certificates dominated the news early in the week. Writing for the Daily Mail, Helen said that sign-off by a single GP amounts to self-ID through the back door, and that it is not feasible to ask doctors to undertake safeguarding checks on top of their current workload. She also said it would not be right for trans-widows to be denied notice that their partner was seeking to transition. Helen was also quoted in articles by Alex Ward and Claire Ellicot for the Daily Mail, Jack Elsom for The Sun, and Geraldine Scott for The Times.

Writing for the Daily Express on Labour’s announcement, Fiona McAnena warned that one ideologically motivated online doctor could allow thousands of men to get false birth certificates that hide their previous identities. She also said that radical change to the status of a marriage should not be allowed without both partners’ consent. She argued that what’s needed isn’t to make it easier for men to claim the same rights as women, but to make it clear in the Equality Act that sex really means sex. Maya then appeared on Patrick Christys’ show on GB News to debate the announcement with Joanne Lockwood, a man who identifies as a woman.

In The Critic, Elijah Granet referenced Maya’s case in an article on the Scottish Greens’ announcement that they have expelled thirteen members for gender-critical beliefs.

Sex Matters board member Dr Michael Biggs was featured in an article by Jack Grove for Times Higher Education on how BMJ Open’s rejection of articles by Michael and fellow academic Dr John Armstrong was linked to discrimination over their gender-critical beliefs. Email correspondence obtained through subject access requests revealed that BMJ staff had raised concerns about Michael as “known for being transphobic” and John’s social media account “colouring” their impression of his work, as he was “very outspoken on issues relating to EDI”.

Sex Matters launched our election campaign on the afternoon that the general election was called by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Alex Ward for the Daily Mail and Douglas Dickie for the Scottish Daily Express covered JK Rowling’s sharing of Sex Matters’ campaign on X. Maya was quoted as saying that the next government must stand up for single-sex services, meaning that it has to know what a woman is, and be willing to say it. She said that standing up for single-sex services is not a political “gotcha”; still less is it waging a “culture war”: it is a serious, real-life issue for all women and girls.

Finally, Alex also covered the news that Health Secretary Victoria Atkins has committed to banning private gender clinics from prescribing puberty blockers to children under rarely-used provisions from the 1968 Medicines Act. Fiona said that Victoria Atkins’ use of political muscle to ban puberty blockers will be welcomed by all those concerned by the devastating impact of so-called “gender medicine” on children.

17th May

This week’s coverage kicked off with the news that Stonewall has failed in its bid to have the EHRC stripped of its A-status by UN body GANHRI (Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions), with Maya Forstater quoted in articles by Daniel Martin for The Telegraph and Alex Ward for the Daily Mail. Maya said that GANHRI’s decision vindicated both the EHRC and Baroness Kishwer Falkner’s leadership, and must end the transactivist lobby’s spiteful campaign to undermine the EHRC.

Jo Faragher referred to Maya’s case in an article for Personnel Today on how HR professionals should approach the gender-critical debate. The article concluded that the recent flurry of decisions in gender-critical cases could mean fewer such cases in future, as it becomes increasingly clear to employers that gender-critical beliefs are protected.

Writing on Minister of State Esther McVey’s crackdown on gender ideology in the civil service, Dominic Penna quoted Helen Joyce in The Telegraph as welcoming McVey’s acknowledgement of the extent of ideological capture in the public service. Helen said that efforts to increase diversity and inclusion, while well-intentioned, have been co-opted by activists with a fringe agenda.

Next, Fiona McAnena appeared on GB News with Martin Daubney to discuss the fallout from JK Rowling referring to a male football manager who identifies as a woman as a “bloke”. Rowling’s comment came in response to a post which celebrated his appointment as a mark of diversity. Helen later appeared on Spectator TV with Natasha Feroze alongside Debbie Hayton, who had written for The Spectator in criticism of Rowling’s tone. 

In an article for The Critic, Victoria Smith quoted a section from Helen’s book Trans: when ideology meets reality which asked what those who believe “transwomen” are women would do if they needed a gestational carrier. Victoria argued that everyone knows what a woman is when a man wants something only a woman can provide, and that no-one knows what a man is when this would inconvenience men.

Coverage for the rest of the week focused on the UK government’s publication of new guidance on sex education in schools. In two articles by Daniel Martin for The Telegraph (here and here) published before the draft guidance came out, Helen said that Sex Matters wants to see schools told in no uncertain terms to stop giving any credence to evidence-free claims that everyone has a gender identity, or that sex is a spectrum or can be changed.

Sex Matters appeared in several broadcast interviews on the new guidance. Helen was interviewed by Eddie Nestor for BBC Radio London and Ian Collins on TalkTV, and Maya by Julia Hartley-Brewer for TalkTV, while Fiona was interviewed by Jeremy Kyle on Talk TV and Emily Carver and Tom Harwood on GB News.

10th May

The news that Stonewall failed in its bid to have the EHRC stripped of its A-status by UN body GANHRI kicked off this week’s news coverage, with Maya Forstater quoted in articles by Daniel Martin for The Telegraph and Alex Ward for the Daily Mail. Maya said that GANRHI’s decision vindicated both the EHRC and Baroness Falkner’s leadership, and must end the trans activist lobby’s spiteful campaign to undermine the EHRC.

Jo Faragher referenced Maya’s case in an article for Personnel Today on how HR should manage the gender-critical debate. The article concluded that the recent slew of decision in gender-critical cases could mean a decline in their frequency because it’s increasingly clear to employers that such beliefs are protected.

Writing on Minister of State Esther McVey’s crackdown on gender ideology in the civil service, Dominic Penna quoted Helen Joyce in The Telegraph as welcoming McVey’s acknowledgement of the degree of ideological capture in the public service. Helen said that efforts to increase diversity and inclusion, while well-intentioned, have been co-opted by activists with a fringe agenda.

Next, Fiona McAnena appeared on GB News with Martin Daubney to discuss the fallout from JK Rowling referring to a male football manager who identifies as a woman as a “bloke” in response to a post which celebrated his appointment as a mark of diversity. Helen later appeared on Spectator TV with Natasha Feroze alongside Debbie Hayton, who had written in criticism of Rowling’s tone. 

In an article for The Critic, Victoria Smith quoted a section from Helen’s book Trans: when ideology meets reality which asked what those who believe “transwomen” are women would do if they needed a gestational carrier. Victoria argued that everyone knows what a woman is when a man wants something only a woman can provide, and that no one knows what a man is when it inconveniences men.

Coverage for the rest of the week focused on the UK government’s publication of new guidance on the teaching of sex education in schools. In two articles by Daniel Martin for The Telegraph (here and here) before the guidance came out, Helen said that Sex Matters wants to see schools told in no uncertain terms to stop giving any credence to evidence-free claims that everyone has a gender identity, or that sex is a spectrum or can be changed.

Sex Matters appeared in several broadcast interviews on the new guidance. Helen was interviewed by Eddie Nestor for BBC Radio London and Maya by Julia Hartley-Brewer for TalkTV, while Fiona was interviewed by Jeremy Kyle on Talk TV and Emily Carver and Tom Harwood on GB News.

3rd May

Beginning coverage this week was an article by Mary Wright for The Times on how the Scottish government was one of the leading funders of Stonewall last year. Fiona McAnena was quoted as saying that the Scottish government should read the room and distance itself from Stonewall in order to regain credibility and objectivity when it comes to sex and gender.

Writing on Education Secretary Gillian Keegan’s move to no longer say “transwomen are women”, Jo Bartosch for The Critic quoted Sex Matters’ research which found that 79% of secondary-school teachers said that their school had at least one pupil on its roll who identifies as trans or non-binary. 

The most prominent news of the week was the announcement that the updated NHS constitution will mandate sex-based language in healthcare, provide access to single-sex wards, and allow patients to request intimate care from a healthcare professional of the same sex. Maya Forstater was quoted in a preview article by Camilla Turner in The Telegraph, saying that the changes represent a major step towards reversing NHS England’s capitulation to gender extremists. Her quote was later covered by Alesia Fiddler for the Daily Mail, Chay Quinn for LBC, and Lola Christina Alao for the Evening Standard.

Once the NHS constitution was launched, coverage featured a quote from Maya welcoming the definition of sex as biological in the update, including articles by Laura Donnelly on the front page of The Telegraph, Katherine Lawton for the Daily Mail, Poppy Koronka, Oliver Wright and Max Kendix for The Times, BBC News, Sky News, ITV News, and Storm Newton and Daniel Keane, whose piece for PA ran in the Evening Standard.

Storm and Daniel’s piece was also published by regional papers including Haringey Independent, Thetford & Brandon Times, The Lowestoft Journal, St Helens Star, Ayr Advertiser, Jersey Evening Post, North Norfolk News, Bury Times Series, Dudley News & County Express, Halstead Gazette, Oxfordshire Herald Series and The Courier, as well as current affairs magazine Perspective. 

Maya, Fiona and Helen Joyce did several broadcast interviews on the NHS constitution story. On TalkTV, Helen appeared with Mike Graham, Maya with Julia Hartley-Brewer, and Fiona with Ian Collins. On GB News, Maya appeared with Martin Daubney and Helen was interviewed by Patrick Christys. 

Follow-up articles quoting Maya included a piece by John Ely for Mail Online on how the NHS had little choice but to make the historic shift to declare sex a matter of biology; Katherine Lawton for the Daily Mail on the Health Secretary’s warning that patients who ask for same-sex doctors should not be treat like racists; and Dan Woodland for the Daily Mail on Sir Keir Starmer’s statement that gender issues “start with biology”.

In other news, writing for Personnel Today, Ashleigh Webber quoted Maya’s case in an article on social worker Rachel Meade being awarded £58,000 compensation following her successful employment tribunal.

Fiona was interviewed by Kevin O’Sullivan on TalkTV on the news that George Watson’s College, a private school in Edinburgh, reported to social workers the parents of a teenage girl who began to identify as “transgender”. 

Finally, writing for The Telegraph, Daniel Martin quoted Maya in an article on how six trustees of the breastfeeding charity La Leche League GB have been suspended by La Leche League International for trying to defend sex-based services in the UK.

26th April

This week’s news began with coverage of Akua Reindorf KC’s legal opinion for Sex Matters on the promotions policy at King’s College London (KCL), which requires candidates to demonstrate allegiance to the university’s equality, diversity and inclusion policies and programmes. Daniel Martin for The Telegraph, Alex Ward for the Daily Mail, and Tom Williams for Times Higher Education covered the news that KCL’s policy is potentially in breach of the law, and quoted Helen Joyce as saying that universities need to return to their fundamental principles, recognising that diversity of thought is essential in a pluralistic, liberal society. The news was later covered by Cally Brooks for the Daily Express and James Saunders for GB News.

Next was Gwyneth Rees’s coverage in The Telegraph of the potential illegality of the Welsh government’s proposal to ensure that half of all election candidates are female, given that the plan doesn’t define what a woman is and uses the word ‘gender’ instead of sex. Maya Forstater said that the Welsh government appears to be trying to introduce gender self-ID by the back door and should listen to the Equality and Human Rights Commission on the matter.

Writing for The Scotsman on Humza Yousaf’s role in stirring up a culture war, Susan Dalgety quoted Helen’s incredulous response to a recent post made by Yousaf which suggested that a man who threatens to rape a woman is unlikely to know whether the intended victim was born a woman or is a “transwoman”. Helen had said: “Tell me he isn’t seriously claiming would-be rapists are unable to tell which potential victims are male and which are female?”.

Writing on the Scottish Prison Service’s updated maternity and paternity policy, which removed the term “mother”, Simon Johnson for The Telegraph quoted Fiona McAnena as saying that this is yet another assault on the rights of women by the service, which seems intent on erasing the status of women from all areas of policy and practice.

Reflecting on the Cass Review, Jo Bartosch mentioned Maya in an article for Spiked on how whistleblowers, detransitioners and gender-critical activists took on trans ideology and won. She referenced Maya’s appeal to scientist and Humanists UK president Dr Adam Rutherford to comment on the Cass Review – and his dismissive response. 

Lionel Shriver mentioned Helen in an article for The Spectator on how it rarely pays to be ahead of your time, and said that Helen and fellow gender-critical activists are unlikely to benefit from any retroactive recognition as the tide turns against gender-identity ideology.

Next, Dominic Penna for The Telegraph covered Labour MP Dawn Butler’s admission in parliament that she may have misled the House of Commons by quoting a briefing by Stonewall in response to the Cass Review. Helen welcomed her correction and said it was a relief that anti-science narratives will be removed from the parliamentary record.

Also writing on the Cass Review, Michael Curzon for The European Conservative covered the safety warning given to Dr Hilary Cass about travelling on public transport following the publication of her report. Maya responded with her own experience: while she gets the occasional scowl, she more often gets thanked by people on public transport.

Next, James Beal for The Times covered the publication of a new journal article by Sex Matters trustee Professor Michael Biggs on flaws in the 2021 UK census data on the number of trans-identifying people. Commenting on Michael’s finding that the Office for National Statistics used a question invented by trans lobbyists which was already known to confuse people, Maya said that she hopes the statistics regulator will declare that the figures on gender identity are not fit to be recognised as ‘national statistics’. The news was also covered by Alex Ward for the Daily Mail and George Bunn for GB News.

Daniel Martin quoted Maya in an exclusive for The Telegraph on Education Secretary Gillian Keegan’s declaration that she will no longer use the phrase “trans women are women”. Welcoming the clarification, Maya said that for several years, transactivist lobby groups pushed the use of phrases such as “trans women are women” as a tactic to silence debate and evade questions about how gender self-identification clashes with women’s rights.

Finally, Helen wrote an article for The Critic on how the Scottish government and police seem determined to turn themselves into a laughing stock with the introduction of the new hate-crime law on 1st April. Helen made a series of factual statements on the status of women and children in relation to sex and gender, and said that if a man who identifies as a woman finds any of these statements “abusive”, it is his responsibility to not put himself in situations where women’s rights depend on stating his sex, rather than dictating our language or compliance.

19th April

Beginning this week’s coverage, Andrew Doyle, writing for Spiked on how the Cass Review shames the gay-rights establishment, quoted Helen Joyce on the notion that “gender medicine” is underpinned by the belief that we each have a “gender identity”, which Helen has previously described as something like a “sexed soul”.

Helen was also quoted by Gabriella Swerling and Daniel Martin in The Telegraph, reporting that Jon Arcelus, professor emeritus at Nottingham University, was on WPATH’s internal message boards discussing surgeries that give men fake vaginas alongside their penises, or women fake penises alongside their vaginas, or even removing all sex organs. There is “no evidence that these risky and bizarre procedures are ever clinically indicated”, Helen said, and added that Arcelus has questions to answer: “Will the clinic he’s linked to start offering these surgeries? Does he think the NHS should be paying for them?”

Writing for The Telegraph, Ben Rumbsy quoted Fiona McAnena in an article on the International Olympic Committee’s funding of research into transgender athletes that claims they are at a physical disadvantage to biological females. Fiona pointed out that as part of the study, trans-identifying males participated in subjective tests, such as being asked to prove that they can’t jump very high or blow into a tube for long. She asked why they would try their hardest, when trying less hard gets them into women’s sport.

Next, in a review of Judith Butler’s new book for Quillette, Holly Lawford-Smith cites Butler’s promise to consider and analyse the arguments of Sex Matters, JK Rowling, Kathleen Stock and Holly herself in the book. Butler doesn’t reference Sex Matters again in the book.

Writing on the BBC’s poor coverage of sex and gender issues, Charlie Walsham noted in The Spectator that three years after her book was published, Helen was finally invited on to the BBC for an interview following the publication of the Cass Review.

Sex Matters board member Emma Hilton was quoted in a story by Charlotte Gill for The Telegraph on how taxpayers are funding a PhD researcher to explore “transphobia” in archaeology, raising the matter that “when an archaeologist finds human remains, it is a fact that there [sic] only two choices for gender identification”. Emma said that a female Viking warrior buried with male-typical war possessions tells us only that some women successfully broke through early glass ceilings. The news was also covered by Holly Bishop for GB News.

Writing on how adult NHS gender clinics have bowed to pressure to share missing data following their initial failure to do for the Cass Review, Eleanor Hayward and James Beal for The Times quoted Sex Matters, Transgender Trend and LGB Alliance’s letter to Health Secretary Victoria Atkins, which said that public-sector bodies deliberately withholding information is disgraceful and a dereliction of duty.

James also wrote an article on a letter to The Times from Sex Matters, Transgender Trend, LGB Alliance, Fair Play for Women, Conservatives for Women, Labour Women’s Declaration and Merched Cymru, which called on Stonewall to withdraw claims against Baroness Falkner of Margravine, chair of the EHRC, following Stonewall’s comments about the “toxicity” of debate.

Writing on the problems of having a “non-binary” marathon class in The Telegraph, Mara Yamauchi mentioned that one of the key figures in the New York “non-binary” running scene, Justin Solle – who plans to run the London Marathon – tweeted “f— these terfs” about Maya Forstater.

On Talk TV, Julia Hartley-Brewer talked to Fiona about a new survey of female athletes showing that most do not want males of any identity in their sporting categories.

In a powerful article on how truth was sacrificed for status by centrists in the public eye such as TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp, Mary Harrington for UnHerd mentioned Maya’s call for science communicator and Humanists UK president Adam Rutherford to defend systematic scientific reviews against transactivists who are spreading misinformation about the Cass Review.

Arguing in the New European that an aspiring Labour government cannot avoid the questions raised in the Cass Review, Matthew D’Ancona paid tribute to Maya and Helen in a list of “courageous” women who have demonstrated extraordinary work and persistence in promoting the biological reality of sex.

Finally, Alex Ward, writing in the Daily Mail on the announcement that Scotland’s Sandyford gender clinic will pause the prescription of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to under 18s, quoted Maya as saying that she hopes this will be the beginning of a long-overdue winding back of NHS Scotland’s ideology-based approach to so-called gender medicine.

12th April

This week’s news began with coverage of the announcement that Sex Matters has been granted charitable status. Harriet Whitehead for Civil Society and Emily Harle for Third Sector covered Sex Matters’ objectives to promote human rights where they relate to biological sex, advance education about sex and the law, and promote the sound administration of the law in relation to sex and equality in the law.

Next was an article by Hayley Dixon for The Telegraph on the withdrawal of Church of England schools guidance from Bath and Wells Multi-Academy Trust, which told teachers that they would probably be breaking the law if they said a person cannot change their biological sex. Maya Forstater said that it was shocking that the policy, which undermines safeguarding and breaches the Equality Act, was agreed by the trust.

Also writing for The Telegraph, Charlotte Gill covered the news that Kate Luxion, a researcher who claims that “trans womens’ milk is as good as breast milk”, has taxpayer funding. Helen Joyce said if Ms Luxion’s claim that inducing lactation in trans-identifying men results in milk that is “better” than mother’s milk is representative of the quality of her research, then that research has been a monumental waste of taxpayers’ money.  

Next was coverage of the news that Layla Le Fey, a man who identifies as a woman, was spared jail on account of mental-health struggles after threatening to attack and kill Helen and Kellie-Jay Keen. The story was covered by Eirian Jan Prosser for the Daily Mail, Jo Wadsworth for Brighton and Hove News, and The Argus.  

In a preview of the Cass Review, Katherine Lawton for the Daily Mail wrote about expectations that the report would rule that children who are socially transitioned could face psychological repercussions. Maya was quoted as saying that doctors are having to deal with gender-confused children who have already been socially transitioned at school for years, and are, as a result, very disturbed by the idea of going through puberty.

The Cass Review dominated media coverage for the remainder of the week. Helen’s comments that the report demolishes the entire basis for the current model of treating gender-distressed children, and that it is a shameful day for NHS England, were covered by Eleanor Hayward, James Beal, Lucy Bannerman and Steven Swinford for The Times, Alex Ward, Shaun Wooller and Harriet Line for the Daily Mail, Michael Searles, Laura Donnelly and Daniel Martin for The Telegraph, Jack Elsom for The Sun, and George Bunn for GB News.

Maya wrote for The Sun on what the Cass Review means for parents and teachers, and said that the report should give parents and head teachers the confidence to say no to demands to socially transition children. She said that many health professionals lost sight of the principles of normal practice, and that gender-distressed children and their families were failed by services that were supposed to support them.

Eleanor, James, Lucy and Steven quoted Helen in an article for The Times on Cass’s assessment that GPs are scared off treating children over gender identity. Helen said that report is the nail in the coffin for the so-called ‘gender-affirming’ treatment model, and that the total lack of evidence base is laid bare for everyone to see.

Putting a spotlight on cowboy private clinics that provide children with puberty blockers, Alex for the Daily Mail and Michael Searles and Genevieve Holl-Allen for The Telegraph quoted Fiona McAnena as saying that Dr Cass did her best to tackle private clinics, but shutting them down is beyond the scope of her review and ministers must now act urgently.

Next came the news that Health Secretary Victoria Atkins is launching a review into adult gender clinics and has met with the head of NHS England to demand that clinics cooperate with research, after failing to do so as part of the Cass Review. Eleanor for The Times quoted Helen as saying that adults, just as much as children, deserve evidence-based care and the evidence is equally as lacking in adult gender medicine as it is in paediatric services. Alex and Shaun for the Daily Mail and Daniel and Michael for The Telegraph quoted Sex Matters board member Professor Michael Biggs, who said it was disgraceful that gender clinicians employed by the NHS wilfully obstructed Hilary Cass’s attempt to undertake research as part of her review, and that it was a dereliction of duty for these NHS clinics to refuse to provide patient information. 

Shaun also wrote for the Daily Mail that the BBC continues to direct parents and children to Mermaids on its website, suggesting that the charity can be contacted for information and support. Fiona said that it is a scandal that the national broadcaster is still promoting the discredited charity Mermaids, which promotes the false claim that gender distress elevates a child’s risk of suicide and that puberty blockers are “life-saving”.

Maya and Helen did several broadcast interviews on the Cass Review, with Helen appearing on BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast with Rick Edwards, and in two interviews on TalkTV with Kevin O’Sullivan and Alex Phillips, and JJ Anisiobi. She also did an extended interview with veteran Australian broadcaster Mike Jeffreys on Sydney’s 2GB. Maya was interviewed by Tom Harwood and Emily Carver for GB News and also appeared on Julia Hartley-Brewer’s show on TalkTV.

Writing for The Telegraph, Michael and Laura revealed that Dr Derek Glidden of the Nottingham Centre for Transgender Health and Dr Laura Charlton from the Leeds Gender Identity Clinic were two of the clinicians who refused to participate in research as part of the Cass Review.

Meanwhile, writing for The Times, James and Steven covered the Cass Review’s suggestion that doctors and psychologists should not be criminalised for exploring a child’s gender distress, amid concerns over a ban on conversion therapy. Maya clarified that the Cass Review says that children should have exploratory therapy, which falls within what some people think is “conversion therapy”.

Members of the Sex Matters team were mentioned as being part of JK Rowling’s “sex-based rights squad” in an article by Jon Brady for the Daily Mail on the author’s close network of supporters.

Finally, Fiona was quoted in coverage of the International Olympic Committee’s funding of research that claims that male athletes who identify as women are at a physical disadvantage to women. In an article by Ben Rumbsy for The Telegraph, Fiona said that it is disappointing that the committee is still looking at how to allow males to access women’s sport when that can only disadvantage women, who already get less funding and less access to sport.

5th April

This week’s coverage began with an exclusive by Will Hazell in the Sunday Telegraph on how a leaked HR policy on “gender identity” revealed that female employees of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) could face disciplinary action if they object to trans colleagues using their lavatories. Fiona McAnena said that the staff documents were inaccurate and inflammatory, and that they help explain why the ONS made a mess of the 2021 Census question on sex and “gender identity”. The news was also covered by Alesia Fiddler for the Daily Mail and Amelia Brand from HR Review.

Fiona was the feature interview on Nana Akua’s show on GB News on Sunday, and spoke about how she came to be a campaigner on sex-based rights, why men don’t belong in women’s prisons, and the status of men in women’s sport.

This was followed by an article by Steph Spyro for the Daily Express on how changing gender on official papers is too easy amid a record high in changes to driving licences. Maya Forstater said that the ease at which official documents can be altered is concerning, and that altered paperwork may be used by trans-identifying people to put pressure on service providers – such as gyms – to allow them into facilities for the opposite sex.

Next was an exposé by Daniel Martin for The Telegraph on how a transactivist civil service staff network, a:gender, that had produced training comparing gender-critical activists with the Ku Klux Klan was given £200K of taxpayers’ money. Maya said that all these workshops really do is encourage civil servants to bully and silence anyone who understands that sex is real and sometimes it matters. The news was also covered by Georgina Cutler of GB News.

Alex Ward for the Daily Mail and Jonathan Ames and Catherine Baksi for The Times covered Maya’s letter to the Lady Chief Justice and the Justice Secretary regarding comments made by High Court judge Master Victoria McCloud, a man who identifies as a woman. Maya said that McCloud, who is the subject of two complaints to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office, has been engaging publicly and inappropriately in debates on sex and gender. 

The launch of Scotland’s hate-crime measures dominated the news this week. Helen Joyce did broadcast interviews with presenters Jake Berry on TalkTV, Julia Hartley-Brewer on TalkTV, and Peta Credlin on Sky News Australia. 

JK Rowling’s social media post in support of Maya was referenced in several articles on the author’s commentary on Scotland’s hate-crime laws coming into force this week, including Billie Schwab Dunn for Newsweek, Andy Gregory for The Independent, Jennifer Jones for the Scottish Sun, USA Today, and Ryan Smith for Newsweek.

Finally, covering Roz Adams’ employment tribunal against Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, Mike Wade for The Times referred to barrister Naomi Cunningham’s role as chair of Sex Matters in an article on how the tribunal heard that the centre hid the sex of its counsellors from victims of sexual assault. The news was also covered by Georgina Cutler of GB News.

29th March

This week’s coverage began with an article by Daniel Martin for The Telegraph on Sex Matters chair Naomi Cunningham’s letter to BBC director-general Tim Davie in November 2023 making an offer of a process of strategic engagement with experts on sex and gender, which Davie did not not take up. Fiona McAnena said that considering the extent of the BBC’s engagement with trans activist lobby groups in recent years, it’s a shame he didn’t want to hear another perspective. The news was also covered by Jack Walters for GB News.

The news on NHS England’s decision to allow 15-year-olds to access cross-sex hormones was covered by Meg Byrom and Chris Pollard for the Daily Mail, with Helen Joyce quoted as saying that the NHS must urgently rethink before any more children are harmed by medical practices that are driven by ideology rather than evidence of clinical benefit.

An article by Patrick West for Spiked on why it took so long for NHS England to ban puberty blockers included comments from Helen on how the radical trans movement persuaded people that giving blanket rights to trans people was simply the next step in a narrative of liberation. 

Maya Forstater was interviewed by Nick Ferrari on LBC on the news that Elspeth Duemmer Wrigley, a lawyer working for an arms-length body to a government department (part of the Civil Service), is being sued for her gender-critical beliefs, including expressing the belief that only women menstruate.

Connor Stringer for the Daily Mail covered the news that CBBC presenter Dr Ronx Ikharia led protests outside CAN-SG’s conference at the Royal College of General Practitioners. Helen said that Ikharia is somebody with an influence on children, and that adults at the protest were behaving like tantruming toddlers. Writing on the protest for Spiked, Jo Bartosch quoted Sex Matters board member Professor Michael Biggs as saying that all the protesters achieved was to emphasise why CAN-SG’s mission is vital.

Writing for the Daily Mail, Alex Ward covered the news that St John Ambulance is pressuring job applicants to include pronouns in their job applications, with a prompt on the significance of pronoun use appearing if applicants choose to decline to enter pronouns. Helen Joyce said that this feels like an opportunistic way to “educate” unsuspecting people that so-called gender identity matters more than sex, and toes close to the line in terms of compelled belief.

Finally, Alex also broke the news that a grandfather who identifies as a woman attempted to breastfeed his granddaughter as part of a Duke University study on treatment protocols relating to “gender medicine”. Maya Forstater said that babies cannot consent to being participants in such a study, and that men should not be permitted or supported to get between babies and their mothers. The story was covered by Melissa Koenig for the New York Post.

22nd March

This week’s news began with coverage by Jack Maidment, Nick Gutteridge and Daniel Martin in The Telegraph on Liz Truss’s proposed reforms on sex and gender not being debated in Parliament due to lengthy speeches by Labour MPs on pets, including ferrets. Fiona McAnena said that the lack of debate was very disappointing, and that Parliament must now legislate urgently to prevent private clinics from continuing to expose children to harmful treatments in the name of “gender medicine”.

Daniel Martin followed this up in The Telegraph with coverage of Judy Murray’s retweet of a Sex Matters post on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plans to clarify the Equality Act. Murray asked the Prime Minister what he is waiting for, and urged him to act now. The story was also covered by Douglas Dickie in the Scottish Daily Express.

Writing for Conservative Home, Maya Forstater called for the Prime Minister to show leadership by supporting Kemi Badenoch to amend the Equality Act. Maya argued that this could be done with a simple piece of legislation: a one-line amendment to make clear that the definition of sex relates to biology, as proposed by Truss. 

Following last week’s news on NHS England’s ban of puberty blockers, Sex Matters board member Dr Michael Biggs wrote for The Telegraph on how he took on the puberty-blocker orthodoxy and won. 

The BBC’s treatment of sex and gender was back in the news this week, with Fiona’s recent quote on the treatment of presenter Justin Webb used in an article by Robin Aitken and Liam Kelly for The Telegraph. BBC director-general Tim Davie’s remarks to MPs that the BBC must be kind, caring and nice to people on matters of sex and gender were widely derided, as covered by Henry Bodkin, James Warrington and Anita Singh for The Telegraph. Fiona was quoted as saying that the job of the BBC is not to be kind, caring and nice, but to be factual and impartial. She added that the statement from BBC’s head of editorial standards, David Jordan, on the sensitivity of calling men who identify as women “male” got to the heart of how the BBC is damaging its reputation and credibility.

Maya’s case was referenced in an article by Georgina Calvert-Lee for People Management on how to handle philosophical belief investigations; by nurse Amy Gallagher, who appeared on Sky News Australia with Rita Pahani to speak about the silencing of debate in relation to the Tavistock Clinic; by Lauren Smith for Spiked on the damage caused by diversity initiatives in the workplace; and by Jill Foster for the Daily Mail on the silencing of university researcher Laura Favaro.

It was also mentioned by Rob Moss for Personnel Today, who was covering the news that the co-chair of the civil service’s gender-critical network SEEN is being sued for saying that only women have periods. Writing about this case for The Times, Katie Gibbons quoted Maya, who said that civil servants should not expect to be kept “safe” from encountering ideas or people they don’t agree with. Maya also went on LBC Radio with Nick Ferrari to discuss the case.

Writing for Northern Ireland’s News Letter, Adam Kula covered DUP MP Carla Lockhart’s call for the removal of transgender-themed children’s books from libraries and included comments from Fiona that it is irresponsible to encourage children to wonder if they’re male or female because they like the “wrong” clothes, or to say that a boy might be a girl inside.

Finally, Sex Matters board member Dr Emma Hilton was quoted by Craig Simpson in The Telegraph in relation to the news that the Hastings Museum and Art Gallery has produced a trail guide that says that pheasants are “queer” and can change sex. Emma said the claims were nonsense and that we would not say that older women had changed sex if they have a bit of a moustache. The news was also covered by Ed Holt for the Daily Mail.

15th March

This week’s news coverage began with Greg Heffer in the Daily Mail writing on Liz Truss’s call for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to back her private member’s bill, which would change the legal definition of sex to “biological”. Maya Forstater said that the bill focuses on the three areas where clarity in the law is urgently needed to combat the influence of lobby groups that have captured institutions and are misrepresenting the law.

Next was an article by Oliver Brown in the Sunday Telegraph on Sir Keir Starmer’s comments which recognised the importance of biological sex in sport. The article quoted Sex Matters’ survey in 2023 showing that fewer than one in three people in Britain believed that men identifying as women should be permitted in women’s sports, changing rooms or bathrooms.

Writing for the Daily Mail, Oliver Price covered the news that police may have recorded transactivist India Willoughby’s complaint against JK Rowling for ‘misgendering’ him as a non-crime hate incident (NCHI). Maya was quoted as saying that Rowling’s comments did not meet the bar for a recording of a NCHI and that Northumbria Police needs to defend its decision to record a woman speaking in factual terms about a man who has persistently hounded her as a “hate incident”.

The big news of the week was NHS England’s announcement that it would ban the prescription of puberty blockers for children. Maya told Michael Searles in The Telegraph, Denis Campbell in The Guardian and Eleanor Hayward, Lucy Bannerman and Charlotte Alt in The Times that the news was a momentous development in the course correction of NHS England’s approach to treating childhood gender distress. Predictably, Stonewall continued to call puberty blockers a “reversible” treatment in its response to the news, which underscored Maya’s comment that the significance of NHS England’s statement that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of puberty blockers cannot be overstated, given the success that activist lobby groups have had in portraying them as a harmless and reversible treatment.

Maya appeared on TalkTV twice: first to talk to Julia Hartley-Brewer about the Health and Equality Acts (Amendment) Bill due to be debated on Friday 15th March and secondly to discuss the news on puberty blockers with André Walker.

Sex Matters board member Dr Michael Biggs was quoted in a follow-up article by Eleanor Hayward and Lucy Bannerman in The Times focusing on calls to close the loophole on private clinics prescribing puberty blockers to children, which Maya described as a “wild west” operation. Michael said that private clinics must be stopped from exploiting vulnerable children and adolescents as a matter of urgency, and that if this does not happen, those clinics will continue to provide these drugs on demand. This story was also covered by Iwan Stone in the Daily Mail.

Lucy Bannerman wrote a further article in The Times on how puberty blockers for teenagers became normalised in the NHS, which mentioned Sex Matters’ supporting role in the publication of the WPATH files.

In other news, Helen Joyce was quoted in an article by Mary Wright for the Scottish Daily Express on how Police Scotland is recording thousands of “hate incidents”. Helen said that reporting ordinary words as “hate incidents” has become a standard move of extreme transactivists who want to silence campaigners for women’s rights, and that Police Scotland’s recording of these suggests that the force is ignoring guidance intended to ensure that police treat such claims in a less biased and credulous way.

Writing for The Guardian, Richard Adams covered the call from unions for the government’s guidance for schools on sex and gender to be clearer, with teachers and school leaders concerned that they could be vulnerable to losing court cases. He quoted Sex Matters’ consultation response which said that schools are not clinics, and teachers are not clinicians. 

Finally, in an article for the Daily Mail, Shaun Wooller and Alex Ward reported on how new NHS England guidance said that “not everyone who experiences menopause is a woman”, before the document was quickly deleted. Fiona McAnena said that the new guidance is the latest example of the NHS deliberately ignoring instructions from the health secretary last year to return to sex-based language, and causes particular confusion for people with learning difficulties or English as a second language.

8th March

The week began with Helen Joyce’s analysis of gender insanity in The Critic, charting the legal cases fought by gender-critical women since she first met Maya Forstater, five years ago. Drawing an analogy with the Crusaders, Helen wondered how long it will take to restore sanity given how many people make their living, one way or another, from gender ideology. 

Lauren Smith, writing for Spiked about Justin Webb’s reprimand from the BBC for saying that transwomen are “male”, wondered why the BBC is spreading misinformation. She quoted Fiona McAnena from last week’s Telegraph article pointing out that Webb was simply doing his job and explaining to listeners terms that we know are widely misunderstood. 

Reporting on the same case in The Sun, Thomas Godfrey also quoted Fiona, who pointed out that disciplining a presenter who had simply stated biological reality means that “the BBC has lost all credibility”.

Michael Murphy wrote in The Telegraph about a claim that trans-rights activists in the civil service have been undermining policies. The claim was made in a 30-page letter sent to the Cabinet Office by SEEN (Sex Equality and Equity Network), a group of 700 gender-critical civil servants. He quoted Maya, who called the letter “devastating” and said that gender ideology was embedded across Whitehall and there was bullying behind closed doors.

Also in The Telegraph, Tom Morgan reported on a girls’ football league in Yorkshire “at risk of sanctions” for refusing to let a boy play. Fiona was quoted pointing out that the Football Association claims to be supporting the women’s game, but is allowing the demands of one boy to override girls’ needs. The law is clear that female-only sport is allowed, she said: “It’s sex discrimination for the FA to tell girls they must accept a male player.” Daisy Graham-Brown reported on the same case for the Daily Mail, with a picture of Fiona alongside a quote. 

In a shocking article about the mistreatment of female survivors of violence at a council meeting in the Brighton and Hove News, Jean Calder listed Maya as an example of gender-critical beliefs being protected in law. 

For the New York Post, Yaron Steinbuch reported on a poll finding that 29% of scientists at UK universities disagree with the statement that sex is binary. Helen Joyce commented on how muddled supposedly bright people seemed to be about very basic facts, and on the striking confidence displayed by the almost two-thirds who agreed that “gender is fluid”, which she characterised as “a strikingly confident statement about a nebulous concept”. 

The Daily Mail celebrated International Women’s Day with an article by Rosie Duffield and Jill Foster featuring stylish photographs of Sex Matters’ three directors alongside other “battle-hardened campaigners”. Artist Sonya Douglas, a member of Sex Matters’ advisory group, was also featured. 

Also in the Mail, education editor Eleanor Harding wrote about an analysis of 44,000 stories written by under-12s that found a surge in tales about “left-wing issues”, including transgenderism. Maya described this as a disturbing indication of how much children in primary schools have been indoctrinated in gender theory. She also pointed out the serious safeguarding concerns raised by this: “the pathology of gender dysphoria is being promoted to children as a way to be special”.

On TalkTV, Helen talked to Julia Hartley-Brewer about the significance of the leaked WPATH files. “It’s literally not medicine that’s going on, is what these files show,” Helen said, citing as an example the entire chapter of WPATH’s standards of care devoted to eunuch identities.   

The WPATH leaks were also discussed on The Reaction, a talk show launched by the Daily Mail in January. Sarah Vine and Andrew Pierce interviewed Maya, who said that the files show that doctors advocating for the use of puberty blockers were well aware of the potential risks to children.

On GB News’s ‘Good Afternoon Britain‘, Maya spoke to Tom Harwood and Emily Carver about the row on Twitter in which trans-identifying man India Willoughby claims to have reported JK Rowling to the police for referring to him as a man. “People are free to use their own words,” she said, adding that Willoughby’s remarks about kidnap – which referred to Rowling, Maya and Joanna Cherry MP, and which read like a threat – were deeply alarming. 

And finally, writing for the Daily Express, Katie Harris and Sam Lister quoted Helen saying that an “awful” scene between a 12-year-old girl and a much older trans-identifying man in the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks “should have been scrapped in the writers’ room”.

1st March

This week’s news coverage began with Sean Rayment’s article for the Sunday Telegraph on the fact that 70 per cent of transgender prisoners are in for sex offences or violent crimes. The article featured the testimony of a former female remand prisoner who said that one male prisoner housed inside a female high-security prison continuously bullied female prisoners. Maya Forstater was quoted as saying that presence of men in women’s prisons immediately makes every female inmate feel unsafe, and that HM Prisons needs to finish the job and ensure all prisons are truly single-sex.

Next was an exclusive by Mary Wright for the Scottish Daily Express on Aberdeenshire Council’s plan to survey primary-school children on the design of toilets for future council buildings, including the provision of gender-neutral or mixed-sex facilities. Helen Joyce said that child safeguarding is the responsibility of adults, not children, and that it is disgraceful to see adults abdicate responsibility by surveying children like this. The news was also covered by Simon Johnson for The Telegraph and Ivan Prothero for the Daily Mail.

Tim Sigsworth followed with an exclusive for The Telegraph on the news that Stonewall funded the Church of England schools guidance that said primary-school children can be transgender. Helen said this was proof of Stonewall’s influence behind the scenes, and a wake-up call for the church – and all other school leaders – to put safeguarding first and refuse to take money from or work with any organisation that does not.

Next, Ewan Somerville and Gabriella Swerling for The Telegraph covered JK Rowling’s frustration that judges had been told to refer to male cat killer and murderer Scarlet Blake as a woman. In her capacity as a barrister, Sex Matters chair Naomi Cunningham was quoted as saying that the advice on personal pronouns and identity in the Equal Treatment Bench Book is ideological, dangerous and anti-women. 

Ewan and Gabriella followed up this story with an article that confirmed that the crimes of  Scarlet Blake would be officially recorded as having been committed by a woman. Maya said that the government should tell police forces to stop affirming criminals’ fantasies and get back to their day job of investigating crime and bringing wrongdoers to justice.

Maya made further comments on the story in an article for the Daily Express, which argued that calling men women and women men within the justice system distorts the principle of telling “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”.

Writing for PinkNews, Amelia Hansford covered Sex Matters’ statement on Helen being stalked and photographed on the train with colleagues while researching the role of fan fiction in young women’s adoption of trans identities. Sex Matters told PinkNews that the research was part of her ongoing work to counter the pernicious influence of gender-identity ideology.

In an article for the Daily Mail, Dan Grennan covered the news that police officers with a trans identity will only be allowed to strip search suspects of the same biological sex under new government plans, following concerns that women’s safety was being compromised. The article mentioned Sex Matters’ previous comments that the current policy would lead to “state-sanctioned sexual assault” and the “humiliation” of female suspects.

Finally, in an article for The Telegraph, Daniel Martin covered the news that BBC presenter Justin Webb was being disciplined for calling men with a trans identity “males” on air. Fiona McAnena said that ruling clearly shows the BBC has lost sight of its statutory duty, as the national, taxpayer-funded broadcaster, to be impartial. She said that Webb was simply doing his job, since a third of the population are uncertain what the term “trans women” means.

23rd February

This week’s coverage began with Alex Ward and Oliver Price’s coverage in the Daily Mail of John Lewis’s new staff magazine Identity, which gave advice on breast binders for children. Helen Joyce said that the newsletter demonstrates how far brands are willing to go to placate the vocal minority of activists on their staff.

Next was an article by Sanchez Manning for the Mail on Sunday on the Scouts’ plan to hire a diversity officer on a £75K salary. Maya Forstater, who has been an assistant Cub Scout leader, said that the Scouts have serious issues with class, race and religion because traditionally they are white and middle-class.

Writing for The Observer, Sonia Sodha quoted the People’s History Museum in Manchester’s public apology for hiring out a room to Sex Matters last year in an article on how modern-day censors are posing a danger to artistic expression.

The news that an NHS Trust in Sussex claims that milk produced by men who identify as women and take drugs to induce lactation is as good as a mother’s breast milk was covered widely by local and international news outlets. Michael Searles in The Telegraph and Katie Gibbons in The Times quoted Maya as saying that it was deeply disturbing for NHS executives to prioritise trans identities over what is best for mothers and their babies. International outlets including The College Fix and Nikolas Lanum for Fox News also quoted Maya in their stories.

In a story on JK Rowling’s donation of £70K to For Women Scotland for their Supreme Court appeal, Emily Jane Davies for the Daily Mail mentioned Sex Matters’ submission to the case last year. The case concerns whether a biological man can be counted as a woman if he has a gender-recognition certificate.

Writing for The Spectator, Laurie Westall quoted Sex Matters in an article on how identity politics has infiltrated the judiciary. Laurie referenced Sex Matters’ call for reform of the Equal Treatment Bench Book on the basis that it is ideologically biased towards transgender ideology.

In a frustrating development, Labour MP Ben Bradshaw’s false claim in Parliament that Sex Matters and Transgender Trend are “fringe groups” that “actively campaign against transgender rights” was reported by 21 media outlets as a result of a Press Association Newswire story. Coverage of his remarks included Yahoo News, Daily Mail, The Standard, Kent Online, Belfast Telegraph, Sale & Altringham Messenger, Rhyl, Prestatyn & Abergele Journal, North Wales Pioneer, Richmond & Twickenham Times, Runcorn & Widnes World, Chard and Ilminster News, Gloucestershire Gazette, Whitchurch Herald, South Wales Guardian, The Courier, Bury Times, Stourbridge News, Cumberland News & Star, Hereford Times, The National, Irish News and Northwich & Winsford Guardian.

Bradshaw was later interviewed by James O’Brien on LBC where his remarks above were played back on air, and he went on to assert that both Sex Matters and Transgender Trend are “anti-trans groups”. O’Brien appeared to agree.

Next were stories by Emily Braeger for The Express and Aidan Radnedge for the Daily Mail on the news that Defence Secretary Grant Shapps is set to review guidance stating that military personnel born as men can live in female-only accommodation. Both quoted a tweet from Helen which said that this situation is a court case waiting to happen, and expressed her hope that a claimant comes forward.

Finally, writing for the Daily Mail, Alex Ward covered Baroness Diana Barran’s concern that some charities are pitting parents against schools by encouraging them to dispute government guidance on sex and gender in school. The article quoted Sex Matters’ previous criticisms of trans lobby group Mermaids’ template letter for parents to send to schools.

16th February

The House of Lords debate on conversion therapy kicked off this week’s news coverage, with Amy Gibbons for The Telegraph quoting Maya Forstater as saying that the debate showed how poorly the idea of banning conversion therapy has been thought through.

Next was coverage of Shahrar Ali’s court battle with the Green Party, with BBC News and Stewart Carr and Lauren Haughey for the Daily Mail both quoting Maya’s case in their news stories.

Writing in The Times, Janice Turner quoted Helen Joyce from a past interview as saying that “there isn’t a way in which a man can become a woman, except linguistically” in her column on the use of language when it comes to sex and gender.

Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail wrote about the axing of NHS England’s Stonewall-backed six-figure Rainbow Badge Scheme, which rewarded trusts for ditching “gendered language”. Helen said that the move was a huge step towards rooting transactivism out of our public institutions.

Next was coverage of the news that 77 doctors have changed their “gender” on the General Medical Council register. Charlotte Gill for The Telegraph quoted Maya as saying that in a similar way to the issue with male police officers searching women, this policy disregards women’s human rights and put women at risk of state-sanctioned sexual assault. The news was also covered by Xantha Leaman for the Daily Mail.

Helen was quoted in an article by Mary Wright for the Sunday Post printed edition on the Scottish Prisons Service’s refusal to reveal survey responses from female prisoners on the inclusion of men in women’s prisons. Helen said that female prisoners have suffered in silence as violent men have been housed alongside them and at a bare minimum deserve the respect of having their voices heard.

Next was coverage by Alex Ward and Jo Bartosch for the Daily Mail of a pensioner who faces a potential £2,500 fine for putting gender-critical posters on her front door, including the cover of Helen’s book Trans: when ideology meets reality.

Finally, Alex also wrote for the Daily Mail on the launch of John Lewis’s new in-house magazine called Identity, which offers tips from Mermaids and Stonewall, and gives advice to parents on chest binders. Helen said it is a contemptuous dismissal of staff members who – like most people in this country – believe that sex is binary and more important than identity, and value sex-based rights.

9th February

This week’s coverage began with a comment from Sex Matters board member Emma Hilton in an article by Charlotte Gill for The Telegraph on a “queer ecology nature tour” for LGBTQ+ history month at London’s Chelsea Physic Garden. Responding to the tour, which focused on “the interconnectedness between nature and LGBTQ+ history”, Emma said that plants show the fundamental binary nature of all sexual reproduction.

Helen Joyce appeared on GB News’s ‘Free Speech Nation’ with Andrew Doyle to speak about a Newcastle United fan’s suspension from games due to her gender-critical views. Helen said that it was one of the most sinister things she has seen in the five-plus years she has been following the gross overreaches of transgender ideology.

Next was an article by Daniel Martin for The Telegraph on Sex Matters’ letter about Stonewall’s targeting of Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which was co-signed by 38 women’s groups. The letter to the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) said that Stonewall had subjected her to the same sort of unreasonable and vexatious complaints used to harass ordinary women at work.

Daniel followed this up with an article in The Telegraph on Secretary of State Kemi Badenoch’s powerful letter regarding evidence that gay young people are being told they are transgender. Helen said that the misguided framing of gender non-conformity as a potential sign of a trans identity is today’s version of the historic atrocities of gay conversion therapy.

Writing for the Daily Mail, Alex Ward covered the news that library staff at Swansea University scrambled to remove Helen’s book Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality from an LGBT history month display after one complaint. Helen said that it was outrageous censorship and that her book should be displayed alongside books promoting gender ideology, so that readers can get the full picture and make up their own minds.

Next was an article by Jeremy Wilson and Gabriella Swerling for The Telegraph on Parkrun’s decision to remove all records in response to calls for transgender athletes to be recorded by sex rather than self-identified “gender”. Helen said that the physical advantages that male puberty brings mean the only way women can have fair competition, or be properly recognised for exceptional performance in amateur and participation events, is for their results to be recorded separately from men’s.

Finally, Maya Forstater’s past comments on the involvement of boys in Girlguiding were quoted in an article by Iwan Stone for the Daily Mail on the introduction of a new “inclusive” uniform for Guides and Brownies.

2nd February

Coverage this week began with mention of Maya Forstater’s case in a column by Janice Turner in The Times on the malice of academia following Jo Phoenix’s employment-tribunal victory against the Open University. Maya’s case was also mentioned in an article by Steven Downes and Juliette Rowsell for People Management on what Jo’s win means for employers, and an article by Nina Welsch for The Critic on JK Rowling’s conflicted fandom.

Writing for the Sunday Telegraph, Will Hazell revealed that the Office for National Statistics circulated a memo which suggested that staff might not feel “safe” due to scrutiny of the faulty question on gender in the 2021 census. The memo was written by the ONS’s director of population statistics, Jen Woolford, who is also the “sponsor” of the ONS LGBT staff network. Maya said it was concerning that the same person responsible for defending the unreliable census data is part of a culture that allows emotional blackmail, compelled speech and ideological beliefs to corrupt ONS work.

Alex Ward and Martin Beckford wrote for the Daily Mail on Mermaids’ launch of a template letter drafted by solicitors for “concerned parents” to send to schools following the publication of the Department for Education’s draft guidance on gender-questioning children in schools late last year. Maya said that this campaign is a glimpse of the kind of bullying schools will be subjected to unless the DfE brings out a model policy as part of its new guidance. Sex Matters was also mentioned in an article in Derren Hayes for Children and Young People Now, saying that we disagree with transactivist lawyer Robin Moira White’s views on the new guidance.

Alex also wrote for the Daily Mail on Network Rail’s controversial “Pride Pillar” at a London tube station. Maya said that Network Rail’s investment in flags representing fringe sexual preferences, such as polyamory, and the erasure of sex in favour of gender, is a slap in the face for women and gay people. Maya’s quote was also covered by Jack Walters for GB News.

Writing on the potential conversion-therapy ban looming in Scotland, the Christian Institute referred to Sex Matters’ critique of a 2017 survey which was recently cited by Green councillor Blair Anderson as justification for a ban. Ross Hunter mentioned Sex Matters in an article for The National on gender-critical opposition to a conversion therapy ban in Scotland, which featured voices in favour of a ban from Malta and Germany. 

Meanwhile, writing for The Telegraph, Daniel Martin quoted Helen Joyce in coverage of the news that Keir Starmer would outlaw all forms of conversion therapy if Labour wins the election. Helen said that Starmer seems more interested in virtue-signalling about identity politics than protecting children’s wellbeing.

In The Telegraph, Chelsie Henshaw quoted Helen in an article on the news that Dundee Women’s Aid is advertising a position to people who “identify as women”. Helen said that the law is clear that jobs can’t be restricted to people who merely “identify” as one sex or the other, and that the ad is a plain case of unlawful discrimination. Writing for The Critic, Shonagh Dillon referred to Sex Matters’ recent report on the impact of gender-identity ideology on women’s services as one of the key documents she would file in a time capsule for historians who may one day study the absurdity of the gender wars.

Finally, Kate Pickles wrote for the Daily Mail on a study from the University of Manchester which was published in The Lancet on the mental health of people who identify as transgender, which has unreliable figures at its core. Maya pointed out that the data at the heart of this study is from a survey that asked the same problematic gender-identity question as the 2021 census, which is currently being reviewed by the national statistics regulator.

26th January

This week’s news coverage began with mention of Sex Matters’ polling in the report on the impact of gender-identity ideology on the women’s sector in an article by Scottish MSP Meghan Gallacher for the Scottish Daily Express. The report was also highlighted in an article by Susan Dalgety for The Scotsman on how Scotland’s rape-crisis centres are in turmoil, with gender ideology threatening female-only services.

In further Scottish coverage, Mary Wright quoted Helen Joyce in an article for the Scottish Daily Express on the news that Police Scotland is defending its policy to allow male officers who identify as female to conduct strip searches on women. Helen said that the force risks permitting state-sanctioned sexual assault and putting police officers in situations that mean they are breaching the human rights of members of the public.

Next was a powerful article by The Telegraph’s chief sports writer Oliver Brown, who argued that it is time that golf crushed noisy trans ideology with common sense. Oliver quoted Naomi Cunningham’s comments in a recent LBC interview in which she said that trans activists seemed to decide that they didn’t have to do any of the usual persuading or marshalling evidence to bring about seismic social and cultural change: all they needed to do was to assert a new reality.

Writing for the Daily Mail, Connor Stringer and Martin Beckford revealed that the Welsh Government handed £100,000 to Stonewall last year and speculated about whether Keir Starmer may follow suit if he becomes Prime Minister. Helen said that given that Stonewall has morphed into a transactivist lobby group that routinely gives incorrect advice on equality law, it is ludicrous any government would hand it a sizeable chunk of public funds.

In an article for Spiked, Jo Bartosch quoted Maya Forstater’s case in relation to the news of Jo Phoenix’s employment-tribunal victory against Open University. Maya’s case was also mentioned by Susanna Rustin in a powerful piece in The Guardian on how women are still being punished for having legal views on sex and gender.

19th January

Coverage began this week with Edward Malnick’s article for The Sunday Telegraph on police strip-searching guidance. The article highlighted Sex Matters, Women’s Rights Network and Fair Play For Women’s letter to policing minister Chris Philp, which challenged his assertion that men with a gender-recognition certificate should be allowed to search women.

Connor Stringer quoted Maya Forstater in an article for the Daily Mail on new staff guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office which says that employees can show their support for trans-identifying colleagues by “thinking of the person as being the gender that they want you to think of them as”.

Sex Matters’ new report on the impact of gender-identity ideology on the women’s sector was picked up widely in the media, beginning with articles by Alex Ward for the Daily Mail and James Beal for The Times. Further coverage included Douglas Dickie for the Scottish Daily Express, Holyrood Magazine, Julie Bindel for The Telegraph and Georgina Cutler for GB News.

Helen Joyce was quoted in a report by Mary Wright for the Scottish Daily Express on the Scottish Prison Service’s plan to suppress data on trans-identifying inmates, and called the move “indefensible”.

Maya’s case was cited by Mandy Rhodes in an article for Holyrood Magazine on how good law needs robust debate, and in an article by Haroon Siddique for The Guardian on how a growing number of organisations have been found to have discriminated against women because of their views.

Finally, Helen was quoted in an article by Craig Simpson for The Telegraph on the reworked exhibit on sex and gender at the Science Museum, which she claimed is even more insidious than the controversial display that was removed last year.

12th January

This week’s news coverage began with an article by Craig Simpson in The Telegraph, which exposed that Sussex firefighters have been told that biological sex is “just a label” and “runs on a spectrum”. Helen Joyce was quoted as saying that it was infuriating to see public funds wasted on “training” that forces an evidence-free ideological position on people working in essential services. The story was also picked up by GB News.

Coverage of the appointment of trans-identifying male Munroe Bergdorf as a UK Champion for UN Women UK continued this week, with Maya Forstater appearing on GB News’s Free Speech Nation with Andrew Doyle to discuss the issue. 

Next was an article by Charlotte Gill in The Telegraph, which warned that education charity Governors for Schools is telling school governors to use “new names” and “correct pronouns” when addressing “trans pupils”. Maya Forstater was quoted as saying that school governors cannot ensure safeguarding if they forget that boys cannot become girls, and girls cannot become boys. The news was also covered by Eirian Jane Prosser for the Daily Mail and sector publication Education Executive.

Writing for The Telegraph, Daniel Martin quoted Helen in an article on UN special rapporteur Reem Alsalem’s letter to the World Health Organisation, which accused the health body of putting women’s “dignity, safety and security” at risk if it pursues plans for new guidance that calls for the right for people to self-identify as the opposite sex. Helen said the letter was a powerful intervention and that Alsalem is a heroic defender of women’s freedom of belief and speech. 

Helen appeared on TalkTV with Julia Hartley-Brewer to discuss the Scottish government’s plan to introduce a ban on “conversion therapy” which would see parents face up to seven years in jail if they don’t take an “affirmative” approach to gender confusion. 

Maya’s case was quoted in news that social worker Rachel Meade won a landmark employment tribunal against her employer and the social work regulatory body this week, with coverage by Jonathan Ames in The Times and Jo Faragher in Personnel Today. Maya was quoted by Alex Ward for the Daily Mail as saying that it is hard to overstate the importance and likely impact of Meade’s win.

5th January

Coverage over the Christmas and New Year period began with a feature article by Ken McLaughlin for Spiked on how trans ideology has taken over the UK social work sector. The article quoted Helen Joyce’s comments to the Telegraph on how new guidance for social workers is “dangerous and unscientific”.

Dominic Penna quoted Maya Forstater in a Telegraph article on how the official BBC Twitter account for the Doctor Who programme was hiding gender-critical tweets about a trans Doctor Who character. Maya noted that the BBC’s own guidelines state that the moderation of social-media accounts should be “light touch”, focusing on personal attacks and offensive language, not actively hiding matter-of-fact comments stating biological truths.

Also writing for The Telegraph, Mary Harrington mentioned Sex Matters’ response to the UK government’s new schools guidance in an op-ed on how ‘Terf island’ took on trans ideology in schools – and won.

In an article for the Daily Mail, Jonathon Brocklebank and Mary Wright mentioned that Helen welcomed Police Scotland’s plan to end the practice of recording trivial cases as “hate incidents”.

Martin Beckford quoted Helen in a Daily Mail article on the response to Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi’s social-media post that “Female single-sex spaces are not yours to give away”. Helen said that the furore from Labour councillors, local branch leaders and young leaders reveals the extent to which extremist trans ideology has taken hold within the party, and called on Keir Starmer to state that the Labour leadership agrees with Antoniazzi.

He also wrote for the Daily Mail on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) controversial plan to develop guidance based on self-ID in consultation with a group of biased activists and medics, and quoted Helen as saying that there is a disturbing pattern worldwide in which trans healthcare guidance and programmes are written by small, ideologically driven groups behind closed doors, and then presented as definitive. 

In an interview on Talk TV, Julia Hartley-Brewer was shocked when Helen revealed that one of the experts brought on board to develop the WHO guidance has previously stated that all children should go on puberty blockers. Helen was also asked about new plans by Secretary of State Kemi Badenoch to tackle self-ID through stealth in the changing of sex markers on passports and driving licences, and USA Boxing’s decision to allow men to compete against women.

The Daily Mail ran a short brief on a report by Sex Matters and partner organisations to the Council of Europe, warning that the UK is in breach of the Istanbul Convention, an international treaty to combat violence against women, because of confusion over how sex is defined in law.

Media coverage in the new year was dominated by UN Women UK’s appointment of trans-identifying male model Munroe Bergdorf as “UK Champion” for women’s rights. A letter signed by Sex Matters calling for the appointment to be reversed was covered by James Beal in The Times, Joe Hadden in The Sun, Liz Perkins in The Telegraph, Claire Duffin for the Daily Mail, Hannah Grossman for Fox News, and Georgina Cutler for GB News.

Sex Matters was mentioned in feature articles that followed, including two articles by Tom Cotterill for the Daily Mail. The first focused on Bergdorf’s controversial past relating to racism and the second on his previous comments on the suffragettes being “white supremacists”. Meanwhile, GB News presenter Nana Akua mentioned Sex Matters in an article for the Daily Mail on how the appointment was an appalling decision.

Maya appeared on GB News to discuss Bergdorf’s appointment with presenters Emily Carver and Tom Harwood, and said that UN Women UK was trolling women by choosing a man for the role. Maya and Emily outlined why accurate pronouns are important in response to a challenge from Tom, who posited that it would be more impactful for gender-critical campaigners to call men “women”, if that’s how they identify. Maya’s interview was later covered by Ben Chapman for the GB News website.

2023

22nd December

This news week began with an exposé by Steven Edginton in The Telegraph on troubling guidance for social workers that teaches trans ideology as fact to vulnerable children and recommends asking children as young as 13 whether they are transgender. Helen Joyce called the guidance “dangerous and unscientific” and said no government document should signpost anyone to Mermaids.

This was followed by a second exposé by Steven in The Telegraph, this time on the new Ministry of Justice equality framework for prison officers that encourages consideration of “non-binary” and “gender fluid” staff, and the implementation of gender-neutral toilets, showers, changing rooms and uniforms. Maya Forstater called the guidance “hard line trans activism”, said the blatantly politicised language was concerning, and called for officials such as permanent secretary Antonia Romeo to act decisively. The story was also covered by Emily Jane Davies for the Daily Mail.

The new UK government schools guidance on sex and gender dominated the rest of the news week. Sex Matters saw the guidance as a big step forward and Maya said that while the guidance is imperfect, it sets the global standard for uprooting trans ideology from schools (full statement). The news on schools guidance was first covered by Louisa Clarence-Smith and Daniel Martin in The Telegraph, Steven Swinford in The Times, and Jason Groves and Martin Beckford in the Daily Mail, all quoting Maya.

Maya appeared on TalkTV with Alex Philips and Kevin O’Sullivan to discuss the new guidance alongside the executive head of St Thomas The Apostle School, Serge Cefai.

Further coverage on schools guidance that mentioned Sex Matters included Lauren Moss and Josh Parry’s coverage for BBC News, which emphasised that parents must be kept informed under the new guidance, and Richard Adams and Aletha Adu in The Guardian, who said that the guidance tells English schools to consider the influence of social media on pupils asking to transition. 

In further Daily Mail coverage which quoted Maya, James Tapsfield and Martin Robinson warned that schools are threatening to flout the guidance, while Martin Beckford and Connor Stringer covered Kemi Badenoch’s warning that teaching children they can be born in the ‘wrong’ body is harmful.

Adam Forrest in The Independent referred to Sex Matters as a “leading campaign group” and “rival” to Stonewall in an article on the government advising that teachers can’t be forced to use pupils’ chosen pronouns. He also quoted Maya in an article on the view of some Tories that the guidance doesn’t go far enough.

Finally, The Critic published an article written by Maya on the new schools guidance, in which she welcomed the “return from Planet Gender” and said that the new guidance for schools on gender questioning children is a good start.

15th December

Coverage this week began with an article by Maya Forstater in Holyrood Magazine, which argued that the UK Government must act urgently to clarify the meaning of “man” and “woman” in the Equality Act following the Court of Session’s rejection of the Scottish Government’s appeal against the UK Government’s Section 35 order to stop the Gender Recognition Reform Bill receiving royal assent. Maya wrote that while it is positive that the judgment will prevent self-ID being brought into law in Scotland, it did not provide clarity about the meaning of sex in law. 

This was followed by Neale Hanvey MP writing for The National, claiming that there has never been a more dangerous time for LGB people in his lifetime, with an equivalent threat to women and girls. Hanvey quoted Sex Matters’ proposal for a ban on modern conversion practices, citing the example of a gender non-conforming man who felt his sex had been “lobotomised” after being pressured into gender-reassignment surgery (removal of his penis and testicles). In a letter to the paper later in the week, Hanvey urged readers of The National to refer to Sex Matters’ proposal to ban modern conversion therapy for harrowing examples of gay people accelerated onto an irreversible transition pathway with minimal information or meaningful support.

Writing for The Telegraph, Hayley Dixon covered what could be one of the first examples globally of a healthcare provider rowing back from institutionalised transactivism, with private healthcare company HCA confirming it will now guarantee same-sex care for patients. This followed the cancellation of Teresa Steele’s operation at an HCA hospital in 2022 when she requested that only biological women be involved in her intimate care. Helen Joyce said that the move was extremely welcome and that the sooner the NHS follows suit, the better. She warned that it will otherwise be another example of inequity, with those who cannot afford private services being forced to accept intimate care from men who identify as women.

Helen was also quoted in the Daily Mail in an article by Claire Ellicott on the fallout from Conservative MP Rachel Maclean’s description of Melissa Poulton – the trans-identified straight male campaigning to be a green MP who identifies as a “proud lesbian” – as a “man in a wig”. Helen said that using ordinary, polite words to describe what everyone can see – for example a “man in a wig” – is not bigotry. Sex Matters chair Naomi Cunningham was interviewed on the topic by Ian Collins on Talk TV, and said it is “preposterous, abusive and manipulative” for a man to say that he is a lesbian.

Finally, Maya’s case was briefly mentioned in an article by Millicent Machell for HR Magazine in response to a Telegraph article which argued that the HR profession is “strangling the economy” and policing political attitudes in the workplace, including the hiring and firing of people in the name of progressive causes. HR consultant Jonathan Krogdahl warned that HR can overstep by enforcing values that senior executives have not agreed on, and said that HR leadership must remain aligned with the rest of the leadership team.

8th December

Writing for The Telegraph, Edward Malnick quoted Maya Forstater’s case in a report on how Equality and Human Rights Commission staff opposed the “direction of travel” under the leadership of Baroness Falkner. 

Next was an exposé by Charlotte Gill for The Telegraph on how Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust asks patients to choose their gender identity from a wide selection of options that includes “demiboy, genderfluid and questioning”. Maya was quoted as saying that it is crucial that healthcare providers don’t get confused about what sex people are.

The launch of weak new guidance on trans-identifying prisoners by the Scottish Prisons Service saw Helen Joyce interviewed by Kathryn Sampson on Channel 4 News, saying that the only safe course of action would be to keep all men out of women’s prisons, no matter how they identify. Maya was interviewed by Julia Hartley-Brewer on Talk TV and said that the policy would allow a violent man or a paedophile who has committed crimes against a boy to be put in a women’s prison.

Writing for the Daily Mail, Martin Beckford previewed the launch of much-anticipated guidance on sex and gender in schools, quoting Helen as saying that the guidance must be clear so teachers are not left to face legal challenges.

Secretary of State Kemi Badenoch’s “tour de force” statement in parliament – which saw her speak passionately on several topics including conversion therapy, schools guidance and fairness in sports – was widely covered by the media. Steph Spyro in the Daily Express featured Maya saying that the era of “no debate” is finally over, and that it came to a close in the most important debating chamber in the country. Daniel Martin in The Telegraph quoted Maya on Badenoch’s agreement with Sex Matters that conversion therapy has evolved into a new, equally abhorrent form. 

Writing exclusively for the Daily Mail on her response to the statement, Helen shared her relief at hearing Badenoch speak out against the epidemic of gay children being encouraged to “change gender”.

Finally, in an article by Oliver Brown and Daniel Martin in The Telegraph on the letter from over 70 politicians to the Football Association (FA) urging it to change its transgender policy, Maya was quoted as saying that there is nothing in the Equality Act or the Gender Recognition Act that says women’s sports must be opened up to men who identify as women, and that the FA is discriminating against women and girls and knowingly putting women in harm’s way by not protecting women’s teams.

1st December

This week’s coverage began with the news that civil servants at the Department of Business and Trade (DBT) were told in an internal memo marking Transgender Day of Remembrance on 20th November to check their colleagues’ email signatures for their pronouns and not assume each other’s gender. In an article for The Telegraph by Steven Edginton, Helen Joyce responded to the news by saying that all employers, including DBT, should think carefully about the risk of claims against them for discrimination and harassment of gender-critical employees if they allow themselves to be used as mouthpieces for evidence-free and inflammatory lobbying.

Maya Forstater’s recent comments in The Times on the anticipated government guidance on sex and gender in schools were quoted by Michael Curzon in The European Conservative, including her warning that the latest update on what the guidance will contain passes the legal risk down to the schools and leaves the door open for activist parents or unhappy children to try to negotiate, which is exactly what schools don’t need.

Writing for the Mail on Sunday, Cameron Charters reported that a whistleblowing midwife had evidence that babies were being registered according to “gender identity” on discharge forms under a new software system at London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, and King’s College Hospital, which Sex Matters’ Maya called “absurd and chilling”. Following up on the story, Michael Searles and Daniel Martin at The Telegraph were told by the NHS that it was a “system error” and that babies will be registered by their “legal sex”. Maya was quoted as saying that the response from NHS managers was disingenuous at best and would do nothing to quell widespread concern and outrage. GB News presenter Nana Akua did a segment on the news and quoted Maya.

After seeing the story above, a doctor then reported to Michael Searles and Daniel Martin at The Telegraph that the software’s new “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity SmartForm” has been programmed to register patients according to their “legal sex” rather than their actual sex, and to record men and women who don’t express a trans identity as “cisgender”. It asks medical staff to complete “organ inventories” of the reproductive features of all patients. In this article and one by Danya Bazaraa and Cameron Charters for the Daily Mail, Helen was quoted as saying that this anti-scientific fringe ideology has been imported wholesale from America, and that activists within the NHS have attempted to impose it on the UK’s healthcare system by stealth.

24th November

It was a significant week for Sex Matters in the media, beginning with Will Hazell in The Telegraph and Katie Harris in the Daily Express covering our letter to Kishwer Falkner, which warned that the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s recommendation to collect data on the sexual orientation and gender identity of school pupils is a serious threat to safeguarding.

This was followed by coverage in The Telegraph of our letter to the Office of Statistics Regulation calling for an official investigation into the flawed gender question in the 2021 census in England and Wales, with an article by Daniel Martin and an editorial comment. Maya Forstater was interviewed by Martin Daubney on GB News on the story, and said that responses to the question should be downgraded from a national statistic with advice to use with caution.

Sex Matters chair Naomi Cunningham appeared on LBC at the weekend with presenter Clare Foges to discuss why the debate on sex and gender is so toxic. Naomi commented on how trans-rights campaigners decided they could lay down the law with no debate, and talked about why she no longer uses preferred pronouns.

News that ministers plan to limit the circumstances in which social transitioning can take place in schools was welcomed by Sex Matters, but in articles by Martin Beckford in the Daily Mail, Daniel Martin and Louisa Clarence-Smith in The Telegraph and James Beal, Steven Swinford and Nicola Woolcock in The Times, Maya warned that the idea of a presumption against social transitioning passes the buck back to schools and puts them at risk of legal challenge.

Finally, there was widespread coverage of the news that Victims Minister Laura Farris will meet MP Joanna Cherry to discuss a rapid review into the impact of extreme transactivism and the violence and intimidation faced by women’s rights campaigners, and her reference to Sex Matters’ letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, which was signed by nearly 15,000 people. David Lynch’s report for the Press Association was covered by The Evening Standard, The Independent, Irish News, Forres Gazette, Inverness Courier and The Times, in an article co-written by Tom Boothman. There was further coverage by Lucy Garcia in The National and Tom Gordon in The Herald. Writing for The Telegraph, Daniel Martin cited examples of the violence and intimidation faced by Maya and Helen Joyce, and quoted Helen’s call for the inadequate policing of women’s rallies to be examined as part of the review.

17th November

The news that trans-identified man Steph Richards has been appointed CEO of the charity Endometriosis South Coast dominated the headlines this week, beginning with an article by Hayley Dixon in The Telegraph which talked about Richards’ involvement in the FiLiA protests in Portsmouth in 2021. The article quoted Helen Joyce as saying that the appointment of a trans-identified male to this position would be outrageous under any circumstances, but is particularly so in the case of an individual who has repeatedly clashed with women’s rights campaigners.

Sam Blanchard’s coverage of the story in The Sun quoted Helen as saying that no matter how small the organisation, appointments like these matter and women with endometriosis deserve better. Her comments were also picked up by George Bunn for GB News and ITV.

Maya Forstater appeared on TalkTV with Kevin O’Sullivan and Alex Phillips to discuss the issue and suggested that the appointment may have been deliberate, to trigger a reaction. Maya expressed concern that as CEO of a women’s health charity, Richards will now have a voice at women’s health forums.

Richards appeared on BBC Woman’s Hour with the charity’s founder Jodie Hughes, who said during the interview that endometriosis is “not a gynaecological condition”. In an article by Catherine Lough for The Telegraph, Helen explained why it is in fact a women’s reproductive issue and suggested that Hughes’ remarks were offensive. 

Writing for the Daily Mail, Dan Sales and Oliver Price quoted Maya as saying that presenter Emma Barnett did a good job of pushing back, but a lack of fawning in the interview does not mean it was ‘normal’ journalism, citing a thread by Helen on X. 

In other news, Oliver Brown for The Telegraph quoted Maya’s case in an article on British Cycling allowing biological males to participate in its female-only Breeze community rides. The group removed a woman from a Facebook group for using the term “male” to describe the riders, on the grounds that this constitutes discriminatory language.

10th November

Coverage this week began with Helen Joyce’s book Trans being mentioned in an article by Martin Robinson for the Daily Mail on Kellie-Jay Keen’s experience of being accused of “standing with Nazis” by a Waterstones employee. Customers have previously accused Waterstones of “censorship” after reporting difficulty in finding books by gender critical authors such as Helen at the bookshop.

Maya Forstater was mentioned in an article by Brendan Carlin for the Daily Mail on how parents could be charged with domestic abuse for not using their child’s preferred pronoun under controversial new guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service. The paper quoted Maya’s assertion earlier this year that the service is “ideologically captured”.

Daniel Martin for The Telegraph and Greg Heffer for the Daily Mail reported Sex Matters’ letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, which was signed by 30 groups and called for a change to the law following the Scottish Court of Session’s ruling that the definition of woman is “not limited to birth sex”.

Finally, Martin Beckford quoted Maya in his article for the Daily Mail on how the Office for National Statistics has dealt with the latest blunder relating to the gender question in the 2021 Census. Maya said that the ONS’s suggestion that high rates of trans-identified people among people whose English is poor can be explained by some kind of influx of trans migrants is both “laughable” and “desperate”. 

3rd November

Maya Forstater’s case was mentioned in Craig Simpson’s Telegraph article on author Stephen King’s praise of JK Rowling’s latest novel, after he called her gender-critical beliefs “wrong” in 2021. The case was also referred to in an article by The Christian Institute on the Green Party’s LGBT activist group branding party members who affirm the reality of biological sex as “transphobic” and by Evgeny Lebedev in the Evening Standard on Elon Musk and freedom of speech.

Helen Joyce had three powerful articles published in the media this week, starting with an essay for The Times on how she and her fellow Maddox Prize finalists have come under siege in the pursuit of their work. She also wrote for The Critic on how playing nice about being cancelled hasn’t encouraged censors to invite her back, and for the Evening Standard on why she speaks up on gender-identity ideology.

There was further coverage this week on Calderdale Council library service’s censorship of gender-critical books, including Helen’s Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality, with Craig Simpson at The Telegraph revealing that such books have been given the same treatment as Mein Kampf. The story was also covered by Jack Walters at GB News.

Ewan Somerville at The Telegraph and James Tozer at the Daily Mail reported on Free Speech Union’s investigation of 49 local authority library services, which found that two-thirds offer more trans than gender-critical books, such as Helen’s, despite the latter proving twice as popular in loans.

Finally, Maya was quoted in coverage of For Women Scotland’s loss at the Court of Session in Scotland. Andrew Learmouth for The Herald and Stewart Carr for the Daily Mail reported Maya’s statement that the judgment left many issues unresolved and her call for the UK government to use secondary legislation to clarify the meaning of sex in the Equality Act.

27th October

This week’s media coverage began with the news that Helen Joyce’s book Trans, alongside others by gender-critical authors, would be reinstated in Labour-run Calderdale council libraries, after librarians removed them from display earlier this year. Craig Simpson in The Telegraph and Melina Spanoudi in The Bookseller covered the news. 

Writing on re-emerged talks of a ban on conversion therapy for The Times, Janice Turner referenced Sex Matters’ finding that Stonewall had barely mentioned conversion therapy in its annual reports and strategic documents between 2015 and 2020.

Julie Bindel’s article in The Sun about the Metropolitan Police’s failure to intervene when mobs shouted “Kill the Jews!” at a recent demonstration in central London mentioned Maya Forstater’s tribunal case in the context of police being selective on the basis of ideology.

Sex Matters’ launch of new guidance for the collection of data on sex and gender was covered by Daniel Martin in The Telegraph. The piece articulated Sex Matters’ concern that if schools, universities and other public-sector organisations continued to mix up sex and gender, it would affect the reliability of statistics and could be harmful for women’s rights. 

Writing for the US publication National Review on whether the penalisation of Hamas sympathisers should be considered “cancel culture” in two successive articles, Madeleine Kearns said that the Grainger test that was applied to Maya’s tribunal case is a useful framework to determine which viewpoints should be tolerated by employers and donors.

Finally, Daniel Martin at The Telegraph covered the launch of Sex Matters’ new campaign to ban modern conversion therapy, and our view that telling children they can change sex is conversion therapy. The campaign sits in the context of ongoing calls to introduce new laws to ban historical forms of conversion therapy, and both Maya and Helen were quoted as saying that any new legislation must focus on current harmful practices targeted at same-sex attracted and vulnerable young people.

20th October

This week, Maya Forstater was quoted on Attitude magazine’s decision to award its inaugural Woman of the Year prize to trans-identifying male Dylan Mulvaney, which was covered by Danya Bazaraa at the Daily Mail. Maya said that the magazine’s decision was misogynistic to suggest that no woman has achieved anything more significant this year through their work than a man putting on a dress and having cosmetic surgery.

Maya also commented on JK Rowling’s surprise appearance last weekend at FiLiA, Europe’s largest feminist conference, which was held in Glasgow this year. It is believed to be the author’s first public appearance speaking on women’s rights since she posted in support of Maya in 2019. Maya told Lucy Bannerman and Jeremy Watson at The Times that JK Rowling left women in the audience feeling energised and inspired.

13th October

Responding to the news that a women’s shelter in London has a policy of accommodating men who identify as women, Helen Joyce told Alex Barton and Patrick Sawer in The Telegraph that the single-sex status of women’s shelters is critical for safety and wellbeing, and that Glassdoor, which runs the shelter, must reassess why it set the shelter up in the first place. The story was also covered by Iwan Stone for the Daily Mail.

Maya Forstater’s comments on the provision of “toilets for everybody” that had been set up at the Labour conference in Liverpool – including urinals behind a curtain – were covered by James Tapsfield and Shaun Wooller at the Daily Mail. Maya also appeared on GB News with Mark Nolan to discuss the issue.

Writing in The Telegraph, Steven Edginton reported that Border Force staff are permitted to wear LGBT Pride rainbow epaulettes. Helen was quoted as saying that some people use the rainbow flag as a symbol of extreme transactivism, and that public servants should be visibly fair and impartial.

Helen appeared on Jeremy Kyle’s show on Talk TV to discuss UCL and the University of Kent’s decision to provide student grants for “gender-affirming” products and medical procedures. Helen spoke of the physical risk of chest-binders, which are included in the schemes, while Kyle’s co-host Nicola Thorp compared the products to padded bras worn by “cis” women.

Finally, Maya’s tribunal was mentioned by Cath Walton in The Critic in an article on why denying sex change is not a crime, and by Danya Bazaraa in the Daily Mail in an article about JK Rowling’s criticism of Labour MP Lisa Nandy for hypocrisy regarding women’s rights.

6th October

Sex Matters welcomed the news that the UK government is launching a review on the importance of biological sex being recognised in data. Maya Forstater was quoted by Ben Riley-Smith in The Telegraph as saying that sorting out data on sex is at the heart of solving how society protects everyone’s rights when it comes to biological sex and gender self-expression.

Also welcoming the announcement that the UK government will tackle gender ideology within the NHS – from banning trans-identified males from female wards to the return of sex-based language on the NHS website – Maya was quoted by Laura Donnelly, Daniel Martin and Dominic Penna in two articles in The Telegraph, as well as Ryan Prosser in the Daily Mail, the BBC News website, Martyn Brown in the Express, Alyssa Guzman in the New York Post and Homera Hassan in the International Business Times. Helen Joyce was interviewed on the topic by Julia Hartley-Brewer on Talk TV. 

The hostile reaction to Gonville and Caius College’s invitation to Helen Joyce to speak at Cambridge University last year was mentioned in an article by Fiona Parker in The Telegraph. The new Cambridge vice-chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice, was interviewed and said that disagreeing well is as important as agreeing.

Scottish Legal News covered Sex Matters’ intervention in the gender-recognition certificate case brought by For Women Scotland against the Scottish Government that was heard in the Inner House of the Court of Session this week, with Maya highlighting that the importance of the impact of the definition of sex on human rights should be considered by the court.

News that East Midlands NHS Trust plans to give staff a year off for ‘male menopause’ was covered by Kate Pickles for the Daily Mail, with Helen saying the policies were part of an overall trend in HR to ignore, even deny, biological reality.

Maya’s case was cited by writer Jean Hatchet during an interview with Kay Burley on Sky News on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s statement that “a man is a man and a woman is a woman”.

Finally, Helen contributed to this month’s The Critic, writing on the diversity trap and how Stonewall’s diktats have created a workplace culture that scares and silences sensible people.

29th September

This week’s news coverage began with updated technical guidance for schools from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which was reported on by Daniel Martin at The Telegraph and Claire Ellicott at the Daily Mail. Helen Joyce was quoted as saying that while the updated guidance still isn’t perfect, the removal of faulty advice will make it easier for the government to produce strong schools guidance.

Writing in the Daily Express, Katie Harris covered the news that the Liberal Democrats passed a motion at the party conference which said that periods are “not just a women’s issue”. Helen remarked that it was a bleak moment for the party and that the Liberal Democrats have demonstrated how out of touch they are with voters.

Reporting in The Telegraph, Daniel Martin produced the first coverage of Sex Matters’ campaign to tackle the escalating violence faced by gender-critical women. Martin focused the article on our letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, which has been signed by more than 12,000 people. 

In the Mail on Sunday, Chris Pollard covered the story of Colonel Dr Kelvin Wright, a war-hero doctor who was forced out of the army for quoting a sentence written by Helen, and was cleared of wrongdoing by an official inquiry. The story was also covered by Piers Morgan on Talk TV and for Sky News Australia. 

Helen appeared on Talk TV with Julia Hartley-Brewer to discuss The Telegraph’s exposure of transactivism within the civil service.

Finally, Helen commented on news that a Harry Potter panel has been axed from London’s Comic Con on the same day that JK Rowling’s opening line from the book was voted among the best of all time. Quoted by Ewan Somerville and Patrick Sawer in The Telegraph, and Georgina Cutler for GB News, Helen remarked that no matter how hard extreme transactivists try to ruin JK Rowling’s life and career, they fail.

22nd September

It was another bumper week of media coverage, beginning with Edward Malnick reporting in The Sunday Telegraph that the Equality and Human Rights Commission had written to Sex Matters to advise that it recognises that its technical guidance for schools was wrong and will be revised.

Helen Joyce commented on the news that the General Medical Council had removed references to “mother” in its maternity document in Alex Barton’s front-page article in The Sunday Telegraph, which was also covered by Kat Lay at The Times. 

In an article by Sanchez Manning for the Daily Mail, Helen commented on the news that sanitary-pad manufacturer Always had ordered the censorship of words such as “women”, “girls” and “females” in a recent article on helping daughters with their first periods.

Meanwhile, in articles by Alex Barton for The Telegraph, Iwan Stone for the Daily Mail, Leif Le Mahieu for the Daily Wire and Melissa Koenig for the New York Post, Maya Forstater warned that by featuring a model with double-mastectomy surgical scars in promotional photographs for a trimmer, Braun may be in breach of advertising standards guidance to not glamourise or trivialise cosmetic surgery. 

Helen said that news that Police Scotland is setting up a new unit to tackle “hate crime” such as misgendering sends a sinister message to those who advocate for women’s and children’s rights in articles by Mary Wright for The Times and the Scottish Daily Express.

There was further coverage of the University of Leicester’s guidebook on trans inclusivity this week, with Joanna Williams of the Spectator Australia flagging the intimidating protests faced by the Sex Matters team in Manchester recently as problematic for the guidance.

Writing for The Scotsman, Susan Dalgety quoted Helen on the delay of the conversion-therapy bill in Scotland in an article on how First Minister Humza Yousaf appears to be taking a different approach to social-justice issues from that of his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon.
Finally, Sex Matters’ Lexi Ellingsworth was one of six women featured in an article by Jill Foster for the Daily Mail about the cancellation of women who aren’t in the public spotlight.

15th September

This week, the abusive protest faced by the Sex Matters team in Manchester on Sunday following the event at the People’s History Museum made news in the UK and abroad, with coverage by Mary Stone for Arts Professional, Madeleine Kearns in the National Review and Sarah Weaver in the Daily Caller.

The incident in Manchester was also flagged in news that academics at the University of Leicester have produced a new 44-page guidebook for museums on trans inclusivity, which was covered by Jo Bartosch for Spiked. In articles on the new guidance by Craig Simpson for The Telegraph and Alyssa Guzman for the New York Post, Helen Joyce highlighted that in an attempt to be “inclusive”, the guidance actually excludes views of people who don’t conform to gender ideology, while Sex Matters advisory group member Joan Smith said that it creates problems where they don’t exist.

Coverage of the need for quality guidance for schools on sex and gender continued this week, with Miriam Cates citing Sex Matters’ newly launched legal review in an article for The Critic and a Telegraph op-ed which argues that we can only win from a showdown with Stonewall.

Helen was also quoted in an article by Daniel Martin in The Telegraph on the SNP delay on a ban on conversion therapy, where she welcomed the delay and said that public consultation will give proponents of evidence-based gender care a welcome chance to make their case.

8th September

In the Sunday Telegraph, Edward Malnick reported on Maya and Helen’s recent letter to Minister for Women and Equalities Kemi Badenoch, which warned that faulty EHRC guidance is surely influencing the development of Department for Education’s new guidance for schools on sex and gender.

The launch of Sex Matters’ analysis of more than 20 laws and regulations on sex and gender in schools was covered by Jonathan Ames in The Times, Vanessa Allen in the Daily Mail, Gabriella Swerling in The Telegraph, and Jessica North in the Scottish Daily Express, with Maya warning that many schools may currently be in breach of the legal framework. Maya also discussed the review on GB News with Patrick Christys, and contributed an article on schools guidance to the Daily Express.

Helen also responded to the news that tampons are being provided in male toilets at the General Medical Council in a Telegraph article by Alex Barton. 

1st September

Maya Forstater appeared on Andrew Doyle’s Free Speech Nation on GB News, where she discussed the Institute of Economic Affairs’ report on gender-critical views and Labour. She also spoke about the need for clarity in schools that children are boys and girls and cannot change, and that schools are there to keep them safe.

Helen Joyce was interviewed by Julia Hartley-Brewer on Talk TV in response to the news that 77 NHS trusts have signed up to a “Rainbow Badge Scheme” which marks down hospitals for using gendered words such as “mother” and “woman”. Helen highlighted that the push for the scheme is coming from the LGBT lobby group within the NHS, and said that the NHS is “acting like a bunch of incels”.

25th August

Commenting on the Liberal Democrats’ plan to vote on whether menstruation is just a women’s issue, Maya Forstater appeared on GB News with Patrick Christys and Helen Joyce was interviewed by Julia Hartley-Brewer on Talk TV, with Maya’s comments also picked up by a David Wilcock article in the Daily Mail.

Maya appeared on Julia Hartley-Brewer’s show on Talk TV to speak about the Institute of Economic Affairs report on Labour’s proposal for tougher hate-crime laws, and her comments were also covered by James Beal in The Times.

Internationally, an article on MSN covered Richard Dawkins’ recent interview with Helen, and Feminist Current published Meghan Murphy’s interview with Helen on her podcast.

Until this date, we used a different format: Press cuttings up to 17th August 2023