A VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH AND WOMEN

Barrister’s historic win after being victimised for standing up to ‘trans extremist’ group trying to erase biological sex

A BARRISTER yesterday won a landmark free-speech battle over her right to stand up to ‘trans extremists’ accused of trying to wipe out women’s rights.

An employment tribunal ruled that Allison Bailey’s chambers victimised and discriminated against her over her stand against lobby group Stonewall.

Miss Bailey hailed the judgment as a victory for those who ‘object to the erasure of biological sex’ – and her friend and fellow campaigner JK Rowling called her a ‘heroine’.

The barrister claimed that Stonewall persuaded her chambers, Garden Court, to investigate her after she supported the so-called ‘gendercritical’ belief that biological sex cannot be changed.

The panel found the chambers discriminated against her by publishing a tweet saying it was investigating her and by upholding a claim by Stonewall that two of her tweets were ‘likely’ to breach the ‘core duties’ set by the barristers’ regulator. Campaigners said the ruling by the Central London Employment Tribunal was a warning for employers to protect free speech.

Author Miss Rowling said: ‘Allison Bailey is a heroine to me and innumerable other feminists for refusing to abandon her beliefs and principles in the face of intimidation and discrimination.’

Miss Bailey, 52, has been one of Stonewall’s staunchest critics. Her public stand and involvement with the LGB Alliance, which has clashed with Stonewall, prompted online death threats.

In December 2018, a barrister at Garden Court said the chambers was joining Stonewall’s controversial Diversity Champion scheme. Miss Bailey responded in an email: ‘There are many of us within the LGBT community who fully support trans rights but who do not support the trans extremism which is currently being advocated by Stonewall and others. I emphatically object to any formal association with Stonewall.’

Kirrin Medcalf, Stonewall’s head of trans inclusion, complained to Garden Court in 2019 about supposedly transphobic tweets by Miss Bailey. The judgment found Miss Bailey’s colleagues in question ‘were unsympathetic at the time, suggesting the claimant brought matters on her own head’.

Miss Bailey was not successful on all counts in the case, and a separate claim brought against Stonewall itself was not successful.

Miss Bailey’s victory means an active opposition to ‘proselytising’ campaign groups such as Stonewall can also be considered a ‘protected belief ’.

The barrister, who is herself a lesbian, said: ‘This is a vindication for all those who, like me, object to the erasure of biological sex, of women, and of same-sex attraction as material realities.

‘Women in particular have been slandered as bigoted, harassed and defamed as transphobic and worse, simply for asserting our lawful rights and advocating for proper safeguarding. We are none of the things Stonewall and others have called us.

‘We are in the vanguard of a powerful and necessary movement that is turning the tide on gender-identity ideology.’

Granting ‘protected’ status to Miss Bailey’s views, the tribunal panel said: ‘The claimant’s beliefs, taken as a whole... pass the test of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance. It should be emphasised that this is not to say that the claimant is right.’

Stonewall has been accused of promoting an extremist trans agenda, often via its Diversity Champion scheme for employers.

Although the tribunal accepted Miss Bailey’s belief that Stonewall’s gender theory is ‘severely detrimental to women for numerous reasons’, it did not find that Stonewall had caused the discrimination Miss Bailey suffered.

Stonewall said: ‘We are pleased that the employment tribunal has ruled... that Stonewall has not been found to have instructed, caused or induced Garden Court Chambers to discriminate against Allison Bailey.’

Garden Court Chambers, which was ordered to pay Miss Bailey £22,000 compensation, said: ‘We are reviewing the judgment carefully... with a view to appeal.

‘The tribunal found that it “could not conclude that Garden Court Chambers as a whole had a practice of treating gender critical beliefs as bigoted”. This confirms our stance.’

‘A heroine to me and others’

In any sane world, the disturbing case of Allison Bailey should never have needed to go to court.

As it was, Miss Bailey was forced to take her Chambers at Garden Court to a tribunal after it discriminated against her when she rejected the idea that someone’s biological sex can change.

Time and again trans activists such as Stonewall employ aggressive tactics with people who hold differing views to their own. And far too many large firms are too afraid – or too weak – to face them down.

The decision yesterday to award Miss Bailey compensation is therefore a hugely welcome victory for freedom of expression. We salute her resilience. And her courage.