Is it a ‘protected belief’ to argue you can never change your sex?

THE landmark tribunal case which sparked the row centred on whether Maya Forstater’s views on sex and gender are ‘protected beliefs’.

The researcher had lost her job at a think-tank after personal tweets saying she believes a person cannot change their sex.

A protected or philosophical belief under the 2010 Equality Act must satisfy a number of criteria, including attaining ‘a certain level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance’ and being ‘worthy of respect in a democratic society’.

It must also pass the ‘Grainger test’ from a 2010 case where an employee made redundant by landlord firm Grainger successfully argued he had been unfairly targeted over his beliefs on climate change.

Miss Forstater’s barrister Anya Palmer told the employment tribunal it was a matter of urgency to have a legal ruling on whether the views were entitled to protection.

‘People are losing their jobs... up and down the country for expressing these beliefs,’ she added.

But the judge ruled Miss Forstater ‘is absolutist in her view of sex’, adding that ‘the view held by the claimant fails the Grainger criteria’.