Don’t say ‘gender critical’, MoJ staff warned

Prison diversity team’s ‘trans ally’ email is hostile to believers in biological reality, say opponents

MINISTRY of Justice staff have been told not to use the terms “gender critical” and “protecting women and girls” in order to be trans allies, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.

In an email for transgender awareness week sent to thousands of officials and leaked to this newspaper, staff were told it is “vital that we keep scaremongering and misinformation at bay”, at a time when trans hate crimes have risen 56 per cent in a year.

The email, marked “official sensitive” and sent this month through the HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) diversity and inclusion team, included a glossary titled “recognising transphobic coded language”.

It contains 35 everyday phrases it claimed were “turning what would be considered overt discrimination into covert behaviour”.

It includes “gender critical”, used to refer to campaigners who believe biological sex is binary and immutable.

The document claims it is a “selfselected label to denote holding antitrans views, it’s a term used to make anti-trans discrimination sound palatable or a respectable opinion”.

Also listed is “protect women’s spaces/protecting women and girls”, which it says “relies on equating trans women with being predatory men”.

Civil servants are warned: “It is important to recognise these words and phrases, understand their context and educate those you hear using them about the reasons why their use can be deemed offensive or upsetting.

“Whilst passing uses of these phrases might not be considered misconduct, the importance of challenging their use cannot be overstated.”

The glossary was shared from the official justice.gov.uk email address of the “HMPPS pride in prisons and probation LGBTI+ staff support network”.

One MoJ staff member told The Telegraph: “The worst thing was I was unable to raise [the email] safely at work for fear of being labelled a transphobe.

“It came across as very aggressive and antagonistic towards anyone who believes in biological reality. I feel upset and powerless.”

A second MoJ source said: “Nonsense like this undermines decent progress on creating a genuinely fair and respectful environment in prisons.”

The list of words also flags “adult human female”, a phrase which it claims “manipulates people into supporting bigotry while creating hostility towards trans people and their allies”.

It also takes exception to the term “transwoman”, which it claims is an attempt to “other trans people” by removing the space between adjective and noun in the term “trans woman”.

Women’s rights campaigners have spoken out against the guidance.

Maya Forstater, executive director of the sex-based rights group Sex Matters, said: “It is chilling that an official MoJ staff group email is telling civil servants to view ordinary language as transphobic.

“This both creates a hostile environment for staff who don’t buy into gender ideology, and makes it impossible for them to speak clearly and honestly about prisoners, when undertaking risk assessments, and to protect prisoners.”

A Prison Service spokesman said: “This guidebook was published by a staff network. Its content was not approved prior to being communicated.

“HMPPS is reviewing the rules around internal communications to staff from network groups.”

There were 197 prisoners in England and Wales identifying as transgender last year. The vast majority were men identifying as women. This has led to calls for women’s prisons to be open only to those born female, though the MoJ says trans prisoners are managed with a robust risk assessment.