Barristers’ regulator clarifies ‘misgendering’ guidance

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has rewritten advice against ‘misgendering’ those who claim to be the opposite sex, after lawyers challenged it for promoting transgender ideology.

During a review of its social media and non-professional conduct guidance, the regulator for barristers in England and Wales said it received “a lot of criticism and feedback” over a case study in which a gender-confused Twitter user challenges a barrister for upholding the reality of biological sex.

In the example, which has now been dropped, the BSB claimed, “the barrister’s conduct in specifically targeting the transgender woman, threatening, and intentionally misgendering them are likely to be considered seriously offensive and discriminatory”.

‘Impartial’

BSB’s revised guidance clarifies that the BSB would be more interested in how a barrister expressed such views on social media, rather than the basis of their opinions, “however unpopular they may be”.

Its draft paper explained that whether the barrister in the example violated the BSB Handbook would “depend on an intricate analysis of the facts of the case which, we now recognise, does not lend itself well to a case study that is designed to provide guidance based on generalities”.

Out of the 26 responses the BSB received during its review, five responses argued that the case study “showed that the BSB itself was promoting a ‘gender ideology’ which they either saw as false or something the BSB should avoid taking a stance on”.

It has not yet been confirmed when the new guidance will come into force.

CPS

Earlier this month, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) came under fire for claiming that refusing to fund a family member’s ‘sex-swap’ surgery may be considered domestic abuse.

The guidance, which was updated in December, only recently came to light. In it, the CPS gave prosecutors examples of how “trans and non-binary people can be subjected to unique forms of domestic abuse”.

The list included withholding “money for transitioning”, “sharing pre-transition images” of a family member, refusing to use their “preferred name or pronoun” and destroying “medication or clothes”.

Speaking to the MailOnline, women’s rights campaigner Maya Forstater commented: “The CPS is so confused by gender ideology it is liable to mistake the victim for the perpetrator.”