Civil servants dragged to court over gender-critical beliefs

Two civil servants are being sued by their colleague for defending the reality of biological sex.

Andreas Mueller and Elspeth Duemmer Wrigley are co-chairs of the Sex Equality and Equity Network (SEEN), a cross-government network for public sector staff. They believe “biological sex is binary and immutable” and that it “matters for both women and men in our everyday lives”.

An anonymous colleague is seeking to shut the network down, in addition to taking Mueller and Duemmer Wrigley to court for saying that “only women menstruate” and sex is binary.

‘Bullying’

Mueller stated: “This will potentially determine whether we have an objective, evidence-based Civil Service where freedom of speech and diversity of thought is encouraged. That’s what we are defending here.”

He emphasised: “Public servants cannot be allowed to use the courts to bully gender critical colleagues who express lawful views they disagree with. And yet this is exactly what they are doing.

“Gender critical colleagues and friends are terrified that they will be targeted next. They fear that they will not be supported by their employers, like me and Elspeth, and left to fight alone.”

Victory

Earlier this month, a woman was awarded £35,000 in compensation after she resigned from Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre following a “heresy hunt” over her gender-critical beliefs.

Support worker Roz Adams was subjected to a misconduct investigation, after asking if a ‘non-binary’ staff member was a “man or a woman” on behalf of a domestic abuse victim who felt “uncomfortable talking to a man”.

Employment Judge Ian McFatridge found that the centre’s senior management used the disciplinary process to “make an example” of Adams. The compensation was awarded in recognition of the “gravity of harassment” she faced.