Defending the reality of biological sex is based on “fundamental scientific facts”, a senior lawyer told an Employment Appeal Tribunal this week.
Former tax consultant Maya Forstater lost her job in 2019 because of her views and an Employment Tribunal ruled that her dismissal was not discriminatory, because ‘gender critical’ beliefs are not protected by equality law.
But in her appeal, which concluded yesterday, Ben Cooper QC said that ignoring biological fact “is detrimental to an honest, just and fair society, particularly upholding the rights of women”.
‘Orwellian’
Mr Cooper stated that biological sex is “real, important, immutable, and not to be conflated with gender identity”, and changing one’s appearance “does not change a person’s sex”.
changing one’s appearance “does not change a person’s sex”
He spoke of his concern that children and young people are “being led to believe it is possible to change sex or simply to be a member of the opposite sex”.
Forstater’s legal team called the original tribunal’s approach to her case “Orwellian”, saying it was “reminiscent of the Ministry of Truth’s newspeak: words themselves are to have their ‘undesirable meanings purged out of them’ along with the associated ideas.”
reminiscent of the Ministry of Truth’s newspeak
She hopes the court will recognise her views as a philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010.
Abuse
Last week, Forstater spoke publicly for the first time on the case’s impact on her life and family.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, the wife and mum revealed how tweeting that biology determines whether people are male or female led to the loss of her job, exposed her to abuse, and caused great distress to her husband and two sons.
“To see your mum or your wife be cancelled and to see videos on YouTube which have had millions of hits portraying me as an awful, terrible person because of my views has been really hard on them.”
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