On 18 December 2019 the Employment Tribunal delivered its judgment in Forstater v CGD, concluding that the claimant’s views, as expressed on social media, including her refusal to accept that transwomen are women, were not protected under the 2010 Equality Act. Employment Judge Tayler found that the claimant’s views, in their absolutist nature, were incompatible with human dignity and the fundamental rights of others. It was a core component of her belief that she would refer to a person by the sex she considered appropriate even if it violated their dignity and / or created a hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. That approach, said the Judge, was not worthy of respect in a democratic society.
Jane Russell successfully represented CGD, instructed by Louise Rea at Bates Wells and Brathwaite.
