Allison Bailey, founder of the gender critique group LGB Alliance, sued Garden Court Chambers (GCC) and Stonewall, alleging that the latter had instructed or induced discrimination by its chambers. A judge-led panel agreed with Bailey that she was directly discriminated against by the GCC on the basis of her gender-critical views, which had previously been found to be a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act in the Maya Forstater case. The commission, led by employment judge Sarah Goodman, said the GCC was wrong to release a statement saying Bailey was being investigated in relation to her tweets after complaints, including from Stonewall, that they were transphobic and then concluded concluded that two of the tweets were likely to have breached a lawyer’s basic duties. However, she dropped her claim against Stonewall. The GCC, which was part of the charity’s Diversity Champions programme, argued that Bailey’s tweets went beyond expressing her sexist views and abuse. But the commission, in its ruling issued on Thursday, said: “We concluded that her beliefs, not only about gender identity, but about the destructive effect of Stonewall’s campaign to promote gender identity, were genuine . We also found that these amounted to beliefs, not just opinions that could be changed by further evidence.” The panel rejected Bailey’s claim that GCC staff excluded her from employment because of the discrimination, but awarded her £22,000 in damages for injury to feelings. Following the GCC investigation, Bailey was asked to delete two tweets but refused to do so. In one, he tweeted thanking the Times for “fair and accurate reporting on the appalling levels of intimidation, fear and coercion driving the @stonewalluk trans self-id agenda.” In the other she said the charity had employed “a male body person who ran workshops with the sole aim of coaching lesbian-identifying heterosexual men on how to coerce young lesbians into having sex with them”. Responding to the ruling, Bailey, who funded more than £500,000 in legal fees, said she had taken on the case to bring Stonewall’s methods “to the public”. He said: “This is a vindication for all those who, like me, oppose the erasure of biological sex, women and same-sex attraction as material realities. It represents the judicial recognition of the abuse committed against us.” Bailey had also alleged indirect discrimination, arguing that the gender critique movement was “predominantly female and disproportionately lesbian” and so these groups were more likely to be disadvantaged by the chambers’ policies. But the commission rejected that claim. He said he “could not conclude that Garden Court Chambers as a whole had a practice of treating gender-critical beliefs as bigoted”. He also said that even if such a practice existed, there was insufficient evidence to show that women or lesbians were disproportionately affected. The GCC said it is considering appealing the decision. A spokesman said: “We have argued throughout that our members rightly have different views in the complex debate around trans and sex-based rights. Our primary goal has always been to uphold our values and maintain a workplace that is inclusive and welcoming for all.” A spokesman for Stonewall said it was pleased the allegation against her had been dismissed. “The case heard by the employment tribunal does not accurately reflect our intentions and our influence in the organisations,” they said. “Leaders within organizations are responsible for organizational culture and the behavior of their workers and employees. Stonewall’s resources, support and guidance are just one set of inputs they use to help them as they consider how best to meet their own organization’s needs.”
