Thread by @JoHayes_Icenian

As a conscientious member of the @LibDems Federal Board until I was so rudely expelled from the party at the instigation of @markpack I want members & ex-members to know the story behind the transphobia definition & the Opinion of Karon Monaghan KC which is currently being shared

& discussed on Twitter. The shadowy Disciplinary Sub-Group (DSG) was an ad hoc working group of the Federal Board set up to devise the new so-called "independent" complaints procedures. After becoming President in 2020 Dr Pack also procured the creation of the Steering Group

under Federal Board standing orders to make decisions on the Board's behalf. At some point Dr Pack asked the DSG to draft a definition of transphobia. This they did & the Steering Group "noted" it. Neither the Steering Group nor the Federal Board voted on it. All this was under

delegated powers. On 19th September 2020 during the virtual Federal Conference, 3 authors of the transphobia definition announced on Lib Dem Voice that the party had adopted the definition. In Nov 2020 I sent a paper to the Federal Board, revised in Feb 2021, which argued that

the Board had no power to change the grounds for revoking membership: only the Federal Conference voting by 2/3 majority on a constitutional amendment, could do that. My paper was rejected. In June 2021 the Employment Appeal Tribunal gave judgment in the case of Forstater v CGD

Europe involving valuable guidance on protected philosophical beliefs under the Equality Act 2010, section 10: beliefs that sex is immutable and not to be conflated with gender were as protected as religious faith. In August 2021 a Senior Adjudicator under the party's new

complaints system offered her opinion on the implications of Forstater & was relieved of her duties. In October 2021 the Federal Board learned of this & commissioned an investigation into the events. In April 2022 the Federal Board received the report & commissioned legal advice

on the implications of the Forstater case. As at the time when I was expelled (early Sept), a decision I'm challenging in court, @markpack still hadn't shared the advice with the Board. Lord Strasburger is to be thanked for obtaining the Opinion of Karon Monaghan KC. Members of

the party might well ask Dr Pack, who is now seeking election for a 2nd presidential term, why the Board had not been shown the legal advice, what the advice said & who was making the decisions how to respond to allegations of unlawful discrimination & harassment because of

protected beliefs. Here's what I guess it says. The belief that sex is immutable & not to be conflated with gender isn't a value, it's a belief, maybe mistaken, maybe not, about how the world is. It's like the belief that God exists or that humans have immortal souls. All these

beliefs are widely held. They're protected characteristics under section 10 of the Equality Act 2010. The Lib Dems can define words how they like but it won't make any difference in court: if they penalise someone for a protected characteristic they risk getting sued. That'll be

expensive & destroy the party's claims to belong to the international liberal family. To penalise or expel members for protected beliefs not only risks contravening the statute but also clashes with the key liberal value of free thought & expression. Whatever became of the great

liberal tract Areopagitica which was once celebrated by Liberal thinkers & politicians? Why are those at the top of today's Lib Dems taking it on an illiberal path? How will doing so further its aims of winning power via elections? The party's poll rating now stands at about 8%

with membership falling. Members are entitled to answers to these questions. Exclude everyone you disagree with & you destroy the Lib Dems. What's left will be an illiberal, insignificant rump. @joannaccherry @LibVoice4Women @SarahLudford