Anybody whose eyes have been opened by the abuse levelled at #JKRowling and is wondering about the "terrible transphobe" she defended
Here are the things I tweeted back in 2018 which led to me losing my job.
First there was this on the GRA consultation
Here are the things I tweeted back in 2018 which led to me losing my job.
First there was this on the GRA consultation
Then there was this
Which led to a whole series of branching conversations with fellow development researchers on the nature of sex & gender
Which led to a whole series of branching conversations with fellow development researchers on the nature of sex & gender
In which I expressed such opinions as male people are not women
And responded to someone else making a comparison with Rachel Dolzeal and whether you could judge her feeling of identifying as being black as different from someone's feeling of identifying as the opposite sex
And I started drafting this article which i shared with some colleagues at the think tank where i worked medium.com/@MForstater/in…
That was it.
There was no mythical abuse or harassment of a trans colleague
There was no mythical abuse or harassment of a trans colleague
I wrote the whole story up here medium.com/@MForstater/i-…
And you can read my witness statement, live tweets from the hearing, and the judgment here hiyamaya.net/sex-and-gender/
(because: #openjustice )
And you can read my witness statement, live tweets from the hearing, and the judgment here hiyamaya.net/sex-and-gender/
(because: #openjustice )
And yes I lost in the first level tribunal and the judge said that in his interpretation my beliefs are "not worthy of respect in a democratic country"
cgdev.org/article/uk-emp…
cgdev.org/article/uk-emp…
Anyone who feels comfortable about that, I think, is giving away far too much of what is critical to the health of a democratic country:
The ability to talk about things we disagree on, and about evidence.
The ability to talk about things we disagree on, and about evidence.
So yes I understand why people are scared of speaking up.
Because if you do there is a good chance that people will gang up to call you names, send you threats, try to get you fired, lose you work, destroy your good name or your business (especially if you are a woman)
Because if you do there is a good chance that people will gang up to call you names, send you threats, try to get you fired, lose you work, destroy your good name or your business (especially if you are a woman)
And the chances are your colleagues and your institution may not stand up for you.
Not because they really think you are a bigot for saying that sex is real and sex matters, but because they are scared too.
Not because they really think you are a bigot for saying that sex is real and sex matters, but because they are scared too.
I am appealing the judgment - hopefully some news about that soon (but things are slow at the Employment Appeal Tribunal because of the lockdown - so we just have to be patient).
And in the meantime sunlight is getting in, there is progress towards having a normal discussion about how to protect everyone's rights.
I hope more people will take the time to understand the issues.
This by @HJoyceGender is a good starting point quillette.com/2018/12/04/the…
I hope more people will take the time to understand the issues.
This by @HJoyceGender is a good starting point quillette.com/2018/12/04/the…
