Source: Women are Human
UK — London, England. Various individuals and organizations have publicly condemned Maya Forstater, an internationally renowned researcher on tax avoidance, for stating that there are two sexes, that human beings cannot change sex, and that sex is important. Various individuals have also made false claims about Forstater, such as claiming she misgendered a colleague, was fired for having a bitter dispute with a trans colleague and has been campaigning against trans people having protection from sexual violence.
It doesn’t matter how many days you spent on it. You made false claims that I:
1) misgendered a colleague
2) lost my job after a bitter dispute w a trans person
3) have been campaigning against trans people having protection from sexual violence.None of this is true
— Maya Forstater (@MForstater) August 28, 2020
Those who accuse Forstater of ‘misgendering’ tend to feel it is imperative that she be sanctioned for this alleged behaviour, despite participating in this same conduct themselves.
Background
Forstater took her former employer, the Centre for Global Development (CGD), to Employment Tribunal for discriminating against her for her beliefs. In December 2019, employment judge James Tayler ruled that Ms Forstater’s statements that individuals cannot change sex “is not a philosophical belief protected by the Equality Act 2019” , and that her “belief is not worthy of respect in a democratic society”.
Forstater’s legal team filed a Notice of Appeal, which took place on 27-28 April, 2021. According to Forstater’s crowdjustice fundraiser, “the case could go onto the Court of Appeal, or back to the Employment Tribunal (to hear the rest of the case).”
Examples of Hypocrisy
Vic Parsons
Vic Parsons, a writer of trans activist magazine Pink News, claimed that Forstater had made “negative comments about the physical appearance of trans women in workplace Slack messages”. Parsons was referring to Philip/Pips Bunce, a male ‘gender fluid’ banker who sometimes wears wigs and dresses to work.
People keep doing the awful, terrible thing of which I am accused….most recently Vic Parsons of Pink News misgendering Philip/Pips Bunce pic.twitter.com/iw9pqU77Du
— Maya Forstater (@MForstater) April 30, 2021
Pink News subsequently updated their article to refer to Bunce as gender-fluid (i.e. not a ‘trans woman’). The magazine has not, however, corrected its claim that Forstater commented negatively on Bunce’s physical appearance.
As reported in the original judgment here are the things I said about Bunce, during a twitter discussion.
Nothing negative about Bunce’s appearance at all pic.twitter.com/zAmwrDt6DB
— Maya Forstater (@MForstater) April 30, 2021
Guy Lambert
A trans activist claimed that when Forstater referred to councillor Gregor Murray as “he”, it was not accidental, and it could not be true she had forgotten Murray identifies as non-binary, since “Maya already knew of his (my italics) pronoun preferences”.
Just in case the bloke deletes it now he has realised, this guy claims he doesn’t believe that @MForstater could referring to Gregor Murray as he/him accidentally. Note the use of “his”. pic.twitter.com/U6aH5RFeqh
— Token Bird (@TokenBird) April 28, 2021
Gregor Murray is a councillor who was suspended in 2019 for abusing women online. Murray identifies as ‘non-binary’ and prefers to be referred to as ‘they’.
Lambert subsequently deleted the tweet, stating “I did (misgender) accidentally (my italics)”.
U.K. Scouts
In June 2019, during a discussion on Twitter with Gregor Murray, Forstater forgot to refer to Murray as ‘they’. Murray complained about this to the Scout Association, where both Murray and Forstater are leaders. When the association wrote to tell Forstater about Murray’s complaint, they referred to Murray as “he”. Nonetheless, the association spent 18 months investigating Forstater for doing the same thing.
When @UKScouting wrote to me to tell me that Murray had complained about me they also forgot and used the pronoun “he”
Then they investigated me for 18 months for doing the same thing
Organisations need to develop some mechanism to deflect these vexatious complaints https://t.co/EHJ1MSD11C
— Maya Forstater (@MForstater) April 29, 2021
