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The ‘pause’ on transfers from my GoFundMe (GFM) fundraiser, which was imposed on 6 January 2025 and remained in force for over two weeks—and amounted to a freeze on my GFM account—was lifted on 30 January 2025, after I’d posted this review on TrustPilot. Despite GFM’s published policy of investigating and (where appropriate) lifting within 24-48 hrs any pauses they impose, I was never advised what (if any) information I needed to submit for the ‘pause’ to be lifted. For more information, and a complete record of my GFM Updates, please open the accordions below.
GoFundMe - Most recent update (31/01/25)
Unscheduled update (for information):
I’m pleased to report that GoFundMe Support has confirmed the pause on transfers from my fundraiser has now been lifted.
Yesterday (30/01/25) I received an email from a Senior Customer Success Manager apologising for the delay in getting back to me regarding my support ticket, and confirming that ‘transfers have resumed sending to your account’, but without clarifying why it took so much longer to resolve than the normal 24hrs-48hrs.
I have also received notification that the outstanding balance is on its way to my bank account.
I’m extremely grateful to everyone for your continuing support—and to the two new people who have donated to the fundraiser in the past 24 hours.
Please continue to share the links to this GoFundMe appeal and my xychromosomeguy.com website.
Jim Orwin
GoFundMe - Description (As amended 15/11/24)
When the Chief Executive of my former employer, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, sent out an email inviting all employees to add pronouns to their email footers, I recognised the invitation as a de facto policy of self-identification, and added: ‘XYchromosomeGuy/AdultHumanMale’ to my email footer. My view was (and remains) that a policy of self-identification, by which anyone can identify however they choose, has the potential to be extremely dangerous. If a man is allowed to self-identify as a woman, I surely have the right, on the basis of biology, to identify as an adult human male with XY chromosomes. The way I self-identified in my email footer referred only to me and did not seek to infringe the rights of others to self-identify in any manner they might choose.
After a disciplinary investigation, I was dismissed for “gross misconduct” for refusing to follow a ‘reasonable’ management instruction to remove my email footer. I took East Riding of Yorkshire Council to an Employment Tribunal on grounds of religion or belief discrimination, without legal representation. Ultimately, the Employment Tribunal found in favour of the Council, which claimed, bizarrely, that my email footer posed ‘a serious risk’ to the transgender community. Subsequently, following a cost application, the Tribunal ordered me to pay ERYC’s legal expenses.
In creating this GoFundMe page, I am standing up for the fundamental principles of equality, freedom of speech, and freedom of expression. I invite those who share the same concerns as me to donate the minimum amount allowed on the GoFundMe platform, £5.00; and then go on to spread the word among family, friends, colleagues, and on social media.
The money raised will go towards covering any costs imposed on me by the Employment Tribunal. At 14 November 2024. the surplus above £13,000 (the initial target) was £2,205. This will be redirected into the Free Speech Union’s Fighting Fund, as promised.
Going forward all funds raised will be utilised for my own campaign against self-identification.
I am sure that I speak for the vast majority of the British public in being concerned about the indoctrination of children in schools; the social transitioning of minors; the misogynistic erosion of sex-based rights and safe spaces for women and girls; the erasure of lesbians; the homophobic attempts to ‘trans away the gay’ in vulnerable gender dysphoric children; the relentless attack on academic freedoms and pedagogy; the workplace victimisation of people who challenge the insidious creep of gender ideology; and the capture of public sector organisations, institutions and authorities that have a duty of political impartiality.
Those who wish to discover more about this case should visit the companion website xychromosomeguy.com, by following this link.
Thank you.
xychromosomeguy
GoFundMe - 1st update (07/11/24)
It’s been a week since the launch of this GFM page, and I’d like to thank everyone who has supported my appeal. I very much appreciate both your generous donations and the sharing of the link with friends and family on social media and elsewhere.
On the same day I launched this appeal and made the companion website ‘live’, I sent out a press-release to a number of media outlets that first covered the original judgment on my case back in July. The MailOnline published a report about my story on 5 November, which was also picked up by GB News. Currently, the number of comments on the MailOnline article is standing as 1.7k and they are overwhelmingly positive. I suspect most supporters donating after that date found out about my case from there. So, again, thank you!
I am extremely grateful to everyone at MailOnline for helping to publicise my case. I must particularly thank Jose Ramos for writing the article, but also the other MailOnline reporters and journalists who have contacted me about my Employment Tribunal case, both in July and more recently.
I expect another more in-depth article to be published in the coming days, but I’ll keep you all updated.
Please keep talking about this to trusted friends and family, wherever it is safe to do so; I wouldn’t want anyone to expose themselves to any kind of sanction or risk by supporting me.
Thank you all,
Jim Orwin
GoFundMe - 2nd update (14/11/24)
To every single supporter of this GFM appeal, thank you. The reaction to my appearance on GB News’s Dewbs and Co was astounding. It felt like an eruption of indignation in response to the compelled silence of self-censorship. And with over 800 separate donations, it also destroyed my basic idea of a simple spreadsheet to keep track of donations!
As someone pointed out in a message to me, the GB News family is amazing. I’m truly grateful to Michelle, her specific team, and everyone involved in keeping GB News on the air for their support.
The debate after my interview was the kind of compelling TV that only GB News can offer these days, so thanks are also due to Matt Goodwin and James Schneider, both of whom I like and admire.
My target of £13,000 has been reached (and more!), but my stand against self-identification isn’t quite over.
At this time, the total raised above my original target of £13,000 is £2,205, so that amount will be redirected to the FSU’s Fighting Fund fund in due course, as promised.
But, from today, any additional donations will be reserved for my own fighting fund rather than that of the Free Speech Union. I will post another update soon with an explanation of the reason for that change. But I wanted to be completely transparent about this.
In the meantime, please continue to share the links to this appeal and the xychromosomeguy.com website.
Jim Orwin
GoFundMe - 3rd update (15/11/24)
First, I’d like to clarify my comments in my most recent update (14 November 2024) about my ‘simple spreadsheet’.
The spreadsheet was created in order to record the amount and date of each donation received, and to keep track of the withdrawals GoFundMe sends me and the GoFundMe platform fees. No data, personal or anonymized, will be shared with any other party.
Regarding my continuing campaign against self-identification: when I was dismissed by East Riding of Yorkshire Council, as I wanted to get back into employment as soon as possible, I applied for many other jobs and was invited to a number of interviews.
In the spirit of honesty and transparency, I made it clear at each interview that I had been dismissed by my former employer for failing to obey what was framed as ‘reasonable’ management instructions, and that this involved pronouns in email footers.
As you can imagine, most potential employers later informed me that I had been ‘unsuccessful’. Whether that was because I genuinely didn’t meet their criteria or because I’d expressed my gender-critical beliefs, I’ll never know.
However, after an interview with a particular public-sector body, I was placed on a ‘reserve list’. A few months later, I was sent a provisional offer of employment. The ‘onboarding officer’ who emailed me had pronouns (she/her) in her email footer, so in my reply to her, I included my gender-critical pronouns, ‘XYchromosomeGuy/AdultHumanMale’. Subsequently, the provisional offer of employment was withdrawn. It is my view that this was done as a direct response to my expressing gender-critical beliefs, so I began an Employment Tribunal claim against that public-sector organisation. This was in July 2023, and that claim remains active.
My claim against East Riding of Yorkshire Council highlighted the plight of all employees who hold gender-critical beliefs; my claim against this as yet unnamed public-sector organisation highlights the plight of those holding gender-critical beliefs while trying to navigate the jobs market.
I have decided to mitigate the possible financial consequences of this second claim by establishing my own fighting fund to help me in this ongoing Employment Tribunal case.
I trust this clarifies my reason for deciding to direct donations into my own fighting fund, and why I have now increased my target to £20,000
I hope you will all continue to share the links to this appeal and the xychromosomeguy.com website.
Jim Orwin
GoFundMe - 4th update (21/11/24)
On Monday 18 November 2024, Daily Mail published an ‘Exclusive Interview’ article about my case, written by Rebecca Hardy – who came through to Hull with her photographer colleague Murray Sanders on 13 November to speak with me (Murray returned the following day to take some photographs). The article was also published in the MailOnline website’s Femail section.
As a consequence of my experiences with East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) and the UK judiciary, I’ve become increasingly cynical about the integrity, motivation, and genuineness of everyone I come into contact with over this issue, so I thank Rebecca and Murray for their patience and understanding.
It’s clear from my GoFundMe page that Rebecca’s article had a significant impact in publicising my case, with donations flowing in after publication: my target of £20,000 was poetically surpassed on 20 November, with a £50 donation—thanks to one Maurice Kennedy who, conveniently for me, chose not to donate anonymously.
I’m overwhelmingly encouraged by the support of the 1,050 (to date) individual donors. Though we are in the vast majority unknown to each other, we share a common understanding, belief, and concern. Which is one of the things I hoped to highlight when I launched this fundraiser.
Going forward, considering my continuing Employment Tribunal claim against the public-sector organisation referred to in my previous update, I plan to increase my target by £5k increments (to try to maintain momentum) in order to create some kind of financial buffer against further legal costs and sanctions: as I mentioned in my previous update, ‘my own fighting fund’ in my stand against self-identification. I will today apply the first of these incremental increases, making my new target £25,000.
I always intended, for complete transparency, to provide evidence that the funds raised have been used for the purpose stated.
With this in mind, I am providing with this update the receipt for my promised donation of £2,250 to the Free Speech Union. I had said this would be £2,205 but as I was about to post my update on 15 November, someone donated another £25, so I considered it appropriate to round the figure up.
I have requested and received the costs invoice from ERYC, and I will post evidence that I have paid that (and the precise amount) once I have done so.
I hope you will all continue to share (with friends, colleagues, and other like-minded people) the links to this appeal and the xychromosomeguy.com website.
Thank you!
Jim Orwin
GoFundMe - 5th update (30/11/24)
This update provides confirmation that I have complied with the costs order imposed on me by the Employment Tribunal (ET) and paid the required amount to East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) for its legal expenses, and demonstrates that the funds raised have been used for the purpose stated.
When I received the costs order notification from the ET on 30 October 2024, it advised: ‘No interest is payable if the sum is paid in full within 14 days after the date the Tribunal sent the written record of the decision to the parties’, but the notification did not include instructions on how payment should be made, leading me to an expectation that I would receive an invoice from ERYC providing a secure payment method and specific reference, but when no such invoice arrived, I contacted the Council on 15 November to request an invoice. That invoice was sent to me via email on 18 November, and a hard copy was also sent to me by post.
As the [image] below show[s], I paid the invoice of £12,875 on 27 November.
I would like to take the opportunity to once again thank everyone who has supported me, made a donation, or spread the word on social media about my case, especially all at GB News and its viewers, and MailOnline and it’s readers.
Please continue to share the links to this page and my xychromosomeguy.com website.
Thank you,
GoFundMe - 6th update (08/12/24)
Following my appearance on GB News’s Dewbs & Co, I was contacted by people from at least two legal chambers who offered to look at the costs order I’d received with a view to advising me on a possible appeal. With no-one getting back to me on this, as I advised in my most recent update, I paid the invoice for that costs order on 27 November 2024.
It appears to be increasingly the case that any gender-critical questioning of LGBT+ ideology is now classified as ‘vexatious’. This cannot be allowed to continue: those who share gender-critical beliefs must be able to challenge gender ideology without fear of sanction or discrimination.
As lay people, the vast majority of us have insufficient resources, standing or authority to make such a legal challenge, so it must fall to those free speech and women’s rights organisations that have played such an important role in establishing and maintaining those protections we currently have, to take on that challenge. So it was reassuring to learn on GB News today that Linzi Smith has the support of SinclairsLaw in her battle with Newcastle United FC and the FA over the FA’s Rainbow Laces campaign.
In a recent news article in MailOnline in which it was reported that the train operator LNER had refused to provide information (requested in a Freedom of Information application) on the basis that the requester was: ‘ labelled ‘transphobic’ by a senior LNER manager who looked through her social media posts’, Maya Forstater, the chief executive of the charity Sex Matters, was reported as saying: ‘LNER’s refusal to respond to an FOI request on the basis that the requester had expressed views that challenge gender ideology was disgraceful and discriminatory’. Precisely.
But if it can be routinely justified by the judiciary that any gender-critical challenge to gender ideology must be de facto ‘vexatious’ in nature (as with my own case), that view will be swiftly adopted by HR and FOI departments across all corporate and public sector organisations.
As I’ve repeatedly stated, as someone who holds gender-critical beliefs my concern is not with genuine transsexual (or transvestite) individuals, but relates specifically to the ideological concept of self-identification—which when applied solely to one particular minority group is in direct contradiction of any concept of equality. Unless all can self identify, then none should be allowed to self identify. I present my own consideration of the concept of self-identification in the Manifesto on my website. The term self-identification is self explicit and must be resisted.
Thanks once again for all your support and donations, and please continue to share the links to this page and my xychromosomeguy.com website.
Thank you,
Jim Orwin
GoFundMe - 7th update (16/12/24)
As you will all have realised, I’ve been trying to follow GoFundMe’s recommendation to provide regular updates on an almost weekly basis. However, this will be my last update before Christmas.
As previously stated (due to your generosity), with the funds raised to date I’ve been able to pay East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s ‘costs order’ invoice of £12,875, and I’ve donated £2,250 to the Free Speech Union, who I’m sure will use it to best effect.
In early September 2024, I completed and submitted an EX107 form to apply for a transcript of the recording of the three-day hearing of my claim against East Riding of Yorkshire Council, as I want to confirm the precise words of Mr Bruce Frew, counsel for the respondent, that prompted me to write in my closing submission the following paragraph [25]:
‘As a layman, I found Mr Frew’s comparison of my footer with that of a hypothetical person who chose to add ‘I hate black people’ as their footer to be contemptible, and deliberately intended to elicit an emotional response from all present. However, it does reveal a fundamental misunderstanding or, indeed, a deliberate and disingenuous misinterpretation of both the current legislation and my position on this matter. Had my, or anyone else’s, chosen email footer specifically referred to any other individual, group, or community in derogatory terms, then on that singular basis it would be essential to conclude that the footer should automatically be deprived of protection under Article 9(2) of the ECHR. I repeat, my chosen email footer refers only to me, and I don’t believe it can be interpreted in any way as seeking to destroy the rights of others.’
(The full text of my closing submission is available on my xychromosomeguy.com website.)
As yet, despite my following up with an email and a telephone call, I’m no better informed about the Employment Tribunal’s process or timescales for providing me with the transcript. It’s looking increasingly likely that I will need to raise a formal complaint with HMCTS about this. But I will provide updates on this when I have new information.
My ongoing employment tribunal claim for religion or belief discrimination against a particular public sector organisation is scheduled to take place in July 2025, but, again, I’ll provide updates on that whenever there is any new information to share.
For now, I’ll wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful 2025.
Thank you for continuing to share the links to this GoFundMe appeal and my xychromosomeguy.com website. I’m overwhelmed by the support I’ve received – it is truly appreciated.
Merry Christmas!
Jim Orwin
GoFundMe - 8th update (03/01/25)
Happy New Year. I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and that 2025 brings both good health and good fortunes to you all.
Shortly after my pre-Christmas update, I raised a formal complaint about the delay and lack of progress with my application for a transcript of my three-day hearing, and I was subsequently contacted by the Delivery Manager at Leeds Employment Tribunal, responding to my complaint.
Then, timestamped as being sent on New Years Eve, I received an email from Epiq (HMCTS’ transcription partner) with an attached ‘Transcription Request Form’ (TRF) and a quote for producing and supplying me with the transcript.
The quote in the TRF included a request for a deposit of £1,500, which was apparently based on the hearing lasting three full days. In fact, although the hearing took place over three days the total time taken by the sessions amounted to less than 12 hours; in addition, the quote appeared to indicate that my request includes a transcription of the judgment, which was not given verbally at any point during the hearing, but was sent to both parties a month after the hearing concluded, and is publicly available so wouldn’t be required in any transcript in any case.
Yesterday, I emailed Epiq, seeking clarification. I was very pleasantly surprised to receive their reply this morning. They provided very clear responses to all my queries, and offered to amend the TRF accordingly. They confirmed that, as advised on the GOV.UK website’s ‘Guidance for requesting a transcript’ page, the final cost of any transcription will be based solely on the service level band selected and the word count of that transcription. They also confirmed that if the final cost is less than the original deposit, the balance will be refunded in full; which all seems reasonable and transparent, but wasn’t clear in the original TRF.
The Civil Team at Epiq are the first people I’ve dealt with during my whole experience with the Employment Tribunal who have responded with such efficiency. I was very impressed with their quick and clear response. I now await the amended TRF and the revised deposit figure so that I can initiate the transcription process.
As I’ve suggested previously, I consider it necessary for me to acquire the transcript in order to accurately report on proceedings and to provide precise quotes from the hearing, not least in the book I plan to write about my employment tribunal experience, including my claim against East Riding of Yorkshire Council. I believe there are many things about my case that point towards a two-tier judicial system regarding the use of judicial discretion in cases where gender ideology and gender-critical beliefs clash, and that this can best be documented and highlighted by using the ‘official’ record of proceedings.
I’ll provide further updates when I have more information.
Thanks, as always, for your ongoing support, and please continue to share the links to this GoFundMe appeal and my xychromosomeguy.com website.
Jim Orwin
GoFundMe - 9th update (11/01/25)
On Thursday, 9 January, I received an email from HMCTS’ transcription service partner, Epiq, with an amended Transcription Request Form (TRF). I completed the form and returned it yesterday (10 January) with a screenshot of my proof of payment for the required deposit of £1,500, as requested. Epiq advises that if the TRF is received, with proof of payment by 15:30, the process will begin that day. I sent my email at around 11:30, so everything should now be underway.
The only delivery service available from Epiq was their ’12 Business Days’ turnaround, if Epiq’s information is correct, I should receive the transcript before the end of this month. Epiq’s Civil Team has been very efficient so far, so I have no reason to doubt that time-line.
However, there has been some media coverage in the past week or so related to issues in acquiring the transcripts of the various ‘Grooming Gang Scandal’ trials.
Adam Wren, who is leading the campaign to fund access to these transcripts, appeared on GB News’s Martin Daubney show on 7 January to publicise his ‘Release the Transcripts’ GoFundMe fundraiser. He highlighted how difficult and expensive it is to acquire official court transcripts from those trials, calling into question the concept of the supposed open and fair judicial system in the UK.
By comparison, my situation is far less complex, and fades into insignificance. But we shall find out.
I’ll provide further updates on my own transcript request application when I hear anything new.
Thanks, as always, for your ongoing support, and please continue to share the links to this fundraiser and my xychromosomeguy.com website.
Jim Orwin
GoFundMe - 10th update (13/01/25)
Unscheduled update (for information):
I received an email this morning from Epiq (HMCTS’ transcription partner) confirming that my order ‘has now been placed into production and will be due for completion on 31/01/2025’. The email also noted: ‘the court has requested the proceedings transcripts be sent to them for approval before they can be released to yourself’.
The Transcription Request Form I was required to complete and return was very clear that transcriptions of: ‘Any Judgements will need to be sent to the court to be approved prior to delivery’ – but as the judgment in my case was sent to all parties a month after the hearing, and is available online, so I’m not requesting a transcript of the judgment, I’m not quite sure why the court has requested the transcript be sent to them for approval in this instance.
On the face of things, it appears to be using up court time unnecessarily, and once again points to a two-tier judiciary. I hope I’m wrong and that this is simply standard practice.
I’ll provide further updates when I have more information.
In the meantime, thank you for your continued support, and please continue to share the links to this GoFundMe appeal and my xychromosomeguy.com website.
Jim Orwin
GoFundMe - 11th update (19/01/25)
I’m posting this update today to let people know that GoFundMe (GFM) has imposed an ongoing ‘pause’ on transfers from my fundraiser account, making it futile for anyone to make donations until the pause is lifted.
To reassure the vast majority of supporters who have made donations (and to be fair to GFM), the current pause affects only the last six donations, amounting to £85.00. All donations prior to these have been processed and transferred into my nominated bank account as expected.
The four or five previous holds on my fundraiser were lifted within GFM’s stated 24hrs-48hrs time-frame, but this latest ‘pause’, which amounts to a freeze on my account, has been in place since 6 January 2025.
In a previous email exchange, on 2 December 2024, I was informed by GFM Support: ‘Your fundraiser is being reported a lot by the community, so we will review these as they come in and clear if we do not need to further review with you’. However, I have repeatedly asked them to let me know what further information they might require, and these requests have been ignored: the current pause was still in place a few minutes before I posted this update (see attached screenshot). GFM’s support page related to ‘providing additional information’ can be found here: https://support.gofundme.com/hc/en-us/articles/115010244128-Providing-additional-information-to-receive-funds
I understand that GFM has a duty of care regarding activity on its platform, but it must also have a duty of transparency to those using its platform to raise funds. Supporters of my fundraiser will know that I’ve made every effort to be open and transparent by posting frequent and regular updates, and I would like to be able to continue to do so. But for now, I suggest people hold back any donations they are considering making until I can confirm the pause on transfers from my fundraiser has been lifted.
All being well, I’ll provide further updates when I have more information.
In the meantime, thank you for your support, and please continue to share the links to my xychromosomeguy.com website. If for any reason I am unable to post further updates here, I will provide updates on that website.
Jim Orwin
GoFundMe - 12th update (29/01/25)
The ‘pause’ on transfers from my fundraiser, which was put in place on 6 January, is still in operation, so my advice remains the same: please hold back making any donations you are considering until further notice.
I emailed GFM Support on Saturday 25 January to once again try to get the pause lifted, and asked if there is anything I can do to address their previous comment that my ‘fundraiser is being reported a lot by the community’, but I received no response.
In an attempt to better understand my position, I decided to research GFM online, including on the review site TrustPilot (who rate GFM as ‘Poor’). It appears that even if the pause on my account is not ideologically or politically motivated (I’ve been given no clear explanation, so I don’t know), the majority of reviewers on TrustPilot consider GFM to be incompetent as far as its support is concerned. My experience, at the very least, supports this. Nonetheless, I tried contacting their TrustPilot support team in the hope that someone there might be willing to intervene and help get the pause on transfers from my account lifted. But I received no reply.
On a different matter, I hope to have an update on my ET transcript order in the coming days—according to Epiq, that is ‘due to be completed by 31 January’. As I pointed out in an earlier update, Epiq, the company providing the transcription service, advised me: ‘the court has requested the proceedings transcripts be sent to them for approval before they can be released to yourself’, even though the Transcription Request Form seems to imply this would only be the case when a transcription of the ‘judgment’ was being provided (which is not the case in this instance). Considering my experiences so far of the ‘open and fair’ UK justice system, I’ll be pleasantly surprised if I receive the complete unadulterated transcript of my employment tribunal hearing, which is what I am expecting.
Once again, I thank all 1,085 of you for your donations and support. As before, if for any reason I am unable to post further updates here, I will provide updates on my xychromosomeguy.com website.
Jim Orwin
GoFundMe - 13th update (31/01/25)
Unscheduled update (for information):
I’m pleased to report that GoFundMe Support has confirmed the pause on transfers from my fundraiser has now been lifted.
Yesterday (30/01/25) I received an email from a Senior Customer Success Manager apologising for the delay in getting back to me regarding my support ticket, and confirming that ‘transfers have resumed sending to your account’, but without clarifying why it took so much longer to resolve than the normal 24hrs-48hrs.
I have also received notification that the outstanding balance is on its way to my bank account.
I’m extremely grateful to everyone for your continuing support—and to the two new people who have donated to the fundraiser in the past 24 hours.
Please continue to share the links to this GoFundMe appeal and my xychromosomeguy.com website.
Jim Orwin