All the latest free speech news can be found on the Free Speech Union’s Latest New page (please consider donating, or better still joining, while you’re there). The stories below are my selection of 10 recent media reports, ordered chronologically (they may or may not also feature among the Free Speech Union’s news stories).
I will, however, pin one story to these introductory paragraphs. That of a 6 December 2024 report about a Freedom of Information request (FOI) submitted to LNER to seek clarification regarding one of its carriages painted with new, ‘Gay Pride’, livery.
LNER considered it acceptable to label the FOI as ‘vexatious’—much like my Employment Tribunal claim against East Riding of Yorkshire Council was deemed to be ‘vexatious’ by Employment Judge Ian Miller.
One can’t help wondering: when will those free speech and women’s rights organisations that have the necessary resources and legal talent, mount a challenge to the idea that any and all gender-critical questioning of LGBT+ ideology is ‘vexatious’. Gender-critical people must be able to challenge gender ideology without fear of sanction or discrimination.
18 December 2024:
Labour is accused of betraying women after insisting there is no need to change the law to protect single-sex spaces
Before the election, Sir Keir Starmer had insisted that ‘biological women’s spaces need to be protected’ and that men who legally change sex by obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate do not have the right to enter female-only spaces. But now Labour has been accused of betraying women by insisting there is no need to change the law to protect single-sex spaces. (MailOnline)
6 December 2024:
Oppenheimer star Emma Dumont comes out as trans masculine non-binary and reveals new name
Oppenheimer star Emma Dumont has come out as trans masculine and non-binary and revealed the new name their family is calling them by. (MailOnline)
21 November 2024:
Children In Need chairwoman Rosie Millard quits over £460,000 handed to scandal-hit trans group
Children In Need’s chairwoman has quit over £460,000 of grants awarded to a controversial transgender youth group hit by a series of child sex abuse scandals – by Tom Cotterill (MailOnline)
21 November 2024:
Nurses accuse NHS trust of putting them ‘at risk’ over policy which allows transgender colleagues to use women’s changing rooms
A group of nurses embroiled in a year-long dispute over a transgender policy have accused their NHS trust of ‘ignoring’ concerns for their safety. – by Jessica Taylor (MailOnline)
11 November 2024:
Trustee quits breastfeeding charity over trans policy
A trustee and PR director of Britain’s oldest breastfeeding charity has resigned after it introduced an inclusivity policy that allowed men to attend support groups. – Feminist Legal Clinic
4 November 2024:
Marks and Spencer apologise and remove pos[t]er after advertising girls’ first-time bras for ‘young things’
Marks and Spencer has apologised and removed an advert advertising first-time bras for ‘young things’ after being accused of ‘dehumanising all young women’ – by Matt Strudwick (MailOnline)
3 November 2024:
I was born black and male, but now I identify [as] a white woman – I know race is not real
Despite being born black and male, Ronnie – who uses the pronoun they – now identifies as a white woman, regardless of outward appearances, saying there is a ‘repressed White female identity’ inside them begging to be released – Maria Chiorando For MailOnline
2 November 2024:
Women’s rights campaigner forced from lesbian bar ‘after trans reveller complained about her presence’
A leading campaigner for women-only spaces claims she was kicked out of a lesbian bar after a transgender customer complained about her presence.
Jenny Watson, 32, says she was accused of ‘hate crime’ in the traumatic incident, and claims bouncers removed her with such force that she was left with bruised wrists (MailOnline)
30 October 2024:
Germany: Gender self-ID law fails to address implications for women and girls, says Special Rapporteur
The Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, today expressed concern about the human rights implications for women and girls of Germany’s Gender Self-Determination Act, which allows the change in legal sex based on self-identification, removing previous judicial and medical requirements (United Nations) – Reem Alsalem
25 October 2024:
BRIT Awards 2025 opens registration with guidance on conscious voting as part of DEI strategy
For the 2025 ceremony, The BRITs will be providing registered members the opportunity to learn more about conscious voting principles, in advance of voting opening in early December. The online session is designed to encourage BRITs voting members to support the BRIT Awards’ goals around DEI, and follows the publication of the BPI’s Five Year strategy (Music Week)
18 October 2024:
Public servant sued for saying sex is binary
I work in the Public Sector. I am being sued for being gender critical, and for co-founding a staff network of like-minded people – by Andreas Mueller (on crowdjustice.com)