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.
7 March 2025:
Treat bearded trans colleagues as women if that’s what they identify as, NHS staff told
Official guidance from NHS Scotland states employees must use the correct name and pronouns for transgender colleagues. One training scenario used by the health service asked workers to consider the fictional case of ‘Lucy’, a 29-year-old trans nurse. The character is said to be yet-to formally change her name from Lee and is ‘still producing visible facial hair’. The training module explained that some staff have been hesitant to correct patients who are still using male terms to refer to Lucy. The fictional scenario is understood to have concluded with employees being told that ‘discrimination against Lucy will not be tolerated’. It adds that under equality law, Lucy’s rights are protected and colleagues must use her correct name and pronouns. (MailOnline)
26 February 2024:
Breitbart Business Digest: DEI Was Built on Fear; Now It’s Collapsing Under Reality
A dramatic and decisive shift is sweeping through corporate America, as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives crumble in the face of legal scrutiny, economic reality, and shifting public sentiment. What was once considered the inevitable march of corporate progressivism is now being reversed with stunning speed. – by John Carney (Breitbart)
20 January 2025:
“As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female”
US President Donald Trump issued executive orders shortly after he was sworn in to change the US government’s policies on gender and diversity, following through on promises he made on the campaign trail […] signed an order designating two genders only – male and female – and declaring that they cannot be changed. (BBC News)
11 January 2025:
Civil service must return to impartiality and protection for all
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) have settled the employment-tribunal claim of whistleblowing civil servant Eleanor Frances, agreeing to pay her £116,749. As part of the settlement the departments have committed to return to impartiality and to develop a new policy in relation to the protected characteristic of gender reassignment. (SexMatters)
9 January 2025:
NHS board fails to gag tribunal of nurse who objected to transgender medic using the same changing room
A nurse who was suspended from work after complaining about a trans college using a female changing room has told of her joy after an NHS demand for an employment tribunal to be anonymous was rejected. (MailOnline)
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)
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)
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
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
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)