In January of 2021 I was contacted by my line manager regarding a complaint that had been sent anonymously to my employer (a large Local authority) demanding that I be sacked from a post I had held for over 20 years.
My manager explained that “someone” from the general public had complained after I posted a comment on a news item on Facebook a few weeks previously confirming my belief that the subject of the article was not a “girl” as described in the headline, but a male person who could of course identify as they wish but could never biologically be female.
I have worked in children’s services with families and children for most of my life and had always taken a safeguarding first approach, I had been increasingly concerned about the erasure of women’s language and single sex spaces/sports as gender identity theory had begun to take hold in a number of large organisations including my own.
My manger requested that I redact the comment and alter my Facebook profile to remove my employer’s details. She was very supportive and felt that the matter had been dealt with.
HR had taken further advice from the Equalities “specialist” who deemed my comments “transphobic” and that a full disciplinary investigation would be required.
I was then approached a few days later and informed that I may wish to contact my union as I was being investigated for “gross misconduct” for the social media comment and could potentially be dismissed from my post. It appeared that HR had taken further advice from the Equalities “specialist” who deemed my comments “transphobic” and that a full disciplinary investigation would be required.
Despite repeated requests, I was never provided with a definition of “transphobia”, but simply told that my belief in biological sex and its importance in relation to safeguarding presented reputational risk to my employer and therefore breached their employee’s code of conduct policy.
Interestingly my employer did not suspend me pending the outcome of the investigation which I understand is the normal protocol for “gross misconduct”.
This was an incredibly stressful time, during a Covid lockdown where I was isolated from colleagues, working at home and with little access to help challenging my employer. Fortunately, both my line manager and team members were incredibly supportive and disbelieving that this action had been undertaken against me.
The disciplinary investigation continued. My investigating officer made numerous procedural errors including citing and holding me to account to a “conduct policy” that did not come into place until a number of weeks after the alleged ‘offence’ took place.
It was clear that I was a test case for “transphobia” for my employer, who seemed to have much less understanding of the nuances of this debate and be ignorant of the growing public awareness of the impact of gender ideology on women and children.
It was clear that I was a test case for “transphobia” for my employer, who seemed to have much less understanding of the nuances of this debate and be ignorant of the growing public awareness of the impact of gender ideology on women and children.
My line manager was so concerned, by both the action taken against me and the way in which my case was conducted, that she herself lodged a grievance against the HR department.
I had at that point been a Unison member for over 20 years and I contacted them for further advice and support, it was during one of the conversations with my Unison rep that I was repeatedly challenged for my beliefs and told my views were “akin” to being racist!
I subsequently left Unison as a result of the way in which their ‘support’ during the investigation was conducted.
I have been a supporter of women’s rights all my adult life and fortunately was able to contact women at Filia who were able to offer excellent advice and without whom I’m not sure how I would have managed to cope with the investigative process.
I was given the confidence by the support of a then growing number of GC legal professionals to stand my ground during my hearing; which I did. I even received written advice on the morning of my hearing from Anya Palmer who very kindly at the 11th hour checked my paperwork.
I am certain that if this had happened to a less experienced colleague who did not have the network that I had access to, my employer may have felt more emboldened to dismiss them.
I was subsequently issued with a six-month written warning, during which time Maya Forstater won her legal case confirming that belief in the reality of sex was “worthy of respect in a democratic society”.
As has been said many times, the process is the punishment – and to be put in a position of potentially losing your career and income for the crime of stating publicly that a man can never be a woman, seems both then and now like a dystopian nightmare.
I cannot express my gratitude enough for the women who have taken gender critical cases to the employment tribunal and understand the strength this took; it is through those people and the rulings they secured that the landscape has changed so drastically from three years ago!