Court: Employee Can Be Fired for Tweeting, ‘Male People Are Not Women’

By admin On Dec 20, 2019

Court: Employee Can Be Fired for Tweeting, ‘Male People Are Not Women’

A British court ruled this week that a woman was properly dismissed from her job after she posted several messages about transgenderism on Twitter, including the statement that “male people are not women.”

Maya Forstater, 45, lost her position at the Center for Global Development following a series of tweets in 2018, and subsequently filed a complaint with an employment tribunal. The think tank has offices in London and Washington, D.C., and chose not to renew her contract.

Several of Forstater’s tweets criticized potential changes to the British Gender Recognition Act, including one that would allow people to self-identify with whichever gender they choose. Forstater argued that even if a biological man has a “Gender Recognition Certificate” that states he’s a woman, he remains a biological man.

Employment judge James Tayler, in a 26-page decision, ruled against Forstater.

“The Claimant’s position is that even if a trans woman has a Gender Recognition Certificate, she cannot honestly describe herself as a woman,” Tayler wrote. “That belief is not worthy of respect in a democratic society. It is incompatible with the human rights of others that have been identified and defined by the [European Court of Human Rights] and put into effect through the Gender Recognition Act.”

Forstater tweeted on Sept. 2, 2018: “I share the concerns of @fairplaywomen that radically expanding the legal definition of ‘women’ so that it can include both males and females makes it a meaningless concept, and will undermine women’s rights & protections for vulnerable women & girls. …

“Some transgender people have cosmetic surgery. But most retain their birth genitals. Everyone’s equality and safety should be protected, but women and girls lose out on privacy, safety and fairness if males are allowed into changing rooms, dormitories, prisons, sports teams.”

Later that month Forstater referenced a transgender woman and tweeted, “male people are not women. I don’t think being a woman/ female is a matter of identity or womanly feelings. It is biology.”

Meanwhile, Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling is siding with Forstater and sparking a division among her fans.

“Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like,” Rowling tweeted. “Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill.”

Dress however you please.

Call yourself whatever you like.

Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you.

Live your best life in peace and security.

But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 19, 2019