Lesbian barrister: my bosses bowed to transgender ‘hate mob’ The Sunday Times 27.10.19

The original article is here.

A lesbian barrister who is under investigation for her stance on transgender ideology has said her chambers bowed to the “hate mob”.

Allison Bailey is being investigated by Garden Court Chambers after she hailed the launch of the LGB Alliance pressure group, of which she is a founding member.

Bailey was subjected to a torrent of abuse and death threats after she posted on social media: “Gender extremism is about to meet its match.”

The LGB Alliance has said its mission is “asserting the right of lesbians, bisexuals and gay men to define themselves as same-sex attracted”. Its stance that “gender is a social construct” faced immediate opposition from trans groups.

Garden Court said on Twitter that it was “investigating concerns” raised about the comments in line with Bar Standards Board policies. “We take these concerns v seriously & will take appropriate action.”

Bailey said her chambers had “simply gone along with what the hate mob want” and were “offering me no support whatsoever”.

She pointed out that Garden Court, which handles many transgender cases, had signed up as a Stonewall “diversity champion”.

“The bigger picture,” she added, “is that Stonewall have signed up many companies, public bodies, voluntary sector organisation and government departments to their manifesto and their value system regarding trans rights. What we call Stonewall law. Without most of the public realising it, a large swathe of British employers have signed up to the Stonewall value system.”

The LGB Alliance has written to the Equality and Human Rights Commission to complain that Stonewall is using public funds to promote gender identity rather than gender reassignment as a protected characteristic. “So successful has ‘Stonewall law’ been that the planned compulsory education in primary and secondary schools from 2020 will tell children that ‘gender identity’ is a reality which they need to understand.”

Bailey said she had “no faith” that Garden Court would conduct a fair complaints process. “They are compromised by their relationship with Stonewall.” She claimed the threat to her career would have a “chilling effect on others who dare to think independently of Stonewall”.

Judy Khan, joint head of chambers, said: “We are investigating complaints that have been made about tweets that Allison has sent. We have not made any finding of fact or made any ruling.” When pressed, she added: “We utterly condemn any threat made to any person in chambers or otherwise.”

The JustGiving charity site has suspended the page for the LGB Alliance.

Stonewall said it was “proud to be working to . . . support inclusive workplaces for lesbian, gay, bi and trans people.”