Just before last year drew to a close, Richard had an extremely useful catch-up with CEO and Co-founder of SexMatters, Maya Forstater and Laura Pascal, Head of Public Affairs at the campaign group.
Richard Fuller MP said:
Coincidentally, the day of our meeting was the exact 5 year anniversary of Maya losing her industrial tribunal case against the Center for Global Development who had not renewed her contract following a number of gender critical messages Maya had posted online. 18 months later she won her appeal at the Employment Appeal Tribunal in April 2021 with the critical and precedent-setting finding that Maya's beliefs were protected, and specifically, that they were "worthy of respect in a democratic society".
We had a wide-ranging conversation about womens' rights and particularly the importance of protecting single-sex spaces such as toilets, changing rooms, refuges, and so on. In a very alarming development, the Labour government have reneged on their pre-election commitment to protect female-only spaces by asserting that public and private bodies can write policies that allow transgender women into female-only places as long as the organisation in question did not โincorrectlyโ claim that the Equality Act obliged it to do so.
I think Maya Forstater's own words as reported in the Daily Telegraph on the very day of our meeting, provide an eloquent and extremely worrying summation of what this might mean in practice:
"๐๐ง ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ข๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ, ๐๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐๐๐ญ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐งโ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ฌ. ๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ ๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ง๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ, ๐ข๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐.
โ๐๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฐ๐๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฉ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐-๐ฌ๐๐ฑ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ .โ
โ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ง๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ข๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ง-๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ฌ, ๐๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐จ๐๐ฌ๐งโ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ฐ.
โ๐๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ง ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐, ๐ข๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ง๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐ฐ๐ก๐จโ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ฆ ๐ก๐โ๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐งโ๐ฌ ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ฌ โ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ ๐ ๐๐ญ ๐ง๐๐ค๐๐.โ
