5 years ago the EHRC made TERFs respectable. What could possibly go wrong?
A protected philosophical belief
In 2021 the intervention of the Equality and Human Rights Commission in an Employment Appeal Tribunal made a belief previously ruled ‘not worthy of respect in a democratic society’ into a protected philosophical belief.
The beliefs were gender critical beliefs, and the EHRC stated at the time that these were ones ‘which did not seek to destroy the rights of trans persons’. They also went on to note that ‘The fact that a belief is protected does not mean that actions taken or comments made based on such beliefs are protected from consequences.’ As the Chair of the EHRC later put it, ‘The stronger or more controversial your belief, the greater your responsibility is to treat people with respect, particularly those who would find it offensive or hurtful.’
These are important points, because for any belief to be protected it must be worthy of respect in a democratic society, not be incompatible with human dignity and not conflict with the fundamental rights of others. The only beliefs that are actually excluded by that requirement are the most extreme beliefs ‘akin to Nazism or totalitarianism or which incite hatred or violence’.
Consequences
The submission from the EHRC had explicitly separated the holding of a belief from the way a person acts or expresses that belief. The Appeal also established that even ‘mocking or satirising the opposing view is all part of the “common currency” of debate.’
But even in that same year the Institute of Race Relations were warning of ‘the multiple dangers ahead when/if we cede territory to far-right ideas on innate biological difference.’ and on how ‘Anti-gender movements forge a “symbolic glue” between groups who ‘share the goal of preserving the traditional nuclear heteronormative family.’
In practical terms we saw the EHRC leaving the Stonewall’s Diversity Champions programme, and the latter organisation ‘at the centre of a relentless media attack, with claims that the organisation has “lost its way” by becoming “embroiled in the trans issue”’ A warning appeared in the media of an ‘“international, all-powerful, wealthy and totally out-of-control trans lobby”’, that was ‘undermining gay and lesbian rights.’, and Stonewall were sued for discrimination in a case now granted the right of appeal to the Supreme Court.
Rinse repeat
Hyperbole became the new normal.
With endless access to a compliant media, the gender critical movement are able to tell the world that they are being ‘silenced’. They use words not facts, ignoring civil society when it suits. They constantly exaggerate each other’s importance, portraying each other as ‘brave’, ‘brilliant’, ‘feminists’, who have ‘legitimate concerns’, and are being subjected to ‘bullying’, ‘erasure’, ‘hounding’, ‘intimidation’, and ‘witch hunts’, because of their ‘measured’, ‘gender critical’, ‘beliefs’. They say they are being ‘silenced’, by ‘aggressive’, ‘activists’, who when not ‘shrieking’, their ‘extreme’, ‘propaganda’, and ‘shouting’, ‘slogans’, of ‘insane’, ‘gender ideology’, somehow manage to be ‘bambis’, and ‘snowflakes’, at the same time.
Lawfare became the new normal.
The gender critical movement is heavily involved in litigation and lobbying in areas like health policy, social media and workplace discrimination law, always in such a way as to make life harder for trans women. This use of litigation bears close comparison with the tactics used successfully by US conservatives to erode LGBT and abortion rights in the United States over the last several decades.
As Progressive International described it in 2023, ‘As opposed to flourishing public discourse, open ideological debate, or political contestation regarding the material needs of society and how best to meet them, lawfare seeks instead to subjugate politics to the courts.’ But not just politics, as the fate of Girlguiding and the Women’s Institute has shown.
History is repeating itself.
In 1933 the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft run by trans advocate Magnus Hirschfeld was looted and its books burned by Nazis. Today across Europe the far right want to enforce sex based stereotypes and the trans community are only the first on the list. Abortion Rights are under attack, and those responsible for an epidemic of misogynist violence are pointing the finger at black people.
But they are weak on the streets
‘There are many many more of us than you’ Trans Pride London 2026.
150,000 people marched at Trans Pride London and 40,000 at Edinburgh Pride. The largest gender critical rallies have numbered a few hundred, bulked at the fringes by a few far right supporters. They have little strength on the streets and fail when they try to engage with local communities. They don’t have friends, only court cases.
But our strength is in the community. Our strength is on the streets. Our strength is that the vast majority of feminists support their trans siblings. We see this at the Edinburgh Women’s March, at International Women’s Day, and through the support of organisations like the Lavender Menace Archive, Lighthouse Books and Not In Our Name Women.
It’s guaranteed that the legal challenges and hyperbole will continue. Misinformation at best, disinformation at worst, being used to attack trans allies and service providers.
But we have something stronger. Each other. And that is worthy of respect.
References
Upholding the right to freedom of religion or belief | EHRC
The freedom to hold a belief is something we all need to protect | EHRC
Grainger plc v Nicholson – Wikipedia
To believe or not to believe (in transgenderism)? | Addleshaw Goddard LLP
Feminism, biological fundamentalism and the attack on trans rights – Institute of Race Relations
When a group fighting homophobia clashes with gay rights champion there’s an issue – Daily Mail
Lawfare vs. Democracy | Progressive International
The WI and Girlguiding have been pressured to exclude trans women – yet the law is clear as mud | The Guardian
Magnus Hirschfeld – Wikipedia
LGBT Health