The Liberal Democrats have been told to stop discriminating against gender-critical women by their chief executive. The Telegraph has more.
Mike Dixon has written to constituency chairs across the country to remind them of equality laws after the party lost a number of legal battles with their members.
He warned that associations cannot “discriminate on the basis of someone’s protected beliefs” even if they “disagree with them or find their views offensive”.
In response, the Liberal Democrat Christian Forum (LDCF) noted: “It is a sad indictment of the democratic health of the Liberal Democrats that party HQ has to remind activists to be Liberal.”
Mr Dixon’s warning comes after the party was forced to pay £14,000 to Natalie Bird, who was removed as a prospective parliamentary candidate for Wakefield after she wore a T-shirt with the slogan: “Woman: Adult Human Female”.
Last month, in the face of lengthy legal action they also backed down and agreed to lift a ban which had prevented Liberal Voice for Women, women’s rights campaigners who believe in biological sex, from holding events.
In the email, seen by The Telegraph, Mr Dixon said: “There have been a number of legal judgements recently in cases involving political parties and other relevant organisations concerning discrimination on the basis of protected beliefs, in particular gender critical beliefs.
“The costs of these for local and national parties can be very significant.”
He said that he wanted to give chairs “some broad principles that will help you avoid legal action”.
Reminding members of guidance by the equalities watchdog, he added: “The short version is that you need to treat members with protected gender-critical beliefs in the same way as any other member.”
Mr Dixon said that the “basic rules of thumb” which should protect the local party and members from legal challenge included “be constructive, polite, play the ball not the person, and be measured in any criticism”.
He noted that online they “cannot exclude someone from a party group or remove posts solely because of their protected beliefs” even if they are seen as offensive.
“There is real danger of political parties continuing to be taken to court about these issues unless we get the response right,” he added. “We would all prefer to spend money on campaigning and winning seats than defending legal cases.”
The party is still facing legal action from David Campanale, a former BBC journalist, who is suing for breaches of the equality act claiming that he was deselected as a prospective MP over his Christian beliefs.
As part of the case the party has been accused of creating a “hostile environment” for people of faith and failing to investigate serious allegations of discrimination and harassment.
Worth reading in full.
