We’ve launched a new legal crowdfunder for one of our members, who is suing the Liberal Democrat Party anonymously for the time being to avoid possible career reprisals.
Our member is going by the pseudonym ‘Amelia Sparrow’. She’s a 24-year-old woman who is passionate about women’s rights and believes that a person’s sex is an immutable biological fact.
Amelia is also an experienced Parliamentary staffer, having worked in numerous roles supporting MPs as a Parliamentary Intern, Constituency Caseworker and Parliamentary Assistant.
In January 2024, she was dismissed by a Liberal Democrat MP only four days after starting work as her Parliamentary Researcher. During a hastily convened Teams call, the MP told her a complaint had been made against her and then asked her what she thought it might relate to.
Shocked and blindsided, Amelia said she didn’t know. When pressed to speculate, she told her employer about a variety of conversations and meetings she’d had in her first three days, including one brief exchange in the office with another MP’s staff member while watching an SNP MP – whom she didn’t name – speak in the Rwanda Bill debate. During this exchange, Amelia remarked that she admired the MP’s stance on human rights. When another staffer said, “Isn’t she a transphobe?” Amelia responded, “No, she’s a women’s rights activist.”
The conversation moved on amicably enough, and Amelia thought nothing more about it.
Having heard Amelia’s recollections, the MP said she would have to “do some digging”. It was, she said, vitally important that she had a secure relationship with others in the Party. What followed, of course, was a disciplinary process, which ended with Amelia’s dismissal.
The technical reason for her termination? “Dishonesty”, on the basis that her account didn’t correspond with those provided by others the MP spoke to and because she hadn’t named the SNP MP in question when disclosing the conversation she’d had about her – that MP turned out to be the well-known gender critical feminist (and FSU Scottish Advisory Council member) Joanna Cherry KC. But as Amelia points out, when the complaint was first put to her out of the blue and without prior warning, she hadn’t imagined that granular detail of that kind was required, or indeed necessary – certainly her employer had at no point during the call asked her for the MP’s name.
You can find out more about her case here.
With our help, Amelia submitted a data Subject Access Request, which enabled her to see the complaint for the first time weeks after her dismissal. One key point that emerged was that the complaint originated within the Liberal Democrat Chief Whips Office, which runs the Parliamentary Liberal Democrat Party.
Amelia believes her dismissal resulted from her expression of her gender critical beliefs. Given that the complaint came from the Chief Whip’s Office. So it seems likely that her sudden dismissal was due to the pressure brought to bear on her employer by the Liberal Democrat party itself.
Now Amelia needs your help.
She has submitted a claim to the employment tribunal that argues, among other things, that she was discriminated against and harassed by the Liberal Democrat MP she worked for, as well as the Liberal Democrat Party, because of her gender critical beliefs. While the FSU is continuing to support Amelia, the case is at the stage where she needs your support to raise funds for legal representation at her preliminary hearing in October 2024.
If you can, please join the fight and help Amelia stand up for freedom of speech, viewpoint diversity and tolerance in the workplace – the link to the crowdfunder and her full story is here.
While the FSU is continuing to assist our member at no cost, the case is at the stage where she needs your support to raise funds for legal representation at her preliminary employment tribunal hearing in October 2024. Our target for this stage of the proceedings is £10,000.
Thanks to the continuing generosity of our members and supporters, we’re already over half of the way towards target, having secured over £6,000 from 228 donors.
If you can, please show your support here. Let’s help this courageous and principled young woman to fight for justice, and in doing so to stand up for the right of everyone to hold and express perfectly lawful beliefs in the workplace.
