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In the Media

Articles That Mention the Free Speech Union

Jeff Dudgeon: ​Enemies of free speech have been felled but the UK is still going in the wrong direction under Keir Starmer

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Jeff Dudgeon has been appointed to the advisory council of the Free Speech Union (FSU). This is an edited version of his address to a meeting the group held in Belfast on Friday evening ​This tour d’horizon will deal with what has been happening since I spoke at the Free Speech Union’s first Belfast meeting in January – the highs and the lows, and the achievements.

Jeff Dudgeon, Belfast News Letter, 22nd September 2024.

Free speech event in Belfast is warned about Stormont plans to create more protected groups, with restrictions on what you can say about them

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The FSU general secretary Toby Young told the gathering: “Now that Stormont is sitting again, we need to be ready to push back against any legislative assault on free speech, starting with next year’s Sentencing Bill, which will give the Justice Minister the power to create more ‘protected groups’, with restrictions on what you’re allowed to say about them, simply by laying a statutory instrument. That’s why the Free Speech Union has set up a Northern Ireland Advisory Council consisting of celebrated champions of free speech with a broad spectrum of views and backgrounds.”

Belfast News Letter, 21st September 2024.

Moment free speech group are ordered to leave Brighton pub ‘after talk saying children should not be taught trans ideology in schools’

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Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union, claimed the pub did “not have a leg to stand on” in ordering the group to leave for expressing “perfectly lawful beliefs”.  “From a legal point of view, it’s no different to kicking someone out because they’re black or gay,” he told the Telegraph. “It’s unlawful discrimination, plain and simple.”

Tom Cotterill, The Daily Mail, 19th September 2024.

Alliance committee chair showed ‘aggressive intolerance’ to MLA over his language on biological sex – Free Speech Union

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Toby Young, Director of the Free Speech Union. told the News Letter that the “aggressive intolerance shown towards Timothy Gaston by Paula Bradshaw is typical of those who’ve been captured by gender ideology. Rather than acknowledge there can be a genuine conflict of rights between women and trans people – over whether transwomen should be able to compete against biological women in the Olympics, for instance – Ms Bradshaw appears to believe that trans rights should in all circumstances take priority and anyone who thinks otherwise, like Mr Gaston, is a bigot.”

David Thompson, Belfast News Letter, 19th September 2024.

Free speech group kicked out of Brighton pub after saying children shouldn’t be taught trans ideology

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The incident prompted a furious reaction on social media, and the Free Speech Union has threatened the pub with legal action unless the landlord apologises and allows the meeting to be rebooked. Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union, said: “Legally, the landlord doesn’t have a leg to stand on. He cannot evict customers just because he disapproves of their perfectly lawful beliefs, particularly if those beliefs are protected by the Equality Act. From a legal point of view, it’s no different to kicking someone out because they’re black or gay. It’s unlawful discrimination, plain and simple. We’ve fought several similar cases on behalf of our members and, where those cases have reached a conclusion, the pub has backed down and apologised.”

Albert Tait, The Telegraph, 18th September 2024.

A WOKE UN agency has banned the word “Englishman” — because it is too gendered

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Responding to Hoyle’s comments, the Free Speech Union wrote that it is “concerning to hear the Speaker of the Commons lumping ‘misinformation’ in with ‘incitement, threats and intimidation’ while talking up the need for greater cross-border censorship. Given that all statements of fact or opinion are provisional, who gets to define ‘misinformation’, and when?”

Joe Hadden, The Sun, 8th September 2024.

Tony Blair Calls for Global Agreement on Social Media Speech Restrictions

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Responding to Hoyle’s comments, the Free Speech Union wrote that it is “concerning to hear the Speaker of the Commons lumping ‘misinformation’ in with ‘incitement, threats and intimidation’ while talking up the need for greater cross-border censorship. Given that all statements of fact or opinion are provisional, who gets to define ‘misinformation’, and when?”

Kurt Zindulka, Breitbart, 7th September 2024.

Government faces High Court showdown with its free speech tsar

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Bryn Harris, the FSU’s chief legal counsel, said: “The Free Speech Union has formally commenced legal proceedings against the Government following its revocation of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023. These proceedings are of the highest constitutional importance. For almost 350 years, the governance of this country has rested on a golden premise: ministers of the Crown may not set aside the law made by Parliament. We say that a new government, flushed with power and ideological fervour, has thrown that rule to the wind. We believe the law is clear: our fundamental right to free speech, as protected by our sovereign Parliament, cannot be treated with such cavalier contempt.”

Camilla Turner, The Telegraph, 7th September 2024.

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