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Staff in the visa, status and information services department were sent a standardised format for their email signatures that included a suggestion that they include their preferred gender pronouns, for example “he/him”, according to the Free Speech Union (FSU), a campaign group.
Henry Zeffman, The Times, 16th April 2022.
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The Free Speech Union has written to Matthew Rycroft, the Permanent Secretary at the Home Office, to complain about a directive to Home Office staff to include their pronouns in their email signatures. They are concerned that this instruction, which appears to be mandatory, is a form of compelled speech that violates the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and the right to free speech (Articles 9 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights).
Guido Fawkes, 15th April 2022.
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Staff in the Visa, Status and Information Services department received an email ordering them to include their pronouns at the end of all messages they send. They must put “he/him” if they are a man, “she/her” if they are a woman or “they/them” if they don’t identify as either. But the Free Speech Union warned the order could breach equalities law. It has written to the Home Office’s top civil servant Matthew Rycroft to complain.
Kate Ferguson, The Sun, 15th April 2022.
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Free Speech Union General Secretary Toby Young also threw his weight behind the potential buyer. He told Express.co.uk: “Elon Musk is a steely-eyed free speech warrior. If he takes over Twitter, I hope he takes it back to what it was originally – the free speech wing of the free speech party.”
Michael Curzon, The Daily Express, 14th April 2022.
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Joanna Cherry, the SNP MP and QC, Jenny Lindsay, the award-winning poet, Lindsay Paterson, a professor of education policy, and Murdo Fraser MSP, the former deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives, have given their support to the Free Speech Union Scotland, which will launch later this month.
Marc Horne, The Times, 12th April 2022.
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In an interview for news website Christian Today, Toby Young, Founder of The Free Speech Union (FSU), said the “short and medium-term prognosis” for Christian freedom of expression under the Bill “isn’t good”. He said this is because some traditional Christian views are already considered “offensive, or even ‘hate speech’”, and that the proposed legislation would make this worse.
Giles Lambert, The Christian Institute, 12th April 2022.
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FSU General Secretary Toby Young released a statement expressing concern that the proposed legislation, if passed, could be abused by political activists to silence dissenting views. “We are particularly concerned that the government has said it will force social media platforms to remove ‘legal but harmful’ content, including ‘harassment,’” stated Young.
Michael Gryboski, Christian Post, 6th April 2022.
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Christian Today spoke to Young about the particular free speech challenges facing biblically orthodox Christians.
Julian Mann, Christian Today, 4th April 2022.
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At the Free Speech Union, where I am deputy research director, we see countless cases where people have been punished by employers or regulators simply for having different views. This shows the extent to which our right to free expression is being eroded on a daily basis.
Emma Webb, Spiked, 3rd April 2022.
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Following the inquiry, Toby Young, the General Secretary of the Free Speech Union, wrote a letter to David Isaac, saying that “the College’s uncritical acceptance of claims that the conference harmed students was a serious error. In keeping with, as you put it yourself, your own and the College’s commitment to freedom of speech, the College should have investigated and faced down students’ ill-founded complaints. No higher education institution should apologise for free speech.”
Estelle Atkinson, Cherwell, 25th March 2022.
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