The Good News Supplement: Monday 22nd July - Sunday 28th July

“Fastest Woman in the World”, Wilma Rudolph, a pioneering & inspirational Olympic athlete - IMAGE CREDIT: Holland Sentinel

A handful of the good news stories from the gender beat this week! Enjoy!

Legal Defeat For Not So Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats have admitted to discriminating against a woman over her rejection of gender identity ideology.

Natalie Bird, a long standing member of the Liberal Party, had hoped to pursue a career in politics. A survivor of domestic violence, she is a passionate defender of women’s sex-based rights and spaces. In 2018, she was bullied on social media by Lib Dem trans activists, hounded out of her role within the party, accused of ‘dangerous transphobia’ and subjected to an investigation for expressing her belief in sex realism.

A year later she was barred from holding or standing for election to any Lib Dem office for 10 years and barred from holding or seeking election to any public office on behalf of the Lib Dems for 10 years because, it was claimed, she had disseminated ‘transphobic material’ after wearing a t-shirt that read “Woman: Adult human female”.

She then launched a legal action for discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. It has been a long time coming - three and a half years - but a highly unusual conclusion has finally been reached.

At the hearing on 22nd July 2024, the Lib Dem’s barrister stated there had not been enough time for the party to withdraw from the case so they had put in a judgement against themselves for breaching Natalie’s contract and for breaching the Equality Act 2010, thus admitting every aspect of the claim in full. Such a decision is extremely rare and virtually never happens. Natalie’s lawyer, Elliot Hammer, commented that this is a ‘very important’ victory.

A hearing to determine damages and costs hearing is scheduled to take place 20th and 21st August. According to The Telegraph, Natalie is expected to be awarded substantial damages.

Huge congratulations to Natalie and her legal team.

Order In The Court

As reported by Seen in Journalism, The Equal Treatment Bench Book has been revised with some encouraging guidelines concerning gender identity.

The Equal Treatment Bench Book (ETBB) is a set of guidelines produced by the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary which “Aims to increase awareness and understanding of the different circumstances of people appearing in courts and tribunals”.

It has recently been revised and, while still far from perfect, includes some encouraging and most welcome new guidance.

There are some positive additions to note regarding suspects and perpetrators who have a ‘trans identity’ and the use of their ‘preferred pronouns’ in court.

The new ETBB also makes the point that “Many people feel strongly that they do not wish to be described as ‘cisgender’ or ‘cis’”.

And that “Gender critical beliefs are protected beliefs, even if they might offend or upset trans people”.

More work still to be done, but this is a very promising start.

A Sporting Chance

Another six American states have blocked Biden’s attempt to shoehorn males into Title IX this week.

US legislation known as Title IX was passed as part of the 1972 Federal Education Amendments. It was originally established to protect female rights and prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programmes. In April 2024, the Biden administration announced an ‘overhaul’ of Title IX and inserted ‘gender identity’ into the legislation, meaning it no longer protects women’s sex-based rights and spaces.

This week another six states have temporarily blocked the new regulations. US District Judge Rodney Sippel granted a preliminary injunction to prevent the revised Title IX rule from taking effect in Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota, pending legal action.

This order now brings the number of states which are vetoing the new Title IX legislation to 21.

Seen And Not Herd

There’s a new (and much needed) SEEN in town!

TU SEEN is a UK network for Trade Union members and representatives committed to promoting and supporting sex equality and equity. See this link for more information and give them a follow on social media.

Glinner Of Hope

Richard Ayoade, who starred as as Maurice Moss in the multi-award winning IT Crowd, has spoken publicly in defence of Our Graham.

Speaking on Gyles Brandreth’s Rosebud podcast, Richard Ayoade spoke of Graham as defending women’s rights and said, “I think he's a great writer, a brilliant writer, and I think everyone who would know him would know he's a man of great principle”. Nothing we didn’t already know.

And don’t forget that Graham’s memoir, Tough Crowd, is still available from Amazon, The Express shop, Lightning Eye, Waterstones, Blackwells and all other discerning outlets. (There are also audio versions available on Audible and Spotify too.)

And Finally…