A Stroud councillor has been required to study the Equality Act after likening gender-critics to Holocaust deniers.
Green councillor Helen Elliott-Boult posted the controversial statement in defence of a local business that cancelled an event because of the speakers’ gender-critical views. Two of the ‘deplatformed’ authors raised a complaint.
In 2021, the EHRC stated that holding to the belief that biology determines whether a person is a man or a woman is protected under the Equality Act.
Respect free speech
Elliott-Boult posted on social media: “Declining to host an event is not unlawful. We have experienced a similar local occurrence when a Holocaust denier was booked for another local venue – that venue decided not to host the event, due to a community concern.”
The authors complained to the council that she equated “lawful, protected beliefs as analogous to Holocaust denial”. One of the authors, Jo Bartosch, told The Telegraph: “When politicians make childish smears instead of engaging in debate, it’s a sure sign they don’t have the courage of their convictions. People deserve better from their elected representatives.”
She explained: “We hope this training gives her time to reflect, and that in future she will respect freedom of speech and association.”
Stroud District Council (SDC) member Elliott-Boult commented: “The complaint was resolved under the informal resolution provisions. I will be completing the same SDC councillor training as all SDC councillors. At no point did I make negative comments about gender-critical views.”
Lying about the law
The national Association of Green Councillors has come under fire for issuing information which wrongly claims that men who identify as women do not have to be excluded from single-sex spaces.
Fiona McAnena, Director of Campaigns for women’s rights group Sex Matters, warned that this puts councils at risk of legal action: “You could almost feel sorry for Green Party councillors, who are being given terrible advice by their own Association of Green Councillors.
“The claim that trans-identifying men don’t have to be excluded from women’s single-sex facilities by law is totally false, and both the Supreme Court judgment and EHRC guidance make this plain.”
The Shadow Equalities Minister Claire Coutinho stated: “It is astonishing that Green Party councillors are actively working to erode the rights of women and girls, even lying about what the law says.
“There is nothing progressive about undermining important legal protections that keep men out of women’s spaces.”
Academics back equality expert ‘deplatformed’ by trans activists
Sunderland Minster backtracks over ‘brazen’ breach of single-sex spaces
Lib Dems ‘betraying women’ by opposing single-sex spaces guidance