Barristers’ watchdog dismisses ‘misgendering’ complaint

An investigation into a ‘misgendering’ complaint against a leading gender-critical barrister has been dropped by the Bar Standards Board (BSB).

The regulator told Naomi Cunningham, who chairs campaign group Sex Matters’ board of trustees, that she faces no further action over a complaint that she consistently used male pronouns in court when referring to a gender-confused man.

It also said that the barrister had no case to answer over a separate complaint about comments made in support of the Supreme Court ruling that the definition of a woman is determined by biology not ideology for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010.

‘Correctly sexed’

Cunningham explained: “It has been my practice in a number of hearings over the last year or so to use correct-sex pronouns for trans-identifying men whose sex is material to the case.”

She said that she welcomed the view taken by the BSB “that it is not professional misconduct to ‘misgender’ in court, at least in a case where the sex of the person ‘misgendered’ (correctly sexed) is salient”.

Reflecting on both complaints, she added: “The tendency of activists to try to weaponise regulatory procedures is a very bad thing and too much of it has been happening.”

Pro-trans guidance ditched

In 2023, the BSB overhauled advice against ‘misgendering’ those who claim to be the opposite sex, after lawyers challenged it for promoting transgender ideology.

During a review of its social media and non-professional conduct guidance, the watchdog said it received “a lot of criticism and feedback” over a case study in which a gender-confused Twitter user challenged a barrister for upholding the reality of biological sex.

In the example, which has now been dropped, the BSB claimed, “the barrister’s conduct in specifically targeting the transgender woman, threatening, and intentionally misgendering them are likely to be considered seriously offensive and discriminatory”.