Researcher defends tweets on trans rights at employment tribunal

A researcher who lost her job at a charity after tweeting that transgender women should not have a legal right to change sex has said at an employment tribunal that she “does not harbour any ill-feeling” towards trans people.

Maya Forstater, 45, a tax expert, was a visiting fellow at the Centre for Global Development (CGD), an international thinktank that campaigns against poverty and inequality. Her contract at the organisation, which is based in Washington and London, was not renewed in March this year after a dispute over publicising her views on social media.

She was accused of using “offensive and exclusionary” language in tweets opposing government proposals to reform the Gender Recognition Act to allow people to self-identify as the opposite sex.

Forstater tweeted that “men cannot change into women”. She has argued that her “gender critical” beliefs should be protected under the 2010 Equality Act, and she has funded her legal challenge through the CrowdJustice website.

At the central London employment tribunal on Friday, she agreed that the trans community was vulnerable. She added: “I don’t think it’s possible for someone to change their sex … [although] it’s possible to change it on a birth certificate.”

She has been supported by Index on Censorship. Its chief executive, Jodie Ginsberg, has said previously: “From what I have read of [Forstater’s] writing, I cannot see that Maya has done anything wrong other than express an opinion that many feminists share – that there should be a public and open debate about the distinction between sex and gender.”

At the tribunal on Friday, Forstater said she had held her views since childhood that people could not change their sex. She said she did not start publicising her opinion until 2018 when she was confident to speak out. “I don’t think people could literally change sex,” she said.

CGD has said it supports diversity and equality and disputes Forstater’s claims. It argues that her opinions upset other employees and were not consistent with its values.

The hearing continues.