• Dr. Shahrar Ali suing Green Party for discrimination over views on biological sex
• He was sacked as party’s spokesman for arguing sex is immutable
• Hostility towards gender-critical views unprecedented
Dr. Shahrar Ali, the Green Party’s former Deputy Leader, is suing the party for discrimination due to his views on biological sex. He was dismissed from his role as spokesman on Policing and Domestic Safety, after arguing that sex is immutable. His statement that a woman is an adult human female was deemed “highly controversial” and incompatible with his role.
Ali’s legal case brings to the fore the tensions between free speech and gender issues within political parties. His case highlights what he calls a “fanatical clampdown” on legitimate debate, as seen in the Labour leadership race in 2020, where candidates signed a ‘pledge’ threatening members who hold ‘transphobic’ views with expulsion.
Overall, the case raises important questions about how far political parties should go to protect different opinions. People have the right to believe what they wish, but this case shows the hostile environment faced by members with gender-critical views.
Dr. Shahrar Ali, the Green Party’s former Deputy Leader, is suing the party for discrimination over his views on biological sex. In her piece for UnHerd, Joan Smith explores the landmark legal case that brings the simmering tensions over free speech and gender issues within political parties to the fore. Here’s an excerpt:
How did the Greens become so focused on trans rights that they’ve ended up in court? The question is at the heart of a landmark action brought by the party’s former Deputy Leader, Dr. Shahrar Ali, which is being heard this week. In what is believed to be the first civil case of its kind, he is claiming he suffered discrimination, hostility and victimisation because of his belief in biological sex.
Ali was sacked last year as the Greens’ spokesman on Policing and Domestic Safety after he was accused of breaking the party’s code of conduct. He was told that his “decision to champion a highly controversial position in the trans rights debate” was incompatible with the role. His offence? Arguing that sex is immutable, an opinion shared by most human beings who have ever lived.
He even believes – pause for gasps of horror – that a woman is an adult human female, and issued a statement to that effect when he ran for leader three years ago. That such statements can be characterised as “highly controversial” demonstrates how radically opinion within political parties – beyond just the Greens – has shifted in little more than a decade. …
People can believe whatever they like, but Ali’s case highlights what he calls a “fanatical clampdown on legitimate debate”. There have always been factions and disagreements within political parties, but the hostility faced by members with gender-critical views is unprecedented. During the Labour leadership contest in 2020, most of the candidates signed a ‘pledge’ threatening members who hold ‘transphobic’ views with expulsion.
Worth reading in full.
