Transgenderism: Queen’s University equality policy is ‘open to abuse by those who want to silence others’

The News Letter has looked into the issue amid a general backdrop of concern that people are being punished or shamed for expressing dissenting views about transgenderism – particularly on UK university campuses.

For instance, a group called Academics for Academic Freedom has compiled a list of authors, lecturers, and campaigners who have faced recent censure or de facto bans due to their views on transgenderism, including feminist icon Germaine Greer and BBC journalist Jenni Murray.

The most recent case is that of Kevin Price; Mr Price is not even an academic – he works as a porter at Cambridge University.

A former Labour councillor, he faced calls from Cambridge students for him to be sacked from his porter job, reportedly on the grounds that he objected to the mantra “trans women are women”.

The News Letter sought comment for this article from two different campaign groups – Transgender NI, and the Rainbow Project – but neither of them responded.

SO WHAT IS QUEEN’S POLICY?:

QUB’s current “Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Policy” entered force in May this year.

It says everyone must be treated equally regardless of their “gender identity/expression (this includes transgender and non-binary people)”.

The phrase “transgender” does not refer to people who have had a “sex change” – this is a common misconception.

Instead the term as it is used today refers to anyone who believes they are a different gender to the one they were born into, regardless of whether they have had hormones, surgery, or have legally changed their identity.

This means someone who is genetically, anatomically, and officially male should be treated as female if they “identify” as such.

Meanwhile “non-binary” refers to the belief that there are not two genders, but many.

The definition used by Stonewall (one of the most vocal campaign groups on these issues) says these new genders include – but aren’t limited to – “gender-queer, gender-fluid, gender-variant, crossdresser, gender-less, agender, non-gender, third gender, bi-gender, trans-man, trans-woman, trans-masculine, trans-feminine, and neutrois”.

The QUB document goes on to state that “gender is largely culturally determined and is assumed from the sex assigned at birth” – in other words, biology only plays a limited role in whether someone is of male or female gender.

The QUB equality policy applies to staff and students, and says there will be “zero tolerance” of “transphobic harassment” – with dismissal being the ultimate sanction.

It is also backed up by a separate “Trans Equality Policy” which says that when it comes to showers, changing rooms, or toilets, people should be allowed to use whichever they like, “according to the gender in to which they identify”.

This trans-specific policy also says “once a trans person has made known their preferred name, this name should be used in all circumstances, rather than their birth name” and they should be “referred to using the pronoun they have a preference for” (this could include newly-coined words like ‘ze’, ‘zir’, ‘zim’, ‘xe’, ‘xim’, or ‘xyr’).

Despite only applying to a very limited number of people, transgenderism is the only category which QUB’s human resources department has a specific policy for (there is no stand-alone race policy, for example, or a stand-alone policy on religious rights).

INSTITUTIONS ADOPTING ‘INSANE’ GUIDELINES:

James Caspian is a registered psychotherapist who made headlines in his native England recently, after Bath Spa University refused to let him research ‘de-transitioners’ (people who switched from male to female, or vice versa, but later regretted it).

Mr Caspian, 61 and living in south-east England, for many years specialised in transgender-related therapy work.

He has become concerned in recent years however about changes in the profile of people seeking help, such as a rapid growth in young people claiming they are transgender.

His concern about the Queen’s policy is basically that it obliges staff and students alike to accept contested beliefs as fact.

He said the guidelines echo other similar rules now in force elsewhere, largely written by “small numbers of activist groups with a very specific agenda”.

“These beliefs include that sex is ‘assigned’ and gender has nothing to do with the body, and that there are dozens of different genders,” he said.

“They are unproven ideas, and highly debatable.

“They’ve written the policy in such a way that anyone who even disagrees with the fundamentals of these ideas can be accused of being ‘transphobic’, complained about, investigated and sacked.

“I have yet to meet anyone, including many people I know who have undergone gender transition, who actually agrees with this narrative in its entirety.

“Yet institutions and their staff are held to ransom by these insane policies.”

He stressed that nobody should be “discriminated against institutionally”, nor should they be “bullied” at a personal level.

But he said policies such as these go “way beyond that... seeking to silence any discussion of the contentious nature of the claims made”.

If a Queen’s lecturer tells his students that sex is a biological reality, not merely something “assigned” to babies by adults, “are you going to be suspended and investigated?”

Under the policy as it is written, he said: “Probably.”

He concluded: “This is about telling you – you ignorant person – that you need to know all of this exists now...

“You had better learn this, mate, otherwise you’re going to be in trouble.”

He added that “there are shades of Cultural Revolution re-education in it” – a reference to the Chinese Communist purges of the 1960s and 70s in which children were urged to denounce adults, and students their teachers, if they failed to keep up with Maoist doctrine.

‘THIS IS CLEARLY OPEN TO USE AS A TOOL OF HARASSMENT’:

Meanwhile Dr Heather Brunskell-Evans – an English feminist author and academic, specialising in social theory – is also critical of QUB’s policy.

She has said she was forced out of the small Women’s Equality Party in 2018 for speaking out against medical transgender interventions on children.

She told the News Letter: “The [QUB] policy is clearly open to being used for the purpose of harassing, silencing, or otherwise controlling views, beliefs and personal boundaries of those who don’t comply with the claim someone who identifies as trans should be... for all purposes, treated as the sex with which they identify.”

She said that, as it stands, “a woman could be accused of discrimination if she objected to sharing a bathroom on university campus” with someone who is a fully-biological male.

“This emphasis on personal self-chosen identity that requires no objective external criteria overrides the legally-protected characteristic of sex in the Queen’s documentation,” she said.

“A person could be accused of discrimination if they disagreed with the ideology of self-identity, even if there was no evidence the trans person was directly discriminated against.

“The guidelines are shocking and clearly enable someone to be punitive of anyone not fully compliant with the demands of self-identity.”

TWENTY INVESTIGATIONS IN FIVE YEARS:

Figures from QUB show its equality policy is not just a token piece of paper; in the past five years there have been 20 investigations into alleged violations of the policy.

Queen’s did not say what the basis for the 20 investigations was (ie: racism, sectarianism, etc).

Three were into staff, and they all led to no action.

Another three are ongoing into the conduct of students.

And of the 14 finished investigations into students, seven cases were thrown out, three led to warnings or were “resolved informally”, two led to fines, while one student quit the university, and one was expelled.

The comments of Mr Caspian and Dr Brunskell-Evans were put to QUB.

It responded: “The university is proud of its work promoting equality, respect for diversity and greater inclusion both on campus and in the workplace.

“Our ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy’ reflects our strong and visible commitment to promoting equality of opportunity, good relations, and respect for issues including but not limited to age, gender, race, disability, sexual orientation (LGBTQ+).

“It was approved by the university after a lengthy equality screening and consultation exercise, both internally and externally with key consultees, including the Equality Commission for NI, amongst others.”

Prior to May this year, QUB had a different equality policy, drawn up in 2008.

QUB has refused to provide this old policy to the News Letter, directing the paper to lodge a Freedom of Information request (a process that can take several weeks, and which institutions often use to slow down reporters’ enquiries).

The News Letter is the only media outlet in Northern Ireland which is regularly covering the issue of transgenderism in any degree of detail. Read more below:

Click here: Christian pastor: The day dad told me he was a woman

Click here: Director of transgender group hired to train PSNI dubbed police ‘racist oppressor pigs who deserve the wall’

Click here: Use transgender pronouns or face possible dismissal: new guidelines for NI’s 23,000 civil servants

Click here: Lent is time to reflect on the compassion and courage of Jesus, which perhaps can help us address ‘concerns’ around transgender identity

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