Open letter to the Council of Europe

Protecting Women's Rights Is Not Bigotry

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Photo credit: PACE

In January 2022 Fair Cop and the Women’s Rights Network published “Transphobia as a Security Concern” where we set out our criticisms of two reports that attempted to argue “transphobia” was inextricably linked to violent “far right” ideologies—without providing any definition of “transphobia” or indeed of “trans.”

We commented that we planned also to examine a further report made by Fourat Ben Chikha of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in September 2021, entitled “Combating Rising Hate against LGBTI people in Europe” as this too demonstrates the same unacknowledged and unexamined flaws of the other reports; a conflation of UK gender critical views with “far right extremism,” a distinct lack of curiosity about UK jurisprudence and a simple unsustainable denial that there is any conflict between the rights of women and trans people

On 25 January 2022 PACE adopted a resolution based on this report, strongly condemning “the extensive and often virulent attacks on the rights of LGBTI people for several years” notably in Hungary, Poland, the Russian Federation, Turkey and the United Kingdom. The parliamentarians deplored anti-gender narratives, which reduce the fight for the equality and rights of LGBTI people to what some conservative movements deliberately mis-characterise as “gender ideology” or “LGBTI ideology.”

This is very concerning. To see the UK in a list of countries containing Russia and Turkey, accused of “virulent” attacks on the “rights” of any group is nonsensical. I am not aware of any “virulent attacks” on the rights of “LGBTI” in the UK. (I assume the “I” stands for “intersex” and note with curiosity the failure to include the “Q” and the “+” which often appear in this acronym).

There have been no “virulent” attacks. Instead, there have been a variety of legal challenges to unlawful and irrational decisions which have been largely successful - see for example Harry Miller’s victory against the College of Policing and Maya Forstater’s victory in the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). These legal actions were taken to challenge what appeared to be the elevation of just one part of that acronym—the “T”—above all other considerations and certainly above the rights of women to single sex spaces and the ability to talk about this. These challenges were not funded by religious extremists or the “Far Right” but by the £10s and £20s of thousands of individuals. Currently the funds raised via crowdfunding are just over 2 million pounds.

It is astonishing to see the Council of Europe condemn the UK for upholding and protecting women’s rights and the rule of law—many by reference to the articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, itself drafted by British lawyers.

The impact of this irrational condemnation is likely to be extremely serious. We can already see this playing out in the UK by frankly bizarre responses to recent statements by the EHRC about changes to the Gender Recognition Act in Scotland and conversion therapy. The EHRC is already being labelled a transphobic “hate group” for its calm and rational assertions about the rule of law, the need for proper definition of terms and respectful debate.

Stonewall’s response epitomises the reactions the trans rights lobby, calling for people to sign an open letter to condemn the EHRC as not fit for purpose:

Recent devastating public statements from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) are not just a betrayal of LGBTQ+ people and a specific attack on trans people. They fundamentally undermine their core purpose of regulating, promoting and upholding human rights.  

This cannot be disregarded as the comical trantrums of groups which are finally hearing “no” for the first time. The EHRC is created by statute to protect and defend the Equality Act 2010. This is a direct attack on the rule of law and our Parliamentary democracy. Woman who dare to rely on the law to protect their rights are being smeared as disgraceful bigots, less than human, “cockroaches” or some other kind of infestation.

We know where this road leads. Fair Cop and the Women’s Rights Network have therefore prepared an open letter to the Council of Europe. What good it will do, we don’t know. But silence is not an option. If you agree with our concerns and wish to sign, please add your name in the comments.