Gender-critical? Here’s why you should watch what you say at work

Thanks to a slew of employment tribunal wins, anti-trans views might appear to come with a Harry Potter-style magic cloak of invulnerability. But employees should tread carefully, warns Robin Moira White

Brick wall: ‘Inflicting your protected beliefs on others can seriously affect your career prospects’ (Alamy/PA)

Two recent employment tribunals have shown how inflicting your protected beliefs on others can seriously affect your career prospects.

The first – which has been splashed liberally over social media these past few weeks – involves Kevin Lister, a 60-year-old, gender-critical maths teacher from Swindon, who believed he was justified in refusing to use the preferred name and he/him pronouns of a biologically female student at New College Swindon, while also making remarks denigrating their gender transition.

The college sacked him for gross misconduct – but, in a judgment handed down at the Bristol tribunal on Wednesday, Judge Livesey upheld Lister’s dismissal as fair and non-discriminatory.