Arts boss who said people cannot change their sex and was branded a ‘cancer that needs to be removed’ by colleagues wins employment tribunal case
- A panel ruled that Denise Fahmy was subjected to harassment by fellow staff
- Bosses were also blasted for failing to take a hostile petition down immediately
An Arts quango boss whose view that humans cannot change sex was branded a ‘cancer that needs to be removed’ by colleagues has won an employment tribunal case.
A panel ruled that Denise Fahmy was subjected to harassment by fellow staff at the Arts Council, who circulated ‘extremely offensive comments’ about gender-critical opinions that she held.
She was left ‘deeply upset’ by the remarks that created an ‘intimidating hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment’ for her at work, a ruling concluded.
Bosses at the organisation were also blasted for failing to take a hostile petition down immediately and for expressing their personal views on a contentious transgender rights issue in a staff meeting.
Ms Fahmy said after the judgment she was ‘delighted’ to have won her claim at Leeds Employment Tribunal against her former employer.
Denise Fahmy arrives at her industrial tribunal hearing in Leeds on May 19, 2023
‘It cannot be acceptable that people like me, who believe people can’t change their sex, are subjected to harassment at work. And worse still, that employers encourage and collude in this behaviour,’ she said.
She went on: ‘People in the arts, and especially women, are facing a tide of bullying with spurious accusations of transphobia, and many are frightened to speak out as they risk public cancellation.
‘Institutions like the Arts Council need to be held accountable, when they are biased and enable harassment of gender critical people.’
The judgment published yesterday by Employment Judge Jim Shepherd told how Ms Fahmy had been a relationship manager for the Arts Council since 2008 and in recent years had warned bosses about the quango’s links to pressure group Stonewall and its belief in gender identity.
In April 2022 she raised concerns about allegations of transphobia being levelled at a charity called the LGB Alliance, which had received a grant from a fund created by the Arts Council but saw it cancelled after a social media backlash.
During an online Teams meeting attended by some 411 staff, deputy chief executive Simon Mellor branded the LGB Alliance a ‘divisive organisation that has a history of anti trans-exclusionary activity’.
Ms Fahmy told him the charity is not anti-trans and asked how gender-critical views were protected in the Arts Council.
Ms Fahmy posted a picture of herself on Twitter on May 24. She wrote: ‘Me after 5 days of my Employment Tribunal in sunny Leeds. Panel now deliberating’
Ms Fahmy posted another message on June 27 thanking those who supported her legal costs and expressing that she is pleased with the decision
The following month, another employee sent an email to all staff declaring that the Arts Council’s LGBTQIA+ working group was raising a formal grievance about the LGB Alliance awards and also the ‘conflict of interest of senior members of staff with clear, homophobic/anti-trans views in positions of decision-making’.
It included a spreadsheet inviting colleagues to sign their support, and judges said the petition ‘included some extremely offensive comments referring to anti-trans (gender critical) language from numerous employees’.
One said: ‘We shouldn’t have to put up with this any more than we would racist or sexist behaviour. It’s time to stamp out bigotry in the Arts Council in general.
‘This cancer needs to be removed from our organisation. Hatred of others for their differences should not be tolerated.’
Ms Fahmy resigned in September after making a ‘dignity at work’ complaint which was upheld before she quit, with chairman Sir Nicholas Serota telling her: ‘The content and tone [of the] email and accompanying petition were capable of causing offence to persons such as yourself who hold gender critical views.’
The Tribunal insisted it was neutral in the transgender debate but noted that gender-critical views – including that ‘sex is biological and immutable’ – are a protected belief under the Equality Act.
It said it was ‘inappropriate’ for Mr Mellor to have provided his personal views and ‘express solidarity with one side of the debate’ in the meeting about the LGB Alliance, but that although his comments were upsetting they did not constitute harassment.
However the all-staff email and comments ‘were unwanted conduct which had the purpose and effect of violating the claimant’s dignity and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for the claimant’.
In addition it was ‘unreasonable and inappropriate’ for the petition to be left up for 26 hours, while the Arts Council had not updated its policies or provided training on the ‘contentious’ issue of trans-activist and gender-critical beliefs.
The Tribunal rejected Ms Fahmy’s claim of victimisation but concluded: ‘The unanimous judgment of the Tribunal is that the claim of harassment related to the protected characteristic of religion or belief is well-founded and succeeds’.
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