Forstater v CGD Europe

Forstater v CGD Europe is a UK employment law case concerning whether gender-critical beliefs qualify for protection as a philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010. It was brought by Maya Forstater, a tax expert whose contract with the Center for Global Development (CGD) was not renewed in 2019 following her public comments opposing proposed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act 2004. The Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled in 2021 that gender-critical beliefs are protected under the Act, establishing a significant legal precedent in UK equality law.

Background

Maya Forstater was a visiting fellow and consultant at the Center for Global Development, an international development think tank with offices in London and Washington. In 2018 and early 2019, during a UK government consultation on proposed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act 2004 – which would have allowed people to self-declare their legal gender without a medical diagnosis – Forstater posted a series of comments on social media expressing opposition to the proposed changes. Her posts stated her view that biological sex is immutable and cannot be changed by self-identification.

CGD did not renew her visiting fellowship in March 2019. Forstater brought an employment tribunal claim arguing that her contract had not been renewed because of her gender-critical beliefs, and that this constituted unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.

First Employment Tribunal (2019)

The first hearing addressed a preliminary question: whether Forstater’s gender-critical beliefs qualified as a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010. Under the criteria established in Grainger v Nicholson (2009), a belief must meet several conditions to attract protection, including being genuinely held, attaining a level of cogency and seriousness, and being worthy of respect in a democratic society.

Employment Judge James Tayler ruled that Forstater’s beliefs did not meet this standard. He found that her belief – that a person’s sex is biological and cannot be changed – was absolutist in nature and not worthy of respect in a democratic society, in part because it failed to acknowledge the legal rights of trans people under the Gender Recognition Act 2004. The decision attracted significant media coverage and public debate. Among those who publicly expressed support for Forstater was the author J. K. Rowling, whose comments were widely reported as marking her public alignment with gender-critical positions.

Employment Appeal Tribunal (2021)

Forstater appealed to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). In June 2021, the EAT upheld her appeal, ruling that the Employment Judge had applied too high a threshold in assessing whether the beliefs were worthy of respect in a democratic society.

The EAT found that gender-critical beliefs – the view that biological sex is real, immutable and distinct from gender identity – do qualify as a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010 (UKEAT/0105/20/JOJ). Only beliefs that are “akin to Nazism or totalitarianism” or that seek to destroy the rights of others should be excluded from protection; gender-critical beliefs, while contested, did not meet that threshold.

The ruling drew an important distinction:

• Holding gender-critical beliefs is protected under the Equality Act 2010
• Expressing those beliefs in ways that amount to harassment or that violate

the dignity of trans people remains unlawful under other provisions of the Act

The EAT remitted Forstater’s substantive discrimination claim to a fresh employment tribunal for determination on the merits.

Subsequent proceedings (2022–2023)

The case returned to a fresh employment tribunal to determine whether CGD had discriminated against Forstater because of her beliefs. In July 2022 the tribunal found that she had been subjected to direct discrimination on grounds of her philosophical belief.

Following a further hearing on remedy, in July 2023 Forstater was awarded compensation of approximately £100,000.

Significance

The EAT’s 2021 ruling established that gender-critical beliefs are protected philosophical beliefs under UK equality law. Employers cannot lawfully dismiss or refuse to employ someone solely because they hold such views. The decision is frequently cited in subsequent UK employment disputes involving gender-critical beliefs.

The ruling was welcomed by gender-critical campaigners as a significant legal recognition of their position. Trans rights organisations noted that the EAT simultaneously affirmed that trans people retain their own legal protections under the Equality Act – under the protected characteristic of gender reassignment – and that the manner in which gender-critical beliefs are expressed remains subject to anti-harassment law. The case did not determine that gender-critical beliefs are correct or that trans identities are not valid; it determined only that such beliefs meet the legal threshold for protection as a philosophical belief.

In fiction

The case was fictionalised in the novel In the Beginning (Lightning Books, 2023) by Simon Edge, described by reviewers as a satirical retelling of the tribunal. Forstater spoke at the book launch.

See also

• Gender critical
• Equality Act 2010
• Gender Recognition Act 2004
• For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers