There has been an utterly damning judgement in the case of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre versus their ex-employee Roz Adams, who was subject to what the judgement calls a ‘heresy hunt’ for her gender critical beliefs. ERCC’s investigation of Roz is described as Kafkaesque.

This statement by Roz gives an insight into who she is as a person. Roz’s top priority has always been the survivors of rape and sexual assault ERRC was supposed to serve. Aside from being a highly qualified support worker, Roz is a person of bravery, integrity and compassion.

Why was Roz subject to disciplinary action and discrimination in the workplace? Because she wanted to ensure that rape and sexual assault victims knew whether the person supporting them would be a man or a woman, in order to give informed consent before commencing counselling.

The judgement, which can be read here, includes a heartrending letter from a survivor who was re-traumatised by the CEO’s public statement that it is ‘bigotry’ for women not to accept trans-identified men as women, even when being counselled for rape.

The judgment gives a further example of a 60-year-old rape survivor who was turned away from the service because she wanted reassurance that there would be no males included in group therapy.

Tellingly, ERCC chooses not to refer women who want an all-female service to Beira’s Place, the all-female service for survivors of rape and sexual assault in the Lothians I founded and fund.

Women like me are constantly asked, ‘why do you care about this stuff so much?’ I care for many reasons, and one of them is that organisations like ERCC are demonstrably prioritising gender ideology over the service they’re meant to be providing to extremely vulnerable women.

While I’m happy for Roz, I find it disheartening that we’re relying on the bravery of individuals (mostly women) standing up to unlawful harassment and discrimination to expose the harms gender identity ideology is doing to the rights and protections of women and girls.

It’s time for employers to protect those holding gender critical beliefs in the same way that gender ideologues have been protected. Hopefully today’s judgement will bring about much-needed change, both for survivors of sexual violence and for employees across Scotland.

But it would be nice, for once, to see the Scottish government speaking up for the women who’ve been subject to unlawful discrimination for defending their sex-based rights, and to hear the government condemn, rather than side with, those conducting the witch hunts.

Previous writing: « This comment by Billy Bragg perfectly sums up…

Next writing: Contribution: Why I decided to stand up for women »