JK Rowling ‘stands with’ Maya Forstater in tweet after tax expert is sacked over trans views (Evening Standard)

20 Dec 2019 | Index in the Press

JK Rowling is among those who have defended a tax expert who lost a landmark employment law ruling about her views on gender identity.

The Harry Potter author tweeted in support of Maya Forstater, 45, who was dismissed from her job as a researcher for The Center for Global Development (CGD) think tank after she posted a series of “offensive” messages on the topic of gender identity.

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Her case was backed by the Index on Censorship whose chief executive had previously called for a more “public and open debate about the distinction between sex and gender.”

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Judge rules against researcher who lost job over transgender tweets (The Guardian)

19 Dec 2019 | Index in the Press

A researcher who lost her job at a thinktank after tweeting that transgender women cannot change their biological sex has lost a test case because her opinions were deemed to be “absolutist”.

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Forstater has been supported by Index on Censorship. Its chief executive, Jodie Ginsberg, has said previously: “From what I have read of [Forstater’s] writing, I cannot see that Maya has done anything wrong other than express an opinion that many feminists share – that there should be a public and open debate about the distinction between sex and gender.”

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A UK judge ruled that it is legal to fire workers for saying that transgender women are not real women (INSIDER)

2 Dec 2019 | Index in the Press

A judge in the UK ruled on Wednesday that it was legal for a leading think tank to fire a worker for arguing publicly that transgender women are not real women.

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During her challenge, Forstater was supported by the Index on Censorship advocacy group.