ISLAM IS NOW THE LARGEST CATEGORY OF CASES HANDLED BY THE FREE SPEECH UNION. Cases involving Islam have overtaken those concerning people penalised for expressing gender-critical beliefs. Since the Labour Government came to power in July 2024, the number of cases involving Islam has more than doubled, said @BenBarryJones, the FSU’s Director of Case Management, at our live recording of the FSU Podcast at the Battle of Ideas. This is astonishing in a country that abolished blasphemy laws in 2008 — 18 years ago. Watch the full episode on the FSU YouTube channel 👇

New College Swindon sacked gender-critical teacher Kevin Lister in September 2022 after he refused to call a 17-year-old student by their chosen male name. Mr Lister, a maths teacher, has said he felt “coerced” into using the student’s preferred pronouns. He is now appealing an employment tribunal ruling that he was not unfairly dismissed or discriminated against because of his gender-critical beliefs. Gender-critical beliefs are protected under the Equality Act 2010. The Supreme Court’s landmark ruling last year confirmed that “sex” in the Act refers to biological sex. It has been reported that, when asked to use the student’s preferred pronouns, Mr Lister began gesturing towards them rather than using their chosen name. A tribunal in Bristol ruled in 2024 that Mr Lister had been dismissed because of his conduct and because he had expressed his beliefs in an “objectionable” manner. At an employment tribunal hearing in London on Tuesday, Anna Loufti, representing Mr Lister, argued that the school had required him to “socially transition” the student—something he could not do because of his gender-critical beliefs. She also argued that the school had failed to consider how its policy placed the rights of people with gender-critical beliefs and transgender people in opposition. Mr Lister, she said, believed he had a duty to safeguard the student by discouraging the transition. Read more below 👇

6️⃣ The “Watch This Space” media green paper In its recent green paper, the Government set out plans to require social media platforms to prioritise “trustworthy” news sources —primarily public broadcasters such as the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. This would mean other, more critical outlets and independent journalists, such as The Telegraph and GB News, could be demoted. In what democracy does the Government believe it has the right to decide what counts as “trustworthy” and what news its citizens can access? The US has described this as “censorship” and warned it could become a blueprint for future, more authoritarian governments to crack down on the free press.

The leader of the Reform UK group at Devon County Council has been told to apologise to council officers and undergo training after being accused of bringing the authority “into disrepute”. The action followed his safeguarding concerns about giant sex toys and “chemsex” literature displayed at an LGBTQI+ event stall in Exeter Library, next to the children’s area. One mother complained that she had to explain to her six- and seven-year-old children what the giant purple prosthetic penis was for. Councillor Michael Fife Cook faced a Standards Committee hearing after emailing colleagues to raise safeguarding concerns. Two council officers then submitted code of conduct complaints. In his email to fellow Reform UK councillors and council officials, Fife Cook wrote: “Our council officers can’t be trusted in safeguarding children. What consenting adults do with each other in the privacy of their own homes is their concern, but any normal person would look at what was on show at this event and would believe it was not appropriate for young children. “To me this makes us all complicit in promoting and encouraging sexualisation of children. “To allow future events like this in property owned by the public will be rightly deemed as reprehensible and we will all be at fault.” Despite Fife Cook’s request for the three-hour Standards Committee meeting to be held in public, the public and press were excluded. The committee found that Councillor Fife Cook had failed to treat others with courtesy and respect and had brought the council into disrepute. He was cleared of allegations of bullying, compromising the council’s impartiality and causing the council to breach a statutory duty. After the hearing, Fife Cook said: “I wonder what the public will take from a standards meeting held in private at County Hall, aimed at rebuking a councillor for speaking out about the lack of safeguarding for children. “Will the public applaud such a draconian procedure, or will they wonder if the council’s time and money would be better spent working to improve the services provided for all the people of Devon?” Elected representatives must be free to raise concerns on behalf of their constituents, especially safeguarding concerns, without facing vexatious complaints or being silenced by unelected council officers. The Free Speech Union is supporting Michael’s legal challenge because Codes of Conduct must not be weaponised to silence legitimate political speech. A victory could help protect councillors across England from similar disciplinary action. Read more below and donate to our crowdfunder 👇