Another update from Ann.
More digging required fellow gardeners...
*Update on Official sources provide unlawful guidance on the 2010 Equality Act!
We are in the final throes of preparing documents to bolster our argument as to why we should be given permission to proceed to Judicial Review - we are quietly confident.
This second stage has once again entailed a lot of hard work for our lawyers, and for me. Among other things, it has involved the time-consuming tasks of scrutinising hundreds of documents and websites to gather additional evidence of dissemination, of official unlawful guidance, by external organisations and compilation into consequent write-ups.
I come free, lawyers do not. Legal costs in this case are unavoidably high. Legal costs for this stage are not yet met, so I’m asking you to donate again, if you can possibly do so. And, if you can do so safely, please draw to the attention of your family members, friends, acquaintances and work colleagues.
We have changed strategy!
We are now only taking action against the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). Why? Because, if we win the case, the Government Equalities Office (GEO) must fall into line with the judgement. But what if the GEO doesn’t fall into line? Then we will move to seek a separate JR against them! The benefits of the changed strategy are (i) the legal action, with a focus on the main promulgator of unlawful guidance (EHRC), is clearer and (ii) legal costs will be reduced.
Recent news
Jeremy Hyam QC is AEA’s barrister. I already knew I’d chosen well but that has now been confirmed.
Outcomes to legal cases can rarely be predicted but if the case of Keira Bell and Mrs A. v GIDS/Tavistock Clinic is lost (I pray not), it won’t be due to poor representation!
Jeremy represented Claimants Keira Bell and Mrs A. against the Defendant GIDS/Tavistock in the high court on Thurs and Fri. Did any of you attend court or follow the live tweeting? If so, you’ll know how spectacular Jeremy was! He spoke for 2.5 hrs non-stop, without a single interruption from the judges – unlike the Defendant’s QC, who was constantly interrupted by the judges asking questions and for clarifications.
Masterfully, Jeremy used two cases from the Defendant’s evidence against the Defendants. And - calling a spade a spade! - instead of the usual ‘loss of sexual function’, Jeremy referred to ‘inability to orgasm’ as a result of cross-sex hormones, which really drove the negative consequences home. Jeremy’s closing (killer) remark re hormone treatment, as opposed to a watchful waiting approach: “Anticipated consequence of failure to treat being desistance”. I haven’t been able to track down all the live-tweeting, but these will give you a flavour:
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1314141438746202112.html
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1313773642464010240.html
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1314190292124393472.html
More recent news
This took me completely by surprise and shocked me to my core!
I have been shortlisted for the Emma Humphreys Memorial Prize. One of eleven nominees – read about them, and you will understand why I’m convinced that I won’t, and shouldn’t, win a prize. BUT being shortlisted is, in and of itself - as those of you familiar with EHMP will know - a HUGE honour, for which I am deeply grateful. I can still scarcely believe it!
emmahumphreys.org/2020/10/07/2020-shortlist-announced/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
You can join in the award celebrations here:
emmahumphreys.org/2020/10/07/register-now-for-our-2020-celebrations/
For those of you not familiar with Emma Humphreys, read about her here:
emmahumphreys.org/emma-humphreys/emma-biography/
And read Emma’s writings here – make sure you have tissues to hand.
emmahumphreys.org/emma-humphreys/emmas-poems/
The CJ funder is attracting a lot of attention!
To date, there have been 20,414 views, even factoring-in repeat viewings, that’s a lot of visits and, without doubt, a lot of people learning about EHRC’s unlawful guidance for the first time! Hopefully, some have gone away to scrutinise their equality policies.
Once again, thank you so much for your support and for your incredible comments. At present, there are 1,266 of you standing shoulder-to-shoulder with me – I can’t tell you how comforting and inspiring that is! Thank you to each and every one of you.*