DAILY MAIL 23 / 10 /22 - Sharron Davies backs free speech and women's rights campaigners calling for Sport England's diversity chief to be fired for his role in 'Orwellian' transgender row

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Sharron Davies backs free speech and women's rights campaigners calling for Sport England's diversity chief to be fired for his role in 'Orwellian' transgender row

Sport England is facing calls to sack its diversity champion, Aedan Wolton

Wolton accused former colleague, Rachel Meade, of making 'transphobic' posts

Complaint to Social Work England led to Meade being suspended from her job

Sport England is facing calls to sack its diversity champion for his role in an 'Orwellian nightmare' that almost cost a dedicated social worker her job of 20 years.

Olympic swimming star Sharron Davies last night joined free speech and women's rights campaigners calling for the sporting quango's diversity chief, Aedan Wolton, to be fired or resign.

Mr Wolton, whose taxpayer-funded job is to 'tackle inequalities' in sport, had accused a former colleague, Rachel Meade, of making 'transphobic' posts on her private Facebook page.

She had shared links to news articles, including from The Mail on Sunday, about transgender issues, also to blogs and petitions surrounding the national debate over whether people should be allowed to self-identify their gender.

Mr Wolton's single complaint to the regulator Social Work England led to the mother-of-two being suspended from her job at Westminster City Council for a year.

She also faced being struck off by the watchdog at a 'fitness to practise' hearing.

Legal proceedings hung over her for almost two years.

Aeden Wolton, whose taxpayer-funded job is to 'tackle inequalities' in sport, had accused a former colleague, Rachel Meade, of making 'transphobic' posts on her private Facebook page

In a humiliating climbdown, last week, Social Work England dropped its case against the 54-year-old, who said the 'last two years have been nothing short of an Orwellian nightmare for me and my family'.

She added: 'My apparent crime was to share some news articles and petitions about the self-ID gender debate to fewer than 50 friends on Facebook. I found myself wrongly accused of holding abhorrent transphobic views.'

Last night, Ms Davies MBE said Mr Wolton's role in Mrs Meade's ordeal meant he should be axed from his job as Strategic Lead, Equality at Sport England.
She said: 'This person should not be employed by Sport England if he does this type of thing.'

Toby Young, from the Free Speech Union, said: 'It's ridiculous that she was put through two years of hell on the strength of a single complaint from an ex-colleague.'

FULL STORY HERE

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11344759/Sharron-Davies-backs-campaigners-calling-Sport-Englands-diversity-chief-fired.html

Oops, I meant to ask how Wilton was identified after being anonymised as E in the recent hearings.

BINGO

From the Guardian article…

”I’m in my final year studying social work at Goldsmiths, which has been really useful in helping me to approach public health from a social justice perspective.”

Did everyone go to Goldsmiths. Also do they mean by approaching public health from a social justice perspective. It brings to mind Social Justice Warriers.

Social Work England should be investigated as to why they think sharing of newspaper articles privately is an offence. Or even publicly.

Sport England needs to be investigated as to why they think someone who doesn't hold real inclusivity values should be head of inclusion.

Sharon Davies is awesome.

*Sharron. Autocorrect doesn't like two r's

I'm uncomfortable with asking for anybody to be fired, certainly before an investigation and giving the person a chance to apologise. But I also wonder whether hiring solely on the basis of membership in a supposedly marginalised group creates problems in the first place. Aedon seems to have studied social work and worked in healthcare - surely, a sportsperson would be a better fit? Of course, there may be other qualifications we don't know about.

On a different note, I have noticed that transmen can be quite prolific when it comes to malicious complaints which this seems to be. Less open in their disdain for women than some transwomen, perhaps, and a lot less in the limelight, but often very skilled at undermining non-compliant women professionally, marching through institutions and quietly changing policies to the detriment of women. (Examples: S. Whittle, James Morton ...)

Yes, there is more quiet fronting of campaigns and they are often seen as a safer, more benign iteration of the trans phenomenon. This is used by campaigners. However, the reasons for FtM transitioning are varied and it is not because of any sort of feelings of commonality with fellow women.

Trying to be something by dismissing your fellows is a social phenomenon that is seen everywhere. I think Ealing comedies made quite a few films on this premise.