Sara Morrison vs Belfast Film Festival

[NorthernIrishFeminist]

Employers seem to be slow learners when it comes to women's rights! There’s another employment tribunal case being brought by a woman who attended and took the microphone at a Let Women Speak event in Belfast last year and has been treated very badly by her employer Belfast Film Festival as a result.

Looks like we’re going to have to keep gardening until they get the message.

disclaimer. I don’t know Sara and have no connection to BFF I’m just a woman who likes donating to causes that make a difference

I love this. Sounds like watching a shepherd and experienced dog work the sheep with a couple of whistles and body language.

So lots of busy lawyers running around with documents.

Maybe more to come. Not expected to start before 11.

That’s exactly what it is like. So much unsaid and understood. So much trust.

Highly intelligent.

From NW

Good morning and welcome to Killymeal House Belfast for Day 4 Session 1 of Morrison v Belfast Film Festival. Proceedings are due to begin at 11am. It is raining again.

Here are some bedraggled camera-folk, to cheer you up.

Starting to regret leaving my bag - and specifically the snacks it contains - in the hearing room.

Movement!

@YouCantProveIt

Mark is the one calling for her to be pulled from all things LGBTQIA - he even goes to say those organisations have been kind in not punishing her, calling her a transphobe etc.

Oh, I know, I’ve followed the whole thread - it’s chilling. But as a film-maker and film critic MC has shown himself again and again to be sensitive and open to nuance, challenging viewpoints, uncomfortable truths etc etc. Yet here there is nothing but total refusal to countenance another person’s right to hold completely acceptable views. I just felt moved to comment that once again I’m utterly boggled by the sheer mental disconnect this ideology produces. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised after all this time, though ☹️

Didn't MD complain about the 'nods and becks and wreathed smiles' between NC and CE, that it was distracting?
But somebody - MD? Judge? remarked that the other side were at it too, so I don't think it was taken any further.
If MD is being economical with the verité, I'm sure it would be disturbing to see CE giving NC a slight shake of the head...

@MarieDeGournay she did! "They both are" I think she said

It's started. Bear with me as I format.

From NW

This is last night's BBC NI report on yesterday's proceedings.

Okay we are underway - for various scheduling reasons there is going to be a pause in Belfast Film Festival CEO Michele Devlin’s (MD) evidence and BFF director Mark Cousins (MC) is going to start giving his evidence.

J = Employment Judge Lisa Sturgeon
P = her and her panel Professor Deborah Boyd and Michael McKeown
SD = Sean Doherty, BFF barrister
NC = Naomi Cunningham, Sara Morrison’s barrister
SM - Sara Morrison - Claimant (C)
BFF = Respondent - R

MC is sworn in
NC I want to start at par 2 of your Witness Statement (WS) - “The Respondent organisation has been clearly supportive of the LGBT community in greater Belfast for many years. It would be impossible to work there and not know...

that. The background here is the historic state, church, institutional and (often) family
shaming, silencing (or worse) of LGBT people in Ireland and elsewhere This has
been shifting in recent years. I often say that Ireland jumped from the 19th Century to

the 21st Century on the subject; cultural organisation, brave individuals and principled
politicians have helped bring about this shift, which has of course improved the lives
of thousands of our fellow citizens.”

NC can I take from this you think the situation has improved
MC I come from round here and gender-critical (GC) are in the majority - they’re not a minority group
NC No most people know that you can’t change sex

MC says that he has studied science and whilst he doesn’t quite say sex is a spectrum he starts talking about flowers and trees
NC but all human beings come from a female
MC accepts that all human beings have come from a mother

NC it’s right that shaming a marginalised group is a bad thing
MC yes
NC and you have taken a side in this
MC I passionately care for the rights of trans people, and, I hope everyone
NC and you have done so since 2013

MC and I think you’ll see I have never used derogatory language against people - certain acronyms
NC TERF?
MC yes - I would not use that and I would be very surprised if you could find me doing so

NC I’m not laying a trap for you - I don’t have anything here which suggests you have
MC I always think you play the ball and not the person - so I don’t call people racist but I say they have been

(sorry) said something racist with the exception of Donald Trump I never use derogatory terms about anyone

J this is all a very interesting social conversation but we have to stick to the list of issues

NC I would like to explore the word TERF with Mr Cousins - you know it is a term of abuse
MC It can be used as a term of abuse, but if you look at what it stands for there is nothing abusive in it

Nick posted the video of the news report but it wouldn't copy over. It is here:
@x.com/nickwallis/status/1988929163835883641?s=20

From NW

NC is suggesting that if MC stated a GC view it would be career-ending MC pushes back and says it is possible to apologise and move on

NC picks up the Bolshie Bish tweet: "Who's driving 4.5 hours up to Belfast Sunday just
to tell a transphobe to go fxck herself, and then
driving 4.5 hours home??"

NC can we see from the combination of the trans flag, the name, and the aggressive sentiment - that this is a trans woman?
SD why does it matter
NC it will be become clear in the next question
MC I can't answer that - I have no idea who this person is

NC okay if I'm right - this is a man who is travelling a large distance to abuse a woman
SD we have no evidence this person is a man
NC whether this person is male or female that that as a response to women asserting their rights is wholly unacceptable
MC I don't like it at all

NC you say in par 3 that "I was surprised to hear that the Claimant, who was Inclusion/Audience Development
Co-Ordinator with the Respondent, had criticised many of the organisations that the
Respondent had worked with"
NC which ones had they worked with
MC I can't remember

NC you confirmed your statement is true - what work had the R done with the groups mentioned?
MC I don't know. I'm a board member.
NC you're saying in your sworn statement that these were organisations you had worked with
MC when I made this statement I checked

... that we had worked with these orgs - but it doesn't matter - but when I saw the video I thought it was really was inappropriate to denounce our treasured partner orgs who are acclaimed for the work they do
NC let's go to the transcript of Sara's speech at LWS?
MC sure

I am taking an inordinate amount of pleasure from the NC v MC match-up😁

Re MD's moose joke, I don't get it. I know Palin hunted moose of course, but for the joke to work, it also needs to pun on Sara's interests somehow. Am I missing something? Are trans folk popularly known as moose in Northern Ireland?

If she'd said, "They're both trophy hunters" that would be defamatory but at least make some kind of sense. Otherwise it's a crap joke and MD should have offered to get her coat straight after. Weird outdated reference too.

I don't know of any submeaning to 'moose'.
the judge ticked her off with something like 'A tribunal is no place for a joke'

From NW

NC which of these organisations are your "treasured partner organisations"
MC I know we have had relationships with most of them. One of the things I like about the BFF is the way we partner with community groups.
NC you haven't partnered with the WRN network yet have you

MC no
NC do you think you should?
MC yes - I think we should partner with any orgs prepared to have discussions in a non aggressive way

NC you weren't present at 4 May board meeting, but you were brought up to speed on 25th. You said: "Hi Michele. Have tried to find the video of the Trans rally
that Sarah [sic] spoke at. Was it the Let Women Speak event, at which Parker Posey [sic] spoke and Graham Lenehan [sic] attended? If so this is more serious than I thought. I would like to email the chairs."

NC why is it serious that SM shared a platform with Posie Parker (PP)
MC because we don't want to be associated with extremist views, and it's not just here - there was someone else Jolene Bunting who was there wearing a at t-shirt with a gun to someone's head and a rainbow flag

"NC is suggesting that if MC stated a GC view it would be career-ending MC pushes back and says it is possible to apologise and move on"

So one has to apologise?
I presume that if they partnered with the WRN the WRN would have to apologise first? For being the WRN.
One rule for thee and another for me.

Nick posts very quickly which means we have a lot of detail, but I also have to use the loo, make tea and other things, so thank you all for your patience.

If I have any longer interruptions as yesterday, I'll let you know (and press Post this time 😂)

Other things includes posting my own comments on here.

From NW

MC saying know your enemy - that's awful
NC so if someone says something at an event that's beyond the pale that taints everyone
MC I don't believe in guilt by association
NC could you explain to the panel what LWS is - you understand the premise, presumably

MC Just before LWS was in Belfast they were supported by Nazi's sieg heiling and I'm not saying they wanted them there, but they attract extremes and they bring tension
MC we never said that Sara was guilty of anything it's about "getting dirty by association" with extremists

NC you are saying that if SM shared a platform with Posie Parker "it's even more serious than I thought"
MC yes we as a org need to express love to the community as an antidote to the LWS and extremist views being platformed

From NW

[we move on to MC's email to MD re his convo with SM on 25 June in a pub] He says:
"I found the whole thing troubling for several reasons. (1) There seemed to be the suggestion that Michele of spreading false information; I told Sara that I had heard reports of her speech from several sources including other board members. (2) There was no hint of regret for, or doubt about, what she did. As you'll know "I'm standing up for the rights of women" is the argument used by conservatives and religious people in several countries, and a new staple of the anti-LGBTQanti-lslamic right.

One could make a drinking game out of this bloke contradicting himself.

But he doesn't believe in guilt by association.

🤔

I can't think why but the words waffling knobhead have just walked into my brain.