To be fair to the judge, it is a contentious topic, and one that I have long avoided talking about at work, until I am sure that the person I’m discussing it with shares my views.
The problem is not that it’s a contentious topic, the problem is that it’s a very divisive topic and those on one side of it feel entirely vindicated in raising it (announcing pronouns in meetings or putting them in email signatures) where the other side have been unfairly told that their views are so contemptible that they can’t express them.
That situation has become so normalized that many don’t see it. It’s unfortunate that the judge is blind to that socially engineered inequality.
I hope that, in time, it will be seen that virtue signaling your political allegiance to gender ideology will come to be seen as just as contentious as sticking your opinion on abortion in your email signature or announcing it in meetings as you introduce yourself.
Obviously if someone decides to undergo a process of “gender reassignment” in the workplace, the topic will have to be dealt with, but beyond that, it isn’t something anyone should be proselytizing on in the workplace.