“Gender critical” beliefs and the ECHR

Posted: 08 Jun 2020 01:14 PM PDT (c) Paul Johnson – http://echrso.blogspot.com/

European Human Rights Law Review has published my article “Gender Critical Beliefs and the European Convention on Human Rights”.

The article critically explores the extent to which “gender critical” beliefs – which, principally, are that sex is biologically immutable and that it is impossible for a human being to change sex – should qualify for protection under the Convention.

In the article, I argue that a recent judgment of an Employment Tribunal in the UK, which held that gender critical beliefs do not qualify for protection under British equality law, was appropriate because it reflects the settled jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights in respect of the rights and freedoms of transgender people.

I also argue that this approach is consistent with the right to express gender critical beliefs, as the High Court of England and Wales has held, under Article 10 of the Convention.

The article is published in EHRLR (2020) issue 2, and will soon be available on Westlaw. If anyone wants to read it and cannot access it online, please email me and I will happily send you a copy.