I want to thank you all for your support and help, financially, morally and practically. Thousands of people from all over the world have helped my case, most of whom I have never met. Some have become good friends. I am grateful to you all.

I regret to have to tell you that our application for a hearing of the case was declined by the ECHR. 

This was the case that never got a hearing. Yet over the four years since it began, the problem of universities preventing research on spurious grounds and hence preventing free speech; and the subject of my research - the huge rise in gender detransitions - were brought to public attention in the media, and kept there. Ironically, had Bath Spa University allowed me to carry out my research, both subjects would not have had the worldwide exposure they did have, thanks to their prohibition. Over the last four years I have given countless interviews to newspapers, TV documentaries, podcasts, radio news and discussion programmes,magazines; taken part in meetings at the House of Commons, House of Lords, and talked with policy makers, politicians, educators and journalists across the political spectrum almost continuously, about my research and the problem of the suppression of free speech. This has raised the profile of detransitioners, a much maligned group, and raised awareness of the impairment of free expression in academia.

All of this has, in large part, been thanks to your support. My two Crowdjustice fundraisers, which together have raised over £37,000 towards my legal fees, have meant that the quest to get a court hearing continued for four years and have kept it firmly in the public domain during this time.  (Once legal fees have been paid, any excess money will go to another case on Crowdjustice).  None of it has been a waste.

I'd like to be very clear, because people who dislike the case and fear the research will misrepresent what has happened. The substantial issue, the decision by the university to prevent me carrying out research into gender detransition out of fear of criticism, has never been heard by a court. The grounds on which the case has been refused a hearing both in the UK courts and at the ECHR are procedural.

Once again, I deeply appreciate your help and support over a very long four years. I do believe though, that when one door closes, another opens, and that those prepared to stand their ground in the face of injustice will ultimately win out, however long it takes.

A huge thank you to all of you who have supported this case so far. 

My lawyers have applied to European Court of Human Rights, since the Court of Appeal refused, on technical grounds, to grant a hearing for my case against Bath Spa University for preventing my research into gender detransition. 

 Since this case began in 2017  there has been a huge acceleration in the numbers of people reversing and regretting their gender transitions. Dr Miro Djordjevic, the surgeon who suggested that I research detransitioners as long ago as 2014, reported in a documentary last year a tenfold increase over five years of patients asking him to do 'reverse' surgery, and has published a paper asking for research to be done. Meanwhile, academics who talk about detransition, and consider researching it, are vilified and persecuted as 'transphobes', and risk their careers and livelihoods.

  This is not only wrong, but unethical. I still believe that the courts are the best place to have established the right to research what has become a controversial topic, and to make a precedent to protect free speech and democratic principles. That is why this case is so important. Please continue to help by pledging and sending the link out on social media - Twitter, Facebook etc.

     Despite some inaccurate reporting in the press, saying we have 'lost' the case, we have not lost as we have yet to get a hearing for it! We will persist in this and to that end earlier this week my lawyers appealed the previous week's refusal to grant a Judicial Review on procedural grounds.

 The Appeal will be on paper, so there will be no need attend the court this time, and the decision should be within two weeks. 

The Court of Appeal has three options :

 The first is to refuse; and this would then be the end of the road in the U.K.  We would then apply to the European Court of Human Rights. (Note, no connection to the E.U. so not affected by Brexit).

The second is to permit the appeal, and re-direct a fresh High Court hearing.

The third (and this is the interesting one); to hear argument on permission themselves (in the Court of Appeal) and then go on to determine the case.  In other words, we could go direct to the Court of Appeal and entirely miss the High Court.

  After a well attended and long hearing yesterday in front of Michael Kent Q.C., the judge said he thought that we should have

  a) appealed against the previous refusal of permission for a Judicial Review rather than re-apply, and/or

  b) applied for a J.R. against the Office for the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education rather than the university

 and so decided not to allow us a Judicial Review of Bath Spa's vetoing of my research.

  In other words, we were refused permission for a Judicial Review on points of procedure. However, the judge did say that is not to say that the court would approve of the university preventing research due to fear of criticism on social media. He was clearly sympathetic to the case but felt that his hands were tied by legal procedure.

   We will be appealing this decision and I will post progress on this when we have it.

 The High Court has decided to allow us an oral hearing to apply for permission for a Judicial Review of Bath Spa University's vetoing of my research into people reversing their gender transitions. This means that for the first time my barrister will be able to speak publicly about why this case is important and to ask the judge to grant us a Judicial review in the High Court. The date is Tuesday 19th February at the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand, London WC2.

My lawyers have reactivated the application for permission to hold a Judicial Review against both the university and the Office for the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education.

On 25th September 2018 the OIAHE issued its decision about my complaint against Bath Spa University, and found the complaint to be partially justified, because it said that the university had dealt with it inadequately. However, most crucially, it failed to address the central issue - that the fundamental reason the university gave for declining my research proposal was that it might attract criticism on social media which would in turn, be criticism of the university - instead saying that the research was ethically complex and that the university simply failed to explain that adequately. 

I am now raising funds to continue the case which is now against two defendants and will need to raise upwards of £35,000. Please help me to achieve this by pledging, tweeting and sharing on Facebook.

   On May 16th the High Court issued a consent order upon the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education  "agreeing to conduct a fresh review of the Claimant's complaint against the first defendant" (Bath Spa University).

The Adjudicator had, last December, refused to look at my complaint after I asked them to, (it was necessary to approach them to exhaust all possibilities before applying again for a J.R.), and so my lawyers then included them as a defendant in our application for Judicial Review. Subsequently, they have decided to investigate after all, and so we are now waiting for the result of that investigation before we can proceed to Judicial Review. 

The court has stayed the application for Judicial Review until one month after I am notified of the result of the review of my complaint.

Good news - my new CrowdJustice page has succeeded in hitting the £2,000 target by 20th April, as required by CrowdJustice rules! This means that the new page can remain open to continue to raise funds to cover my legal costs. The new stretch target is £5,000.

I am still waiting to hear from the court and will update you as soon as I have news. I am still fundraising and ask that you continue to share the link on social media, email etc.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/free-speech-matters-round2/

A big thank you to all of you.

Best wishes,

James

This is the second phase of fundraising to challenge Bath Spa university's decision in court. The application was lodged in the High Court in March 2018 and we will know the result of that in April. My ultimate target will be in the region of £35,000, but first I need to reach £2000 by 20th April 2018.