I am raising £6,000 to prepare my employment tribunal case against my former employer, Bracknell Forest Borough Council. I want to complain of discrimination and harassment on the grounds of sex and gender-critical belief.

My case is about the Council’s “Trans and Non-Binary Policy”, under which it has removed all single-sex toilets, and its breach of the Nolan Principles and harassment of gender-critical staff and those who do not believe in gender identity theory through its extensive and oppressive use of the Progress Pride flag.

I believe sex is immutable, and that sex is different to gender, and that women’s single-sex spaces are important for privacy and dignity, and to help protect women and girls from violence and abuse, especially sexual assault.

I am represented by Elizabeth McGlone of Didlaw and Naomi Cunningham of Outer Temple Chambers.

Toilets

In late 2022 Bracknell Forest Council changed the women’s ground floor public toilet in the main council offices in Bracknell to a mixed-sex facility with sinks and drying facilities outside of the cubicles.

I raised my concerns with HR in February 2023. I explained how important single sex facilities are to women, and I referred to the example from my own experience of being sexually assaulted in a toilet and how this had affected my mental health. I myself also had the misfortune of having a miscarriage whilst at a previous workplace and am sensitive to the intimate personal gynaecology and urinary issues women of all ages often have to deal with in the toilet.

As these toilets are used by the public, I felt that the change to mixed-sex facilities posed a safeguarding risk, and just as importantly, ignored privacy and dignity concerns. There was no risk assessment or equality impact assessment (EIA) and as far as I am aware no consideration of whether the change was lawful before it was implemented.

On 7th July 2023 Bracknell Forest Council introduced a Trans and Non-Binary policy. This allowed trans identified staff to use the toilet of their choice. This policy, too, was adopted without consultation with staff affected, no EIA and legal advice as to its lawfulness. Three other unrelated HR policies were also included in the covering report. You can find the report and policy and a recording of the committee meeting which agreed the policy here https://democratic.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=135&MId=11996&Ver=4

Despite my complaint on the removal of single sex toilets council leadership was clear, the policy was not going to be revisited and remains in force. An EIA completed after the implementation of the policy states ‘as this policy is applied in a professional setting it is viewed that the risk of harm is not high. There are other occasions where individuals of different biological sexes will be alone together such as in the lifts, meetings.’  and will respond to concerns by ‘signposting to counselling services’

I was outraged that the Council could liken sharing the intimacy of a toilet setting with a male as the same as getting in the lift, and that the Council felt that women who were concerned about this policy needed counselling.  This could not be further from the truth or reality.

I felt my only option was to work from home the majority of the time and when in the office was to use the disabled toilet. I never used the ‘women’s’ toilets again. This was humiliating leaving me feeling very alienated from my workplace and feeling unvalued as a female employee. I suffered a range of emotions over these unilateral changes including sleepless nights and increased anxiety. I really missed the social interaction and comradeship that being physically in an office brings.

My needs as a female member of staff were ignored.

Progress Pride flags 

My other complaint is about the Council’s increasingly intrusive and excessive promotion of gender ideology by displaying the Progress Pride flag. I believe the flag pushes a contested political ideology which I do not agree with. No other ideology or protected characteristic was promoted by the Council in a comparable way.

I complained about this over-usage in June 2023. After much chasing, my complaint was only escalated in June 2024 to the Council’s Corporate Management team. The result was an email to all council staff from a Executive Director of the council, who also happened to be my line manager, announcing that the physical Progress Pride flag would be removed from the front of the building, because they had received my complaint that it required planning permission.

In the email he expressed disappointment about having to take this decision and a determination to seek planning permission so that the flag could be displayed again at the next opportunity. The email further reiterated that the Progress Pride Flag remained available for staff use as virtual meeting backgrounds and that this was fully supported by the Council.

I felt this was a direct criticism of me and  the concerns about women’s rights that I had raised. Many of my questions on this remain unanswered.

I handed in my notice on 20^th June. I was on 3 months’ notice. For much of my notice period the Council’s Corporate Management team, HR, and Equalities Manager consistently used the Progress Pride flag as their backgrounds in virtual work meetings. I believe that this was as a direct result of my complaint and was intended to harass me given the issues I had raised. I submitted a Whistleblowing complaint to the Council on 8^th August 2024, and agreed that this would also cover a Grievance on the 13^th August and these remain on-going.

Why donate?

Similar policies are in force in public and private sector workplaces up and down the country, and they are part of a concerted campaign to marginalise women’s rights to ordinary everyday privacy and dignity, and to create an environment in which we dare not speak up against that campaign. Progress Pride flags everywhere you look convey a clear message that women’s rights will be discounted to zero any time they are perceived to come into conflict with the demands of men who say they are women, and make employees frightened to speak up on any of these subjects. They create an environment in which for a council employee to stand up for their rights and the rights of others is career suicide.

Please donate if you can. We need to get political campaigning out of the public sector, and re-focus the public sector on the Nolan Principles of accountability, honesty, impartiality, objectivity, selflessness, openness, and leadership.

I will run my case in the spirit of those same principles. I know that if you donate, you will do so not primarily because you want me to get an award of compensation, but because you want help get this ideology out of our institutions. I will be as open about the progress of my case and its prospects of success as I can be, and I will hold myself accountable to you not — unless I am advised that I have no real choice — to accept a confidential settlement of my claim that does nothing to further the  public purposes for which you have funded my claim.

Thank you

Thank you for reading. And thank you even more if you are able to donate. Any unused funds will be donated to another similar case supporting women’s rights in the workplace.