I was expelled from the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW) in January after being accused of a host of misdemeanours stemming from refusing to pretend that people can change sex.

My expulsion is supposedly necessary to protect the reputation of the Green Party, though I do wonder what reputation in regards to women's rights the party believes it has left. It was said during my disciplinary hearing that the statement 'people cannot change sex' is against party policy because apparently official Party policy is that people can change sex. This is quite a startling claim for a party of science, and it must be challenged.

The January expulsion misfired as it was found to be procedurally incorrect, and I have remained demurely mute while wending through an appeal and a second disciplinary hearing, because discussing complaints can trigger further complaints and I have a queue of those already.

The upshot of the recently held second hearing is that I have been expelled again.

This disciplinary merry go round has garnered some useful information to assist my legal action, so whilst it has not been pleasant to attend these struggle sessions, evidence has emerged that the complaint that I was expelled for was submitted with the purpose of preventing me attending the 2021 Green Party spring conference.

It will be interesting to see how that knits with the Equality and Human Rights Commission advice to political parties which avers that a political party must not discriminate against members in how they allow them access to a benefit, facility or service. These services include 'participating in national, regional or local party meetings, conferences or events.'

I intend to appeal this second expulsion whilst continuing the legal action because although I would love the Green Party to stand up for its core principles of freedom of expression and belief, I have not seen a shift towards upholding those values, and it seems instead that the Greens are continuing to chase a course of coercive control over members with gender critical beliefs.

The Green Party did well in the recent local council elections – I would suggest that this was in spite of the Party's focus on gender ideology rather than because of it. As attention turns to preparation for a general election, Grass roots organisations like 'Sex Matters' and 'Women's Rights Network' are going to ask prospective parliamentary candidates for their stance on women's rights. Greens cannot expect to win hearts, and will certainly not win minds whilst the Green message continues to be 'if you don't believe trans women are women, you are transphobic and so we don't want you in the party, but please vote for us anyway.'

We need to take this fight right into the heart of political parties, and I have a solid legal team who are working to do that. We are winning these cases when they get to court, but getting there is a costly journey. I realise funds are stretched for many people and there are a lot of worthy causes to chose from, but it is crucial that we stake out our essential right to speak plainly and honestly about sex and gender. This case is not just about the Green Party. I believe it will make it easier for women in all parties to speak more freely, and so I appreciate any support that you can give me through donations, and through sharing and amplifying my case with family, friends, and colleagues.

Thank you

On International Woman's Day, 2 years ago today, I was first suspended from the Green Party. After 4 No Fault suspensions and 2 Disciplinary suspensions for speaking up about women's rights, I was expelled in January 2023.

The complaint hearing that resulted in my expulsion was illuminating, and it was clear that leading Green Party officers are adamant that the protected characteristic of sex should be subservient to the protected characteristic of gender re-assignment. Apparently it is fine to punish Gender Critical members more harshly, because men identifying as women doesn't affect women personally, whereas misgendering is a crushing personal slight.

I am still waiting to hear whether my appeal against the expulsion will be accepted as valid – it was submitted a month ago. Wheels can turn slowly in the party when it suits!

We have seen other left leaning political parties, albeit reluctantly, recognising the need to address the conflict of rights over sex and gender. Unfortunately progress in the Green Party on supporting women's sex based rights appears minimal. Gender Critical members continue to face abuse and complaints, and it really does appear that the Party will not address this issue until they are forced to in court.

My legal team and I are continuing to build the evidence for my case against the Green Party (there is a lot of it!) I am very confident about the legal action, and the more we hear about the pernicious effects of gender ideology in places like the Tavistock clinic, the more resolved  I am to see this hammered out in court. Political parties are selling out women, and we deserve better.

I have had tremendous  support from the Gender Critical women in the Green Party, and I also want to thank the Cambs and Herts Women's Rights Network, who I am honoured to say featured me in their series of women to  mark International Women's Day, and the lovely women with whom I spent this morning gathering signatures for the Sex Matters petition 

I appreciate that times are very tough for people, but please support and share my crowdfunder if you can.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

As some of you may know, a couple of weeks ago I was expelled from the Green Party (GPEW). I expect it will come as no surprise to hear that the complaint that triggered this expulsion is centred on my gender critical beliefs.

It has come as quite a shock, as I believe that that the evidence against me is extremely poor. I will be appealing against the decision because it is important to challenge the structures and processes in the Party that are being employed in an unjust way against members. It is tempting to put the “evidence” that was used to expel me out in the public realm to show how ridiculously threadbare it is, but I have been advised that this will not help my case or my appeal. All I can say is that it is a real shame that so little progress has been made on recognising the validity of different opinions in GPEW since July 2020 when Bea Campbell observed of the debate on sex and gender “Clearly, there is a debate and there isn’t: it is mangled in the party’s disciplinary – rather than democratic – processes.”

I spoke to Graham Linehan about my expulsion a few days ago. You can watch that interview here

Despite this expulsion, my determination to challenge the discrimination against members with gender critical beliefs is as strong as ever. I have received a response to my legal claim from the party and the case is progressing. Meanwhile, trans activists continue to demonise dissenters, especially women, calling members like myself TERF's, Bigots, and transphobes with the aim of shaming and intimidating us into silence. These tactics will not work, and only serve to increase my resolve to stand up to the histrionic bullies.

The row erupting over the Scottish Gender Recognition law has drawn attention to the consequences of the policies of self ID endorsed by the gender ideologists, and as the details of males in female prisons, teenagers detransitioning, and the erosion of women's sex based rights emerge, the public wants clear and coherent answers as to how to balance and protect all of our rights to dignity and safety.

So I would like to thank everyone who has contacted me to express their support for this legal action, your encouragement makes a real difference. I would especially like to thank friends in Green Party Women for having the courage to publicly show their support for me.

I am sure that my case forms an essential component in the network of legal challenges being mounted in defence of gender critical opinion, cases that are furnishing people with the tools to revoke or amend the policies and practices that have allowed gender ideology to dominate our social and political institutions.

So thank you to everyone who has shared, discussed, and supported my crowdfunder. Your continued help is vital because as Helen Joyce said , we have just got to win!

Hi,

It is high time I gave an update on what has been going on with my case.
This week I served my particulars of claim on the Green Party (GPEW) outlining the unfair treatment dished out due to my gender critical beliefs. This legal action seeks to shape space for women in political parties to speak boldly about ourselves.

I am a Green: I want the Green Party to thrive. I am not aiming to damage the Party, I am taking this action to protect it from the harm done by the gender ideology cheerleaders. 

It is obvious that women need the backing of the law, and the Green's snail pace slide to a slightly better system will not suffice. It took decades to build our credibility, and our reputation for having a strong ethical approach is failing as women are censored for speaking of our sex.

Maya Forstater's case proved firmly routing our rights in law is vital, and I believe a win in one political party will ripple through others.

It has not been an easy task to sift back through the last few years of emails and social media and feel the reheated anger at the times I have been tagged a transphobic bigot (some will be familiar with this feeling), but with the help of my solicitor Elliot Hammer, and good friends I am confident that we have put together an excellent case. 

I want to say a huge thanks to everyone who has given me their support so far. I know times are tough and that crowd funding of cases is a crowded field. We have a way to go with this case, and I am grateful for any donations and support (Please share my crowd funder!).

Some Background For Those Who Don't Know Me
I was elected as co chair of Green Party Women in January 2022, but was suspended for 6 months for expressing gender critical opinions. I have taken a step back from the committee, though I totally support them, and Green Party Women remain the focus of scrutiny from party bodies who regard anyone who knows what a woman is as 'a problem'

Taking legal action is not a path anyone wants to tread, but I feel that there is nothing else that will make the Green Party face up to the conflict between the magical thinking of Self-ID and down to earth material reality of Sex Matters.
We have waited patiently for change, but in the past short while:  

• Green Party member Alison Teal was No Fault Suspended for (I believe) saying placing a male sex offender in jail with women is a serious issue we must discuss.

• A motion calling for unquestioning support for Drag queen Story Time was pushed above the climate at conference,     

• We are unsure if within party “safe spaces”, we can yet say men are not women without being slapped with a disciplinary sanction.

The Green Party continues to prevaricate: gender critical voices are begrudgingly tolerated but are not defended, and as all political parties are twisting over women's' words, we have to thresh this out to court to establish common lore knowledge on sex matters.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Hi, I want to thank everyone who has supported me, and give you an update. I do really appreciate your help so far, and I am determined to bring this to court to remind political parties of all shades they must respect our sex.

My claim against GPEW and Caroline Lucas (Representative of all members of GPEW) for discrimination, harassment and breach of contract has been issued.

My claim will focus on the period 2020 to the present time, though the Green Party has been a hostile place for women with gender critical beliefs for far longer than that.

I have named Caroline Lucas because she is a prime example of the women in positions of power in the Party who have refused to make the GPEW a place where all women are welcome. Caroline et al enthusiastically joined with the demotion of sex as subservient to gender, and with the exception of baroness Jenny Jones, for many years the leadership and elected officials have shied away from giving any support to members who know sex matters. I have previously challenged members of the leadership to stand up and state clearly that gender critical members are welcome in the party. Not one of them has responded. Instead they have actively pursued a policy of derogating and demonising gender critical members.

So that you can understand the claim, and know what your money will go towards if you choose to contribute to my campaign, the following are convenient headings:

1. Generalised harassment. One part of my claim focuses on the type of harassment and discrimination that many of us have been subjected to, such as  being called a “terf”, ‘bigot” and a “transphobe” by  members for being “Gender Critical;

       

2. Attacks  on my policy positions, such as those motions I brought to conference which attempted to protect women and girls but which were labelled transphobic;     

       

3. Attacks on me on social media (twitter, Facebook), but also in traditional media.

       

4. Implementation of “no fault suspensions” which I believe were in order to silence me and stop me taking part in policy at critical times at conference;

       

5. Imbalance in the disciplinary process and punishments doled out to those members who hold gender critical beliefs.    

I am grateful to those brave women who have had the strength to stay strong and maintain the courage of their convictions, and who have fought through the courts to establish that knowing sex matters is perfectly reasonable, and that we have a right not only to hold that belief but to express it. Too many organisations, political parties, NGO's and other bodies have failed to stand up for women, so we have to hammer out our rights through the courts. We are winning, and I am confident that the victories of Maya Forstater and Allison Bailey demonstrate that the kind of harassment and discrimination that the GPEW has encouraged against gender critical members will prove to be illegal in addition to being morally disgraceful.

I am taking this action against the GPEW because the principal purpose of the Green Party should be to prevent ecological decline and combat climate change: those are the real immediate challenges facing society. It is essential to have a strong courageous party championing the environment, and whilst the Green Party recognises that social justice is essential to achieving climate justice, trampling on women's rights makes a travesty of any claims to social justice, and damages the reputation of GPEW as a party rooted in science.

Thank you for your continuing support to bring this case to make GPEW realise that they cannot implement internal policies that permit unlawful discrimination. Green Party policy and procedures cannot trump statute. 

Emma Bateman 

Hi, I spoke on Graham Linehan's show 'The mess We're In' .
I gave an update on what is happening in the Green Party and the legal action (and even spoke a bit about climate change!).

https://youtu.be/Yb1_Vw4U9GM?t=2148

Thank you to everyone who has donated so far, I am very grateful as I know spare cash is not easy to come by. I have a great legal team and I assure you that whatever you can give will be wisely spent.

I believe that this legal action will assist people in all organisations and parties to have the confidence to know that standing up for our sex based rights is our lawful right (and we can win!)

Please share the link on Facebook and twitter - here is some suggested text to make sharing quick and easy :

This is an extract from the talk I gave at the Women's Declaration International webinar on 12th March . I speak about why i wont walk away from the Green Party and leave my friends in the firing line.
(3) I won’t be silenced, by Emma Bateman of Green Party - YouTube

Thank you to everyone who has donated so far, I am really grateful for your generosity. I have a good legal team and I believe that if we win this case , all political parties will take notice and reassess their stance on women's rights.
Please share widely,
Thanks,
Emma

You can see the whole talk here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DVuiKiOtlQ