Hi everyone

It’s been a while since the last update. That’s because I was waiting for the college’s response to my claim, so that I would have something to write about. Well, after much longer than I thought it would take, I received the college’s Grounds of Resistance on the 28th May, 20 days after they submitted them to the Employment Tribunal. I've been waiting to hear from my lawyer before updating, and yesterday I did, when we submitted the Statement of Loss (detailing how much I estimate the college’s actions to have cost me - nearly £100,000, if you’re interested, plus an undetermined sum for “Injury to Feelings” and reputational damage).

Back to their response: Basically, they're denying everything. I'm guessing this is a legal tactic, a kind of "throw it against the wall, and see what sticks" scattergun approach. It'll waste a lot of the court’s time also, and I guess that's part of their strategy. Much like the case of the Darlington Nurses, whose day in court has been postponed again and again due the the NHS Trust not complying with the demands of the court in time. Or Sandy Peggie, whose case overran the time allotted to it when Fife NHS Trust did similar, and so it was adjourned for 6 months. I don't have enough experience in court to know whether or not this is SOP, though I note that McDonalds, too, denied everything when they sued two unemployed activists for libel in the McLibel Trial (I was there for some of that, so I know about this first hand).

As a lot of people have said, the process is the punishment. But none of the above-mentioned people gave up, and I won't either.

Their denials are ludicrous. Firstly, they're layered. For example, they say that my informing the mother that they were socially transitioning her daughter (and conspiring to keep this secret from her) doesn't count as whistleblowing because they say it wasn't in the Public Interest, that I was wrong to think it was in the Public Interest, and also that I was wrong to think that the college was committing any unlawful acts. And, even if this is wrong, I was wrong to think there was any risk to the child’s well-being. And, even if, I was wrong to think that the college was deliberately concealing information. And, even if does count as a whistleblowing disclosure, that's not why they sacked me. And so on.

Now some points may be at least arguable. But most of them are ridiculous. The last point, for example, is particularly ridiculous as I have a copy of my letter of dismissal which specifically says I was fired for "disclosing a sensitive personal matter relating to the student's gender identity", which directly contradicts the assertion they're making now that they didn't fire me for this. In a similar vein, most of the rest of their denials can be dealt with. For example, they're saying that the views I exhibited are not Protected Beliefs, despite the Forstater judgement, not to mention the considerable number of successful cases that have used that judgement since then. 

All of this will be bought up at the preliminary hearing which, whilst I'm reasonably certain won't solve anything, should result in their most ridiculous defences being struck out.

But in order to do any of this, I need funds. Preparing an argument, anticipating and writing responses to any possible counter-arguments and making all of these points in court - all of this costs money, I'm afraid.

I know a lot of you have contributed before. And I know times are hard and money is short for everyone. But if you could see your way to making a contribution to my CrowdJustice Account, it would really help. This is an important area of law, not least because Nottingham College aren't the only ones doing this. A Tribunal judgement that clearly stated that it was illegal would go a long way to ensure that colleges (and schools) actually follow the law when dealing with gender-questioning children.

You wouldn't have thought that was too much to ask, that public institutions, in receipt of public money follow the law. And yet, here we are.

Thanking you all so much for your help. The next update will likely be in July or August, before the Preliminary hearing. And then there'll be one afterwards, which will be more significant. See you then.

Hi everyone.

Well, yesterday I finally got a response from the Employment Tribunal. They've approved my claim and sent it off to my erstwhile employers, who have until the 9th May to provide a response. There's some technical stuff to be done after that - exchanging documents and so forth - and then there's a preliminary hearing on the 5th September, nearly a whole year after this all began. Assuming nothing is settled (which is almost certain), there will be a full hearing on the 9th August 2027 - over 2 years from now! This is later than I'd expected (I was thinking a year to 18 months, not 28 months). Apparently, there's still a backlog from COVID.

This gives me 28 months to raise as much money as I can to fight the case, which is good. But I had hoped it'd be over sooner. Ah well.

On a different (but related) topic, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the usage in the Equality Act of the words "man", "woman" and similar refer to biological men and women respectively. In short that "transwomen" are men and "transmen" are women, which is the reverse of the position pushed by most trans activists.  This welcome affirmation of sanity and common sense by the highest court in the UK - which means it can't be appealed and therefore becomes settled law - has far reaching (and welcome) implications for such issues as: women's rights to single sex spaces; their right to only be searched by a female police officer; their right to receive intimate care only from a female carer; women's sports; and a number of other issues. It is peripherally relevant to my case, as it rules that "transgirls" are boys and "transboys" are girls, which closes down some possible arguments my ex-employers might have used about the child I was trying to protect. But it is, as I say, peripheral, as my case is more about parental responsibility and Nottingham College's undermining and violation of such, which is a different (though related) issue.

It does, however, mark a welcome return to sanity from the country's highest court. The effects are likely to ripple through the country over the next few months. Certainly, the cases of the Darlington Nurses or Sandie Peggie at NHS Fife will be affected. If the NHS trusts involved had any decency, they'd concede they were wrong now and settle, thereby avoiding a long and costly court case. In reality, they're likely to drag it out till the bitter end. As will my ex-employer, no doubt.

I'll keep you updated as and when thinks happen. Over the next 2 years(!)

Thank you all, again, for all your support. I couldn't have done this without you.

Quote of the day: "No one asks for their life to change, not really. But it does... The big moments are gonna come. You can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. That's when you find out who you are."

OK, the Crowdfunder has just gone over £5,000, the initial target, with 10 days still to go. This is great, it means I will be taking Nottingham College to court and, as I can now pay for lawyers to prepare and argue my case, have a much better chance of holding them to account for their misdeeds.

This was only possible, of course, because of the generosity of all those who donated. Thank you all so much, you have made this possible.

The stretch goal has been set at £15,000. This figure was an estimate of the costs of getting a barrister to review Nottingham College's reply to my submission, prepare and advise on how to respond and representation at the preliminary hearing. All of this is a few months down the line and so there is plenty of time to grow the Crowdfunder before then.

I will keep you all informed of any future developments.

Thank you all, again, for your support. I couldn't have done this without you.

Hi, this should really have gone in the last update, but I forgot, and it's not possible to edit them.

I've done a podcast about my case. It's at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfXIgJpxXvk. A lot of people have told me I came across well, which is good because it didn't feel like it - I was nervous as hell. Anyway, have a look, see what you think.

Hi everyone

OK, my lawyer has finished drafting my tribunal submission and it was submitted yesterday. So, it’s started, I’m taking my ex-employer to court!

For those who don’t know what happens next (like me, up until yesterday), firstly the tribunal will check that the claim form has been filled in correctly, which can take several weeks depending on how busy the tribunal is. It’s then sent to my ex-employer, Nottingham College, who will have 28 days to send a response with their grounds of resistance to the tribunal, which is forwarded to us. They also schedule a preliminary hearing, which will usually be at least 6 weeks after the response. 

Once I receive the response, I will need to instruct a barrister to advise on what to do next, prospects of success, strategy, etc. All of this will cost money and it’s likely I’ll have to set a stretch goal.

But first, I need to achieve my initial goal. I’m c. £1,400 short of the money I need to even begin doing this. The costs so far have been paid by myself, but I can’t really do that any more – I’ve just lost my job, money is kind of tight. So I need the crowdfunder to raise another £1,400 in the next 2 weeks, or it will be null and void. Hopefully, things will slow down after I get the initial sum – as mentioned above, there will be lots of delays and the funder can build slowly. But that depends on me getting the initial sum.

I hate asking for money, but I’m afraid I have to. If you could post, tweet or otherwise inform people about my crowdfunder, that would really help. And if you could manage a donation, even a small one, that would also help a lot.

Thank you all of you for your help. I couldn’t do any of this without you. And I think it’s important. Holding Nottingham College to account for hiding this child’s social transition from her parent will set a precedent. It will demarcate parental responsibility and the limits of where, and how much, the college (or any other college or school) can encroach on that. It’s clear that they won’t stop doing things like this unless a court forces them to. So help me bring that verdict against them.

Once more, thank you all so much for your help.

Hi everyone

Well, this page has only just launched and I'm writing an update. Missed out from the case page was that I have retained Jon Heath of J R Levins to represent me on this case. I quoted from him on the case page, without making it clear that he's my solicitor. He has a lot of experience in Employment Law, including cases similar to mine, so I'm confident in his expertise.