Gay Men Refused Service Because of Gender-Critical Views
Gay Men Refused Service Because of Gender-Critical Views
Latest: Nov. 3, 2025
Fundraising resumes as we submit the claim to court
We’re going ahead
It’s been almost six months since the pub in Brighton cancelled our booking. As we are now approaching the deadline for bringing a discrimination claim, we’ve reached the point we ho…
Read moreGay Men Discriminated Against in Brighton for Gender-Critical Views
My name is James Roberts and I run HumanGayMale – a group that organises monthly social events across various UK cities for gay men who do not subscribe to gender identity ideology.
In August, I booked a private dining room at a pub in Brighton for what would have been our first meet-up in the city. On the morning of the event, the pub emailed me to cancel the booking, saying that the nature of our group had come to their attention.
After a phone call and then a face-to-face conversation with the manager, it became clear that someone had complained and alerted them to the fact that our group holds gender-critical views (meaning we believe that sex is biological and cannot be changed, and that gender identity should not override sex-based rights). When I asked if we could just be customers in the main bar, instead of the booked room, I was told we were being refused service altogether.
We believe that this is a clear case of unlawful discrimination based on the Equality Act 2010 protected characteristic of religion or belief. We are now taking legal action against the pub and its parent brewery. Several of our members who were directly affected are co-claimants, but the outcome of this case will affect many more. Not just within our group, but across the wider public who hold similar views, and in particular other gay and lesbian groups, as well as women's groups.
We are raising funds to cover the legal costs of:
- An initial letter from our solicitor to the pub and brewery
- Preparing and issuing a formal claim in court
- Pursuing the case through the legal process
We believe it’s vital to send the message that venues cannot discriminate against individuals or groups for holding legally protected views or beliefs. A successful court ruling will confirm this principle and create a precedent to help others faced with similar treatment.
We initially need to raise £2,500 to get this case off the ground and then we'll set a stretch target for the next stage depending on the response from the pub.
The solicitor we are instructing is Peter Daly at Doyle Clayton. He has acted for several gender-critical clients in the past, including Maya Forstater (whose case established gender-critical beliefs as protected under the Equality Act) and Allison Bailey (whose case against Linnaeus Vets was the first successful gender-critical judgment in the field of goods and services). Peter’s initial view is that our case has good prospects.
Your support – whether through donating or sharing this page – will help us defend basic freedoms and protect the rights of people to meet, organise, and speak freely.
Thank you for standing with us.
HumanGayMale
Nov. 3, 2025
Fundraising resumes as we submit the claim to court
We’re going ahead
It’s been almost six months since the pub in Brighton cancelled our booking. As we are now approaching the deadline for bringing a discrimination claim, we’ve reached the point we hoped to avoid and will, reluctantly, be submitting the claim to court.
Why has it taken this long?
We’ve done everything possible to resolve this without litigation. We responded promptly and fully to every letter from the pub’s solicitor, provided all requested information, and set out a reasonable and constructive proposal.
We asked only that the pub and brewery acknowledge that cancelling our booking breached the Equality Act, and commit to updating their policies and staff training in line with the law (as clarified by the Supreme Court in April 2025). We did not seek financial compensation, beyond nominal damages of £1 per claimant, specifically to try to avoid litigation.
Unfortunately, the pub’s solicitor has deflected, delayed, and ultimately refused to acknowledge the problem or seek to find a resolution that avoids court action. We are therefore left with no choice but to submit a discrimination claim.
What happens now?
Our solicitor will file the claim and set out the legal basis of the case and the remedies sought. Our primary objective remains unchanged: an acknowledgement that cancelling our booking because of our protected beliefs about biological sex, and our sexual orientation as defined by the Equality Act, was unlawful discrimination.
Once the case is in the court system, we must follow the standard legal framework for damages. While this case is not about money, any damages awarded would send a clear message to other venues that they cannot discriminate in this way.
The next step will be waiting for a hearing date and then a trial date. This process is likely to take a year or more, which is another reason we worked so hard to avoid court action.
How much will this cost?
The funds raised so far cover us up to the submission of the claim. To pursue the case through to a full hearing and judgment, is likely to cost a further £50,000. We have some time to raise this, but it is a large target and so we need to start fundraising now.
The original CrowdJustice page remains open, and we are deeply grateful to everyone who has already donated. If you are able to donate again, or simply share the page with others, it would make a significant difference.
This is an important case. It has the potential to set a legal precedent that others can rely on if they are refused services because of lawful, protected beliefs. It’s also important as a gay men’s case to show that we are standing up to this sort of discrimination too.
Thank you so much for your support.
James Roberts
Managing Director, HumanGayMale
HumanGayMale
Sept. 3, 2025
First stretch target - Thank you all so much!
Within just a few days we've not only smashed our initial target but we're almost at the first stretch target. We are so incredibly grateful to everyone for donating and for sharing this case on social media to help raise awareness. Your support means so much, and reminds us how important this is - not just for us but for other groups who reject gender identity ideology and face this kind of discrimination.
We're not extending the target further for now, as we'll end up raising money faster than the process needs us to spend it. Our solicitor is writing to the pub / brewery with a letter before claim, setting out what we are asking for as a resolution. We need to be open to the possibility the pub / brewery will accept they they've broken the law and take all necessary and appropriate steps to remedy this.
Our expectation is that they will not choose to settle and we will therefore need to take the case to court. As and when we get to that point, we will re-start fundraising with a clearer idea of what the full eventual costs will be (potentially somewhere in the region of £50,000).
We would rather pause for now than to keep asking for donations we ultimately may not need, or before we know exactly what the response from the pub / brewery is.
As mentioned elsewhere, any funds left over can be allocated to another case on CrowdJustice and we will nominate another "gender critical" case, ideally involving gay men if possible, if we get to that stage.
Thank you again for your support. We'll update again as soon as there is anything to share about what is happening.
James
James Roberts
Managing Director, HumanGayMale
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