23 claimants v Robinsons Bar Belfast
A group of 23 claimants take pub to court alleging discrimination on the basis of their protected beliefs
23 claimants described as ‘female, male, lesbian, gay, straight, young and old, from Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and the Republic of Ireland’ are suing Robinsons Bar Belfast on the basis of their protected beliefs.
In April 2023, after a ‘Let Women Speak’ event in Belfast, organised and led by women's rights campaigner, Kellie-Jay Keen, many of the attendees, mostly women, gathered at the bar for food and drinks.
After serving the large number of attendees for some time, the bar staff, supported by their manager, began refusing to serve women who were wearing T-shirts with slogans associated with women's rights, such as ‘Woman: Adult Human Female’ and ‘Women Won't Wheesht’, and colours associated with the Suffragette movement (green, white & violet).
One of the claimants and attendee of the event, a gay man wearing a T-shirt with the definition of ‘Man’ printed on it, enquired as to why the women were being refused service, was then physically assaulted by the a barman. The police were called and the barman was cautioned.
Video and audio footage of the incidents were in wide circulation on social media platform X/Twitter.
The claimants seek to uphold the principle that it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of ‘gender critical’ views, obtain an apology from the bar, and a promise of staff training to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Status
Solicitor Simon Chambers has taken on the case.
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Press Coverage
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5 Aug 2024
Telegraph - JK Rowling bankrolls legal fight against workplace gender police
26 Jan 2024
25 Jan 2024
Belfast Telegraph - Fears NI people could be prosecuted over private conversations in own home to top agenda at free speech summit
21 Jan 2024
[VIDEO] Free Speech Nation - The chilling effect of hate crime legislation in Northern Ireland