Kenny McBride v Scottish Ministers
Former civil servant alleges discrimination on the basis of his gender critical beliefs
Kenny McBride, a former civil servant of Transport Scotland, is taking the Scottish Government to an employment tribunal alleging discrimination on the basis of his ‘gender critical’ beliefs.
In December 2022, Mr. McBride posted on a Scottish government intranet site highlighting the Sex Equality and Equity Network (SEEN). He alleges he received ‘extremely hostile’ comments and was told his views were not welcome and that they must be challenged in line with Scottish government's commitment to ‘diversity’.
Mr. McBride made a complaint and was dismissed within 24 hours. The complaint was never addressed.
Having attempted to seek resolution at every stage, Mr. McBride felt he had no choice but to take his case to an employment tribunal. He aims to “force the Scottish Government to end its hostility to civil servants who believe that sex matters”, and also seeks compensation for his job loss and the discrimination he incurred.
Status
The case was due to be heard in February 2024 at Glagow Employment Tribunal, but Scottish Government cancelled due to one of their witnesses being hospitalised.
The case was heard from 17-21st June 2024.
UPDATE: Mr. McBride lost his claim for unfair dismissal. Read the judgment here
Live tweeting Reporting sessions
Tribunal Tweets was refused permission to live tweet by Judge David Hoey. We have not yet received the written reasons for refusal of our application. We took contemporaneous notes in our usual style of reporting and these are attached below.
We did not immediately appeal the employment judge’s ruling. Mr McBridge is representing himself and the tribunal has been previously delayed because of poor health of a respondent witness. An appeal by Tribunal Tweets would result in further significant delay and create hardship by further extending the process, particularly for the claimant. We will consider appealing to the Employment Appeals Tribunal if the circumstances permit.
We are observing the tribunal remotely, this is presenting routine difficulties with hearing what is said by counsel and witnesses. The camera orientation makes it impossible to see the employment judge or the panel members.
17 June 2024 - afternoon session - Part 1, afternoon session - Part 2.
18 June 2024 - morning session , afternoon session
19 June 2024 - morning session, afternoon session Part 1, Part 2
20 June 2024 - morning session, Part 1, Part 2 - no afternoon session
21 June 2024 - morning session only, submissions (closing argument)
With the permission of the Court, we are publishing the written submissions prepared by each side for Friday, 21st June session:
This is the Claimant's submission
This is the Respondent's submission
Abbreviations
KM or C – Kenny McBride, claimant, representing himself
EJ – employment tribunal judge David Hoey
P1, P2 - panel members
SG or R – Scottish ministers, respondent
KG - Ken McGuire, respondents advocate (not KM)
CM - Calum MacNeill KC respondents advocate
RC – respondents counsel (if not clear who is speaking)
LA - Lynne Allen
PH - Peter Hope-Jones, Scots Gov Gender Recognition Unit
JC - Jonah Coman, Lead Specialist L&D, Scottish Government
RH - Ross Howie
KH - Kim Hunter
TLP - Trans Language Primer
TWAW - transwomen are women
TMAM - transmen are men
CSC/CSCoC - Civil Service Code of Conduct
CHD - complaints handling department (think this deals with members of public complaining
about gov and ministers)
PSED - Public Sector Equality Duty
GRA - Gender Recognition Act, 2004
GRR - Gender Recognition Reform bill (revisions to GRA by Scottish Parliament
QA - quality assure
Trans 101 - session developed and delivered by JC
TERF - trans exclusionary radical feminist
FART - feminism appropriating ridiculous transphobe
GC - gender critical or sex realist
QA - quality assure
Press coverage
Here are links to a selection of relevant press coverage about this case. These links are included without comment and are not endorsed by Tribunal Tweets. This is a sample of coverage only, with most recent first - it is not comprehensive. Please DM our main Twitter account to submit coverage from an established news outlet. Any paywalled article must be archived.
1 August 2024
The Times - Gender row civil servant loses unfair dismissal claim
27 April 2023
Christian Institute - Scottish civil servant dismissed over ‘gender views’ seeks employment tribunal
7 April 2023
The Times - Civil servant ‘sacked over gender views’ seeks employment tribunal
3 April 2023
Scottish Herald - Scottish Government taken to employment tribunal in trans row