Mick Hartley

A depressing follow-on to the formation of the LGB Alliance, which broke away from Stonewall last week over its trans activism. From today's Sunday Times (£):

A lesbian barrister who is under investigation for her stance on transgender ideology has said her chambers bowed to the “hate mob”.

Allison Bailey is being investigated by Garden Court Chambers after she hailed the launch of the LGB Alliance pressure group, of which she is a founding member.

Bailey was subjected to a torrent of abuse and death threats after she posted on social media: “Gender extremism is about to meet its match.”

The LGB Alliance has said its mission is “asserting the right of lesbians, bisexuals and gay men to define themselves as same-sex attracted”. Its stance that “gender is a social construct” faced immediate opposition from trans groups.

Garden Court said on Twitter that it was “investigating concerns” raised about the comments in line with Bar Standards Board policies. “We take these concerns v seriously & will take appropriate action.”

Bailey said her chambers had “simply gone along with what the hate mob want” and were “offering me no support whatsoever”.

She pointed out that Garden Court, which handles many transgender cases, had signed up as a Stonewall “diversity champion”.

“The bigger picture,” she added, “is that Stonewall have signed up many companies, public bodies, voluntary sector organisation and government departments to their manifesto and their value system regarding trans rights. What we call Stonewall law. Without most of the public realising it, a large swathe of British employers have signed up to the Stonewall value system.”

Via Ophelia B at Butterflies and Wheels, who also points us to a tweet from trans charity Gendered Intelligence:

We would encourage everyone to write a letter of to GCC [ie Garden Court Chambers] expressing your concern about the barrister in question and the new group.

Which has amassed a fine array of hostile comments. As someone notes: "Trying to harass a black lesbian is not a good look."

Update: that Gendered Intelligence tweet has now been deleted.