Mick Hartley

Another legal victory against the gender cult. From the Times:

A former barrister who was expelled from a psychotherapy school over his gender-critical views has warned that higher education establishments will face repercussions for sanctioning those with different opinions.

James Esses, 32, reached a settlement with the Metanoia Institute after he was taken off a master’s course for raising concerns about transgender issues and the treatment of children. The institute admitted that it was wrong to expel him and apologised for its treatment of him.

The campaigner and author initiated legal action against the institute, one of the UK’s leading psychotherapy and counselling schools, claiming that he was treated unlawfully.

Esses was removed from his course in 2021 after starting a petition against the government’s proposed ban on conversion therapy, the practice of attempting to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

His petition called for the government not to “criminalise essential, explorative therapy” for children with gender dysphoria under the legislation.

He expressed similar views in an article for a US publication, noting concern that there was a trend in therapy to “affirm” patients with gender dysphoria rather than interrogate their symptoms.

He expressed similar concerns about the impact on therapy of what he has called “gender ideology” to the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP). He had applied for trainee membership of the umbrella body in 2020.

Esses, who was in his third year of training at the time, claimed that the UKCP ordered the Metanoia Institute in Ealing, west London, to take him off the five-year integrative psychotherapy programme.

Having attracted criticism for his views online, Esses received a short email from the institute’s deputy chief executive in May 2021 with the subject line “Termination of Contract”.

He said the email claimed he was being expelled with immediate effect, without a hearing, because he had brought the institution “into disrepute”. The institute published his expulsion on Twitter/X the same day.

Three weeks later he was informed that because he was no longer a student, his trainee membership of the council was also terminated.

The decision effectively brought an end to Esses’ training, in which he had invested thousands of pounds.

Esses, a former criminal defence specialist, sued the bodies at an employment tribunal, claiming that he was discriminated against, harassed and victimised because of his beliefs.

The institute apologised to Esses for its treatment of him in a statement. It accepted that it breached its own policies by expelling him without due process and contributed to him receiving online abuse by publicising the decision.

Metanoia's statement here:

We are pleased to announce that we have reached settlement in the Employment Tribunal claim brought by James Esses against us.

Metanoia recognises that gender-critical beliefs are protected under the Equality Act 2010. These are the beliefs that sex is binary, immutable and biological and is fundamentally important. Whilst Metanoia specialises in professional training for those working in adult and not child psychotherapy it accepts as a matter of general principle the validity of the professional belief that children with gender dysphoria should be treated with explorative therapy, rather than being affirmed towards medical intervention. Discrimination against students because of these beliefs is unlawful….

Times are changing.