Summary
There was a time when journalism was widely regarded as a respected profession, with journalists striving for accuracy and integrity in their reporting. Unfortunately, this commitment appears to be lacking in The Times journalist Alex Massie
Alex Massie and Transphobia – Opinion.
So, where exactly did Alex Massie go wrong?
Firstly, he writes as if the gender-critical ideologues represent women when they clearly don’t.
The gender critical represent only those men and women with gender-critical beliefs, like Sandie Peggie, who thinks that sex is ‘immutable’. Most women, of course, have a far more liberal “live and let live” view of trans people. Indeed, some go further, saying they reject transphobia and bigotry in all its forms, because gender-critical beliefs are transphobic purely because they deny trans people’s identity.
Who says so? Portsmouth City Council, for one, which adopted a definition of transphobia in 2024.
“The definition of transphobia is the dislike, prejudice, discrimination, denial of identity, hatred or violence towards people who identify as transgender or gender diverse“.
Someone should inform Alex Massie of this definition.
Secondly, enter NION Women, a collective of over 71,000 women who say “no” to transphobia and gender critical beliefs. NION Women is hoping to reach 100,000 signatures in the coming weeks, leaving gender-critical transphobic petitions in its wake. Feel free to sign using the link in this text.
Likely, Alex Massie didn’t have a clue who the NION Women are, or he wouldn’t have written such a distressing article, or would he? After all, he does write for The Times, a newspaper with a long history of stoking the right-wing culture war against the trans community – probably the most persecuted community in the UK today.
Dr Upton, who was considered by the tribunal to be a reliable witness, unlike her accuser, Sandie Peggie. Alex Massie writes: “He wears lipstick, he has long hair, and he has adopted “a pitch and tone of voice consistent with that for a female”.
Alex Massie goes further, suggesting that the law is clear and that the Supreme Court ruled definitively on single-sex spaces, implying that trans women are categorically banned from them. In reality, the Supreme Court ruling only clarified that service providers may, under certain conditions, exclude trans women—but it does not require them to do so. As Massie quotes:
“The plain intention of these provisions is to allow for the provision of separate or single-sex services for women which exclude all (biological) men (or vice versa).”
There is a difference between “allow” and “must“, and if Mr Massie needs a lesson on “proportionality”, a fundamental principle of human rights law, there are several human rights organisations that will be happy to advise free of charge. Just to be clear, these organisations commonly agree with the need for single-sex spaces when (but ONLY when) necessary, and that was not the case at Fife before Peggie’s complaint.
The Supreme Court judgment, paragraph 248, says:
“Finally, we have concluded that a biological sex interpretation would not have the effect of disadvantaging or removing important protection under the EA 2010 from trans people (whether with or without a GRC).”
For Alex Massie and the gender-critical, it appears to be pretty hard to perceive that trans people have human rights – the right to live in any gender, to the binary or not, as the case may be. Just like there is a right for people to love whoever they please, trans people can legally change sex and be their true selves.
Still, the gender critical need to be careful not to cross the threshold of “impermissible manifestation of beliefs”, a situation we are fast approaching, because for the gender-critical, if they are given an inch, they’ll report it as being a mile, as clearly demonstrated in regard to what the Supreme Court actually said.
In a legal and human rights context (particularly under UK law and the European Convention on Human Rights), an “impermissible manifestation of belief” refers to the expression or practice of a protected belief that is carried out in a way that allows it to be restricted or penalised. Given the toxicity directed towards trans people by the right-wing media, including The Times, Telegraph, and GB News, a campaign to sanction gender-critical activists and media must soon be on the cards.
While gender critical people have an absolute right to hold a belief, they do not have an absolute right to manifest it if it harms others, infringes on their rights, or creates a hostile environment – and that is what it seems Sandie Peggie did – note that Sandie Peggie, and “no one else” at the hospital where Peggie and Dr Upton both worked.
“No one else” is important, Peggie and Peggie alone complained about Dr Beth Upton, just as she – and not Beth Upton – made repulsive jokes about some 1600 people who lost their lives in flooding in Pakistan.
Someone should inform Sandie Peggie of the definition of racism.
So, our Christmas recommendation to Alex Massie is to buy a decent book about human rights and another about the Equality Act 2010. Because trans people have human rights… are protected under the Equality Act and are so much better at writing well-reasoned, legally-informed articles than some journalists from The Times.
