A Porton Down analyst has won a two-year legal battle against the top-secret UK research centre after facing harassment for his gender-critical beliefs. The Mail has the story.
Father-of-four Peter Wilkins, 43, worked for the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down in Salisbury, Wiltshire.
The research facility works on developing technology considered vital to Britain’s national security, including countermeasures against chemical and biological threats like Ebola, plague and anthrax as well as ensuring that the UK’s military benefit from the latest technical and scientific developments.
Mr Wilkins, an engineer and analyst, spent 15 years working for DSTL, including secondments to Afghanistan to support operations there and to the Royal Navy’s Maritime Warfare Centre in Fareham.
In 2020 he moved to the MOD’s Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) as an “Innovation Partner” but resigned in November 2022, claiming a hostile, intimidating and degrading work environment.
An employment tribunal found that he faced harassment and discrimination as a result of his “gender-critical” views, which include a belief in the immutability of “biological sex”, the Times reported.
In one incident, Mr Wilkins, a Christian, was flagged for liking a post on LinkedIn by the charity Sex Matters, with a colleague informing him that gender-critical beliefs were “an ideology” and saying he should be reported to security and HR.
While no action was taken against Mr Wilkins following that exchange, the analyst said he was shocked to be scrutinised “in the same way as if I was expressing support for the provisional IRA or al-Qaeda”.
The panel, overseen by employment judge Gary Self, sitting at Southampton, also heard that Mr Wilkin’s colleagues branded him “sad and pathetic”, “transphobic” and “a rubbish employee” due to his beliefs on gender.
The tribunal uncovered what it described as a “clear hostile animus” against gender-critical thinking at DSTL, which ultimately caused Mr Wilkins to leave his role.
Speaking after the verdict, Mr Wilkins said: “It’s a scientific organisation, so it shouldn’t be unacceptable to use the phrase biological sex.” …
Mr Wilkins case was taken up by the Free Speech Union, who paid all his legal fees.
Lord Young of Acton, the Free Speech Union’s General Secretary, told MailOnline: “Peter Wilkins was treated abominably by a small minority of his colleagues – and one colleague in particular – because he had the temerity to stand up for his belief in the biological reality of sex.
“The hounding of people who express gender-critical beliefs by woke activists, often claiming to stand up for ‘inclusion’, is extremely common in the public sector, judging from how many cases of this nature the Free Speech Union has taken on.
“The only way to stop it is if brave people like Peter refuse to take it lying down.
“I hope that in light of this strongly-worded judgement, the Ministry of Defence makes it clear that there’s no place for this kind of behaviour in the department.
“Civil servants have a duty to be politically impartial and that’s not compatible with being a workplace advocate for radical progressive ideology.”
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