The founder of Mumsnet, Justine Roberts, has revealed she was blacklisted by Barclays and Ocado and branded a “bigot” for standing up for women’s rights to access single-sex spaces, as she welcomes the Supreme Court’s trans ruling. The Mail has the story.
The founder of Mumsnet said she feared the site might not survive after they were branded “bigots” and blacklisted by big business for standing up for women’s rights.
Justine Roberts singled out Barclays and Ocado, who she claimed had refused to advertise or partner with the popular online forum when it called for the Government to clarify the definition of ‘a woman’ under equality legislation.
In a statement posted on Mumsnet in the wake of Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling, Ms Roberts said she felt under intense “pressure” from activists because of its stance, but stressed that “even in the darkest moments” she refused to ban discussion on the issue, saying that would have been “contrary to what Mumsnet is about”.
Ms Roberts wrote: “It’s been severely testing at times – there were moments I genuinely thought we might never see the tide turn, or at least not in our generation. … Mumsnet risked being permanently labelled as bigoted, vicious, and ‘on the wrong side of history’.
“A fair number of organisations pulled their advertising under pressure from activists – both internal and external. I’m sure there were many more we never heard from who simply steered clear.
“Commercial partnerships became noticeably harder to secure. The low point was discovering we’d been blacklisted on instruction from the top brass at Barclays – just weeks before its CEO resigned over concealing ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
“When we included a call to clarify the definition of sex in the Equality Act in our 2024 Mumsnet Manifesto, Ocado – who had been excited about a partnership – abruptly pulled out, citing Mumsnet’s ‘hateful political views’.”
Despite repeated attempts to explain our position – as a platform committed to amplifying women’s voices – they’ve refused to speak to us ever since.
“Nonetheless, even in the darkest moments, when I feared the site might not survive, we never considered banning discussion of this issue altogether. That would have been completely contrary to what Mumsnet is about: a space for mothers to talk about what matters to them.”
Under the landmark judgment, from the UK’s highest court, transgender women are no longer legally women, meaning they will not be allowed to take part in women’s sport or be on single-sex hospital wards.
Changing rooms must also “be based on biological sex” and Baroness Kishwer Falkner, Chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), has already pledged to pursue organisations that fail to enforce women-only spaces.
Despite the ruling’s unambiguous language, many large businesses and organisations have said they will not immediately be changing their policies for transgender individuals, at least not until they have received legal advice on its implications.
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