The Green Party has been defeated in court after a tribunal found they discriminated against their former deputy leader over his views on gender.
Dr Shahrar Ali, 54, who served as deputy between 2014 and 2016, took legal action against the party over what he described as a ‘fanatical clampdown on legitimate debate’ by trans rights activists.
The case represents the first instance in which a political activist has sued their own party after being persecuted for having gender critical beliefs.
Dr Ali has now been awarded £9,100 in damages by the Mayor’s and City County Court.
Reacting to the ruling on X, formerly Twitter, he wrote: ‘Wow! Just wow! This is HUGE!! Our gender critical beliefs Are worthy of respect in a political party!! Thank you!’
This trial followed Dr Ali’s removal as the party spokesman in February 2022, with officials ruling that his ‘controversial’ views on trans rights did not align with the role.
The politician believes that gender should not be confused with biological sex which he states is ‘immutable’.
The ruckus began with a Twitter post in July 2020, in which Dr Ali issued a statement titled ‘What Is A Woman?’ detailing his thoughts on the rights of women and girls.
He wrote: ‘A woman is commonly defined as an adult human female and, genetically, typified by two XX chromosomes. These facts are not in dispute nor should they be in any political party.
‘We campaign for the rights of women and girls to be treated equally on the basis of the protected characteristic of biological sex, as enshrined in the Equality Act 2010.’
While this led to uproar among trans activists in the Green Party, Dr Ali was not sacked until 2022 once he had become the policing and domestic safety spokesman.
Read More: Green Party sacked its deputy leader because he believed ‘biology was real’