A law lecturer claims she was sacked from her position after refusing to follow her employer’s requests to “indoctrinate students in gender identity theory”.
Dr Almut Gadow, 43, was forced out of her job at the Open University in November after being sacked for gross misconduct.
She says the institution accused her of “serious bullying and harassment” and of breaching their transgender staff policy after a number of posts in an online university forum which risked creasing “an environment in the forum that isn’t inclusive, trans-friendly, or respectful”.
Gadow said that the university’s policy had included introducing diverse gender identities into the curriculum and also teaching students that an offenders’ preferred pronouns should be used when referring to them.
The lecturer warned that the policy was incompatible with the role of a criminal lawyer, saying that “sex is a relevant fact for offences involving perpetrators’ and/or victims’ bodies”.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Gadow added: “No offender should be allowed to dictate the language of his case in a way which masks relevant facts.”
She is now launching a legal claim against the university, crowdfunding for her case.
The lecturer claims she was harassed, discriminated against, and unfairly dismissed.
She also highlighted that not holding a gender identity belief was a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.
“Establishing this in law could protect many other academics whose careers are threatened by the rising tide of intolerance on UK campuses,” Gadow said.
“Generally, this academia being taken over by a political movement, is not a question of Left or Right.
“It is a question of totalitarianism.
“We have seen it under both regimes.
“I didn’t think it would happen like that in England, to be quite honest.”
The Open University has vowed to “vigorously defend” itself against Gadow’s charges.
It added: “Given these ongoing legal proceedings, we do not intend to comment further at this time, save to say that we strongly dispute the account which we understand Almut Gadow to have given to the media about the circumstances of, and reasons for, her dismissal; the university’s criminal law curriculum and modules; and its equality, diversity and inclusion policies.”
https://www.gbnews.com/news/woke-news-open-university-sack-almut-gadow-transgender-policy
