Equality and Human Rights Commission is about as higher profile as you can get – just the kind of profile and status bullies love. Going forward, what will the EHRC tell its workers to do when first targeted by a bully? What to look for and how to respond? I very much doubt it!
If it is true that Kishwer Falkner, Baroness Falkner of Margravine, did refer to a transgender woman as “Just a man with lipstick,” she should be sacked. But this is not the first time I’ve heard about discrimination at the EHRC. Previous leaders have decided that some protected characteristics are more important than others. A trusted campaigner informed me in 2008 that the EHRC considered racism more important than the discrimination that disabled people face. Organisations reveal bias by putting protected characteristics in the order of priority. I got the BBC to change their order by arguing that protected characteristics should be referred to alphabetically to help avoid bias.
The EHRC has the protected characteristics in alphabetical order on their website: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. However the statement they made in response to the scandal that currently engulfs them is revealing, “EHRC will continue to protect the rights of everyone in Britain, including those with the protected characteristics of sex and gender reassignment.” This pretty basic mistake I think says it all!
#EHRC
