The Sex Vs. Gender (Identity) Debate In The United Kingdom And The Divorce Of LGB From T

Abstract

Since 2018, there has been a debate in the United Kingdom about whether or not the law should be changed to make it easier for a transgender individual to change their legal sex from their birth sex, and about exceptional situations, such as women-only spaces and sports, in which the individual’s birth sex should take priority over their gender identity, regardless of their legal sex.  This debate inspired the foundation in 2019 of a new organisation, LGB Alliance, which rejects the political coalition of LGB and T and challenges some transgender demands, because they conflict with the rights of lesbian and bisexual women or the rights of children who might grow up to be LGB adults.

Bio

Robert Wintemute (McGill LLB and BCL 1982) is a Professor of Human Rights Law at King’s College London, UK. Since 2003, he has participated as a lawyer for the applicants or third-party interveners, or as an expert witness, in 15 successful cases challenging discrimination against LGB individuals or same-sex couples in the European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the United Kingdom Supreme Court.   On 23 March 2022, he argued the case of Macate v. Lithuania before the 17-judge Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (restrictions on a book of children’s stories because it included a princess who fell in love with a woman and a prince who fell in love with a man).  The Court’s judgment will be published on 23 January 2023.

A light lunch will be served.