A tribunal judge has said that using gender-specific insults against a transgender person could constitute a breach of equality laws after a trans woman lied about being called a “wanker” – a British insult used to connote an affectionate overfamiliarity with one’s self. Ahem.
The bus driver claimant sued his former “male-dominated” employer on the grounds of anti-trans discrimination, arguing he was insulted because his colleague “didn’t like the look” of him and refused to accept his gender identity. He was fired by the company two days after the incident and brought litigation, claiming his complaint was connected to the company’s decision to get rid of him.
The tribunal ultimately found he had not been discriminated against, as the alleged abuse did not actually take place. The judge then bizarrely explained that the if word wanker had been used, the claim would be successful because the term is not traditionally used to insult women.
“The panel members’ own experiences of [the] use of that term is that it is applied to men, and that there are equivalent but different swear words that are specifically used in common parlance to insult women,” argued judge Kathryn Ramsden.
“[T]he tribunal does not consider the insult ‘w—-r’ to be a gender-neutral term,” she added.
