Companies are increasingly worried about what their employees say

LAST DECEMBER a British employment tribunal ruled that the Centre for Global Development, a think-tank, had acted legally when it did not renew Maya Forstater’s contract because she had tweeted that a person’s biological sex is immutable. Ms Forstater, a researcher, had tweeted several messages critical of the idea that natal males can become women. She did so from her personal account but listed her employer in her Twitter profile. After colleagues complained to the human-resources department about her conduct online, she was asked to add the disclaimer “views are my own”. She did so. According to her employer, co-workers objected to her posting a picture of herself at a protest with a banner that said “Woman, noun, adult human female”.

Trans-rights activists cheered, and women’s-rights and free-speech advocates were horrified, because a precedent had been set. In court, Ms Forstater had argued that her conviction that men cannot become women should be protected in the same way as a religious belief would be. The judge disagreed, ruling that her “gender-critical” views were “not worthy of respect in a democratic society,” and did not qualify for protection.