Maya Forstater has chalked up a victory for truth speech.

She took her former employer, the Center for Global Development, to court and has “been vindicated by a ruling that she was unlawfully discriminated against by her former employer on the basis of her protected belief”.

Her employer took offense to comments she had made about gender ideology but the tribunal ruled she had every right to hold the following views.

- “A man’s internal feeling that he is a woman has no basis in material reality”.

- Describing Pips Bunce, a male who identified as a woman for part of the

week, as a “part time cross dresser”.

- Drawing an analogy between self-identifying transwomen and Rachel Dolezal.

- That “the places that women and girls get assaulted and harassed are ‘normal life’”; in the context of a discussion of whether recognising transwomen as female potentially posed a risk to women and girls. This was not, as CGD’s counsel had argued, “catastrophising” but was instead “an unobjectionable observation in the course of the debate … [which was] not an objectively unreasonable observation to make”.

- That describing self-identification as a woman as “a feeling in their head” was not to equate self-identification with mental illness and “did little more than assert Ms Forstater’s gender critical belief”.

Ms Forstater released a statement marking her victory.

“My case matters for everyone who believes in the importance of truth and free

speech.

“We are all free to believe whatever we wish. What we are not free to do is compel others to believe the same thing, to silence those who disagree with us or to force others to deny reality.

“Human beings cannot change sex. It is not hateful to say that; in fact it is important in order to treat everyone fairly and safely. It shouldn’t take courage to say this, and no one should lose their job for doing so.

Binary spokeswoman, Kirralie Smith, said it was a significant win.

“It is utterly absurd that this case was even necessary. Biology matters and no-one should be penalised for declaring the truth,” she said.

“All people should feel free to criticise an ideology that is based on feelings, not facts.

“It is frustrating that women like Maya even have to fight this battle. This win ought to be celebrated and should serve as a warning to activists who want to impose their unreasonable ideology onto others.”