Here comes the rain again...
Hello again Or if you're new here - welcome. It was quite wet today. And an odd evidence session. It's hard to get an idea of how powerful or interesting evidence is when you're concentrating so hard on just trying to bash it out. Whilst live-tweeting, your brain (well, mine) becomes a process machine for turning audio into written words, and there's very little space left for editorial analysis. It's what makes writing these newsletters so much fun. I feel both completely exhausted and like I'm starting from scratch. But you make your bed... First things first - if you are new here (thank you and welcome) and you're not that familiar with Sara's (side of the) story or have not read my interview with her, do have a read of this piece on the blog. It's quite useful in terms of timeline, too. Secondly... Colour?
I asked in yesterday's newsletter whether you wanted a straight court report or some context and general chattiness - what we hacks call "colour". The responses tended to veer towards the latter, but I am acutely aware there will be some people who just want to know what happened in court. I have a natural tendency towards blether (as the introduction to this newsletter might already be demonstrating), so I'll let that run a bit, but please don't hesitate to tell me if it gets a bit too much. We begin... Informality and the plug socket struggle Sara Morrison gave her second and final day of evidence after her 34 minute opener yesterday. She was cross-examined by the able and affable Sean Doherty. There is a strange sense of informality about this tribunal. The court rooms are tiny. Everyone asks questions and gives evidence seated with the witness chair at the end of the table. Were it not for the slightly elevated bench for the Judge and her panel it would look for all the world like we were observing some business meeting, which might be deliberate. There are about 20 chairs in Court 1 for witnesses, supporters and journalists along with a complete dearth of accessible plug sockets, which always makes things a struggle. There is a live link to courts 2 and 3 for extra spectators. Some observers prefer to be in the auxiliary court so they can talk.
The day began with a serious allegation about Morrison's attitude towards trans people. Doherty said Morrison had been with her boss, Michele Devlin, at a Belfast Exposed event. Devlin alleges that Morrison saw a trans person and said "Ergh!... I can't look at it". Was this true? asked Doherty I understand further evidence may be adduced about this highly disputed recollection. Morrison was then asked if she had ever asked Devlin how comfortable she might be if Devlin's then seven year old daughter were to be confronted in a woman's communal changing room with "a big erect penis". Morrison said the conversation did take place but not in the way Devlin remembers it. She was asking Devlin what's known as the Helen Staniland question (variations on "Do you believe that male-sexed people should have the right to undress and shower in a communal changing room with women and girls?") Morrison categorically denied using the words "erect penis". Doherty asked if she thought Devlin was lying in her witness statement. Morrison indicated she thought she was. Doherty said it would ultimately be for the tribunal to decide. Should the Belfast Film Festival investigate?
This is an interesting part of the case. Despite agreeing (at the time) to the statement eventually issued in response to the complaints about her LWS talk in July 2023, Morrison has always said she was "utterly horrified" by it the moment it was put in the public domain. The statement reads: "We have been made aware of the incident and are investigating. We want to reassure you that Belfast Film Festival passionately supports your values. We will celebrate and defend them." Morrison said she was feeling very vulnerable when Devlin rang her to check the statement with her. She assumed her boss was about to sack her. Her witness statement lays it out: "I can't recall her exact words, as I was flooded with relief that there was no mention of my dismissal. The call lasted only a couple of minutes.... When I saw the tweet Michele posted using the BFF account, I was utterly horrified... They stated that I was being “investigated,” which felt like a complete betrayal of my trust and heightened my sense of vulnerability. I was already enduring relentless online abuse, and now it seemed as though Doherty took her back through a number of concerns raised by board members and complaints from external sources. The first was a note taken by Michele Devlin on the back of a BFF board discussion on 4 May 2023 (three weeks after the LWS event) initiated by Lucy Baxter, a BFF board member. Devlin wrote that Baxter asked her: "What is going on that a BFF employee is speaking at this anti-trans, right wing event?" and "expressed concern that it would negatively impact on the organisation and could have implications for our reputation". In the same note, Devlin recorded a conversation with Pedro Donald, owner of a local pub and sponsor of the BFF. "Pedro had said to me 'What is going on with Sara Morrison?’ He raised that a number of people had said to him: ‘What is the BFF Inclusion Officer doing speaking at a rally with this far right wing crowd?' He added that the reputation of the Respondent as a progressive LGBTQ supportive organisation was at risk." Devlin's witness statement records "a phone call from Mark Cousins, Board Member, notifying me of a discussion he had Asked about this specific point, Morrison said the Cousins allegation was one of the most "distressing things" in the trial bundle [the set of documents and statements put into evidence in any trial which are agreed by both parties] and it had been "blown out of all proportion". She said it was a two minute conversation. We'll hear more about this tomorrow, I'm sure.
All the views Next, Doherty took Morrison to Laurence McKeown's witness statement. McKeown is, notoriously, a former IRA member. He also founded the BFF. McKeown said: "The Claimant [Morrison] is entitled to her views, however; by criticising women's groups at the Let Women Speak event, the Claimant did immense damage to the reputation of the Respondent [the BFF] and to relationships between the Respondent and other organisations that the Respondent works extensively with." Doherty drew Morrison's attention to McKeown's point that she was entitled to her views. "I'm just not allowed to say them out loud", responded Morrison, drily. Doherty countered that her views were potentially alienating to LGBT people. Morrison said that she considered herself more inclusive as she had her views and was accepting of theirs. At this point Morrison asked to be excused. She appeared to be in some distress. She hurried out of the courtroom and later confirmed she'd gone to be sick. Morrison returned, very composed, within a couple of minutes, but it was an indication of the pressure she was under. The stars are out in force
Doherty took Morrison to a complaint from the female Northern Irish actor Lola Pettigrew, who does not think she is a woman. Pettigrew wrote to the BFF saying: "I took part in the Belfast film festival a few years ago with a film called A Bump Along the Way and I felt so privileged to be able to take part in my home town's film festival. Also safe. I hope to continue to get to show work there in the future... However it has recently been brought to my attention that your inclusion officer Sara Morrison spoke at a transphobic rally which took place in Doherty asked Morrison how can she could expect her employers not to act "when they're getting this kind of feedback - should they just do nothing?" Morrison started replying by saying "I'd expect them to get some perspective..." but changed her mind, and said "actually, no. It's not for me to say what they should do." Doherty turned to an allegation against Morrison which had come via email from an "openly transgender man" Caleb J Roberts. Roberts wanted to complain about an encounter he had with Morrison in 2022. He waited until after Morrison's speech on 16 April 2023, then he wrote to Michele Devlin, saying:
"At the Belfast Film Festival in November 2022 - during the after-screening drinks of Ballywalter in the Cineworld foyer, I was approached by Sara Morrison. I had never met Sara before, and had to google her after the interaction, shocked that she was listed as the Audience Development and Inclusion Officer. Morrison told Doherty "absolutely none of this happened" and that she was very happy to deny the encounter in its entirety. She agreed the email was shocking, but only because someone would go out of their way to lie about something in order to smear her. Doherty asked whether or not it would be reasonable for her employer to investigate in order to get her perspective on the allegation. Morrison refused to be drawn on whether any investigation should have taken place. No photos
After the first break in the day there was an issue raised by the Judge - someone had taken a photo inside the court building and posted it online. This is against the law. Fiona McAnena from Sex Matters immediately put her hand up and admitted it was her. Doherty read out the specific law she had potentially broken. McAnena pleaded ignorance to the court. The Judge was satisfied with her agreement to remove the photo and reminded everyone present that there should be no recording of any aspect of the tribunal. Investigation, grievance, disciplinary and sickness The rest of the day was taken up with Doherty slowly and steadily advancing the point that BFF had acted thoroughly reasonably and decently towards Morrison throughout 2023 and 2024. Morrison agreed that from the moment she was told there was an investigation into what had happened, it had never taken place. Instead, Morrison went off sick and raised a grievance against her employer which soon became a crowdfunded claim of discrimination and eventually a claim for constructive dismissal after Morrison resigned in November 2024. During her evidence, Morrison readily agreed that the grievance outcome and her appeal outcome was thorough and not a whitewash (even tho she disagreed with both outcomes). She also agreed that the proposed investigation into what happened did not take place. She also agreed that at no stage were disciplinary proceedings brought against her by her employer. At one point Morrison let out an involuntary sigh. Doherty stopped to ask if she was okay. Morrison said she was fine, just "bored". One of the more interesting things that Morrison conceded was that because of her speech at the LWS event in April 2023, the proposed BFF involvement in Belfast Pride in July 2023 did not go ahead. This was because, she conceded, of the hostility towards Morrison remaining an employee of BFF. After lunch Morrison's legal team attempted to change the "list of issues" (the matters on which the Judge and her two-person Panel must ultimately decide) that the BFF's short notice attempt to get involved in Belfast Pride was not just some kind of attempt to ingratiate the BFF with trans organisations in the light of Morrison's LWS speech - it was actually part of the campaign to get rid of her. They failed, but they can still argue that point later in the trial. Abuse and subterfuge Morrison was taken to some messages exchanged by board members which only came to the fore once she had initiated legal proceedings. One was from Laurence McKeown, expressing the view that the campaign against Morrison was quite restrained, or as he put it: "I think the individuals and organisations who contacted Michele [Devlin] regarding the issue have actually been very generous in terms of how they have framed their criticisms." Another was from board member Lisa Barros D'sa, who said: "Michele has gathered further formal complaints relating to Sara. Doherty noted these had only come to light after Morrison had initiated legal proceedings, and therefore could not be grounds for them at the time they were initiated.
The day ended with a bit of discussion about schedule. There will be a late start on Friday and possibly a very late start on Monday. It looks like Michele Devlin will be first to give evidence tomorrow. I attempted to take a photo of her as she walked out of the court building this afternoon, but she put a file in front of her face. House notices Thanks v much for all your correspondence over the last couple of days. I hope you'll appreciate replying in any meaningful way is quite tricky as court days are 12 hour days and quite exhausting, but I do appreciate it! I was also delighted to see that Andrew, Master of the Dark Arts (whose witchcraft keeps this newsletter and the GenderBlog website functioning), was super-efficient in getting yesterday's tweet-thread formatted and posted up in the Live Tweets section of the GenderBlog website. Please do have a look. I am sure today's tweets will end up there shortly. Finally feel free to share any of the information in this email, just don't post the whole thing online somewhere. Same again tomorrow, with Naomi Cunningham in action. Have a good evening! Nick |
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