Council admits discriminating against social worker over her gender-critical views

Lizzy Pitt, 62, hails a ‘win for the right side of history’ after Cambridgeshire County Council pays her £54,000 in compensation

A council has admitted discriminating against a social worker who voiced gender-critical views during an LGBT meeting.
Cambridgeshire County Council has backed down after it launched disciplinary proceedings against Lizzy Pitt over gender-critical comments she made at a workplace LGBT peer-support group.
At the meeting in Jan 2023, Ms Pitt, who describes herself as “a lesbian who believes that sex is real”, expressed her belief that sex is a matter of biology.
She also said women’s sport is being ruined by men competing as women, that people cannot change sex, and that she did not want biological men in women-only spaces.
Months later in April, five colleagues filed a formal complaint about Ms Pitt’s comments at the meeting, allegedly accusing her of “symbolic violence” and claiming they were “traumatised”.
One member of the group allegedly said he couldn’t sleep for two nights “thinking about this cruelty”, while another said he was “shaking in disbelief”, Ms Pitt reported. A third allegedly said he had suffered from anxiety dreams after the meeting.
Following the complaint, Cambridgeshire County Council launched a probe into Ms Pitt’s behaviour that finished in June last year. The investigation concluded that Ms Pitt had “made comments that were non-inclusive and caused considerable offence”.
She was issued with a management instruction in regard to her conduct and suspended from the LGBT network for a period of 12 months.
Recommended
Ms Pitt said previously: “The whole process was intensely stressful and humiliating for me. It left me feeling that my colleagues and my employer regarded me as a bigot who could only be tolerated in the workplace if I was forced to keep my beliefs to myself even when they were relevant.”
Last October, Ms Pitt took the local authority to an employment tribunal pleading harassment related to sexual orientation and her philosophical belief that gender is immutable.
She set up a crowd funder for people to support her case which has since raised more than £50,000.
The social worker’s tribunal was due to commence on Monday. But after months of waiting, the council backed down on the morning of the hearing. It accepted full liability and agreed to pay her £54,000 in compensation.
Ms Pitt, a qualified social worker for 15 years, described the result as a “win for the right side of history” and thanked those who had supported her during her 10-month battle.
The 62-year-old said: “Let’s hope that other employers will start to learn that it’s a bad idea to try to stop lesbians asserting their boundaries and silence staff who know that sex is real, and sometimes matters.”
Ms Pitt’s lawyer Liz McGlone, a partner at Didlaw specialising in women’s rights, said: “For Lizzy personally, it’s vindication that she was discriminated against.
“It’s another victory in terms of gender-critical beliefs and the fact that they are protected beliefs within the workplace, and employers need to ensure that that is recognised.”
Describing the investigation into Ms Pitt’s behaviour, she added: “It’s cherry-picking who gets to be included, which is actually more exclusive than it is inclusive.”
A Cambridgeshire County Council spokesperson said: “We strive to create a safe, inclusive and compassionate environment for people to work in and recognise this needs to be balanced with everyone being entitled to express their own views and beliefs.
“We will reflect carefully on this outcome, as well as undertaking a review of our policies and procedures accordingly.”