Tribunal hears employee 'jumped' after rally appearance

Sara Morrison says she was forced out of her job at the Belfast Film Festival (BFF) after she joined a rally for Let Women Speak in 2023

A barrister for Belfast Film Festival (BFF) has claimed that a former employee who is taking a discrimination case against the organisation "jumped when she didn't have to".

Sara Morrison, who believes that people cannot change their biological sex, was an inclusion coordinator with the festival when she attended a Let Women Speak rally in 2023.

She made a speech in which she referred to "keeping men out of women's spaces" and criticised a number of women's organisations.

Complaints were made to the BFF from members of the LGBT community and it launched an investigation into Ms Morrison. She subsequently resigned from her role.

The BFF rejects her claim of unlawful discrimination and her bid for damages.

During the final day of her employment tribunal, Sean Doherty, representing the BFF, insisted the investigation was a "mutual" exercise and that the organisation was not a "cold house" for views like those held by Ms Morrison.

Mr Doherty said an investigation "could have exonerated the claimant", adding: "She jumped when she didn't have to."

The barrister referred to evidence given earlier in the tribunal by BFF board member Mark Cousins that the festival was "a broad church" and that staff members were entitled to their views.

However, it is Ms Morrison's case that she was discriminated against because of her views, which her barrister Naomi Cunningham KC described as "sex realist".

Ms Cunningham said the BFF failed to distinguish between Ms Morrison's view and transphobia.

'Isn't a good enough answer'

It is the BFF's case that it was concerned about the potential reputational damage Ms Morrison's attendance at the 2023 rally could cause to the organisation and to its partnerships with some of the groups Ms Morrison criticised.

But Ms Cunningham rejected this.

"That the claimant's manifestation of sex realist beliefs by attending a Let Women Speak might cause hostility on the part of some organisations that might have in the past or at some point in the future work with the BFF, or form part of its audience, isn't a good enough answer or justification for punishing the claimant for manifesting her political opinion that way," she told the tribunal.

"It can't be the case that the respondent could outsource its responsibility that way."

She added that Ms Morrison's belief that people cannot change their biological sex was "a protected characteristic" and that the BFF was "not entitled to punish" Ms Morrison for manifesting it.

"It wasn't the comments about the women's groups," she said. "The problem in the respondent's mind was that the claimant attended Let Women Speak and because of that she was perceived to be transphobic."

The tribunal panel is expected to spend some time considering the evidence it has heard over the course of the last two weeks.

It is unlikely to return a judgement before Christmas.