Sex Matters (advocacy group)
{{Short description|Advocacy group}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{use British English|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = Sex Matters
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| type = Campaign group
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| leader_title = Chief Executive Officer and co-founder
| leader_name = Maya Forstater
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| key_people = Helen Joyce, Director of Advocacy{{Cite web |last=Beal |first=James |date=2024-11-22 |title=Police log hate incident for refusal to shake hands in gender row |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/police-log-non-crime-hate-incident-refusal-shake-hands-6h7tzpf6d |access-date=18 April 2025 |website=The Times |language=en}}
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| website = {{URL|https://sexmatters.org}}
| registration_id = 1207701
| status = Charitable Incorporated Organisation
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Sex Matters is an advocacy group co-founded by Maya Forstater in October 2020 that campaigns for the view that "sex matters in law and in life".{{Cite news |last=Gordon |first=Jane |date=23 April 2021 |title=Maya Forstater: 'I am fighting for the right to say men can never be women' |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/amfightingfor-therightto-saymen-cannever-bewomen/ |access-date=12 January 2025 |work=The Telegraph |location= London }} The Charity Commission registered Sex Matters as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation on 3 April 2024.{{Cite web |title=SEX MATTERS - Charity 1207701 |url=https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/charity-details/5204776/charity-overview |access-date=18 April 2025 |website=register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk}}{{Cite web |last=Whitehead |first=Harriet |date=5 April 2024 |title=Regulator grants Sex Matters charitable status |url=https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/regulator-grants-sex-matters-charitable-status.html |access-date=18 April 2025 |website=www.civilsociety.co.uk}}{{Cite web |last=Harle |first=Emily |date=5 April 2024 |title=Controversial gender-critical group granted charitable status |url=https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/controversial-gender-critical-group-granted-charitable-status/governance/article/1867826 |access-date=18 April 2025 |website= www.thirdsector.co.uk }}
Activities
In October 2023, Sex Matters issued guidance on collecting official data, calling on public bodies to ask about sex as opposed to self-identified gender.{{Cite news |last=Martin |first=Daniel |date=25 October 2023 |title=Ask about sex not gender to protect the truth, public bodies told |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/10/25/sex-matters-guidance-gender-sex-schools-nhs-data-evidence/ |access-date=18 April 2025 |work=The Telegraph |location= London}} Forstater said: "From official statistics to HR records, the collection of data on sex and gender has bordered on dystopian for several years now thanks to lobbying from transactivist groups. Recording sex accurately is crucial, particularly when it comes to issues such as safeguarding and service provision".
In January 2024, Sex Matters said it had catalogued at least 19 current legal cases where a claimant argued discrimination because of their gender-critical beliefs.{{Cite news |last=Siddique |first=Haroon |last2= |first2= |date=19 January 2024 |title='A politically toxic issue': the legal battles over gender-critical beliefs |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/19/a-politically-toxic-issue-the-legal-battles-over-gender-critical-beliefs |access-date=18 April 2025 |work=The Guardian |location= London}}
In July 2024, a letter from Sex Matters, signed by Forstater, called on incoming Prime Minister Keir Starmer not to give Anneliese Dodds, Minister of State for Women and Equalities, responsibility for Labour's pledge to implement a "trans-inclusive" ban on conversion therapy.{{Cite news |last=Gibbons |first=Amy |last2=Martin |first2=Daniel |date=10 July 2024 |title=Anneliese Dodds should not be in charge of conversion therapy ban, campaigners urge |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/07/10/anneliese-dodds-conversion-therapy-ban-womens-rights/ |access-date=18 April 2025 |work=The Telegraph |location= London}}
In April 2025, Sex Matters made arguments at the Supreme Court in the case For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers and claimed the Court's ruling that "the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex" was "the right answer".{{Cite web |title=UK Supreme Court rules legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex - live updates |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cvgq9ejql39t |access-date=18 April 2025 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}} Chief executive Maya Forstater said: "The protected characteristic of sex - male and female - refers to reality, not to paperwork."{{cite web |url=https://news.sky.com/story/uk-supreme-court-makes-unanimous-decision-on-definition-of-a-woman-13349170 |title=UK Supreme Court makes unanimous decision on definition of a woman |date=16 April 2025 |accessdate=18 April 2025}}
See also
References
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Category:2020 establishments in the United Kingdom
Category:Advocacy groups in the United Kingdom
Category:Feminism and transgender topics
Category:LGBTQ-related controversies in the United Kingdom
Category:Organizations established in 2020
Category:Organizations that oppose transgender rights
Category:Organisations that oppose transgender rights in the United Kingdom