UK Lawyer Plans to Sue Eventbrite After It Refused to Sell Tickets to Trans Ideology Debate

Undated photo showing Lady Justice statue on top of the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey, in central London. (Clara Molden/PA)

A British lawyer is planning to take legal action against Eventbrite for refusing to sell tickets to her debate about trans ideology after it said that the debate “violated its policy on Hateful, Dangerous, or Violent Content and Events.”

Family law barrister Sarah Phillimore is fundraising to take Eventbrite to court after it pulled tickets for her Dec. 2 book launch event of “Transpositions: a personal journey into gender criticism,” which was co-written by the comedy writer Graham Linehan.

The U.S.-owned event management and ticketing website, which has its headquarters in San Francisco, said the event violated its policy on “Hateful, Dangerous, or Violent Content.”

Phillimore told The Epoch Times: “Obviously, if they back down and apologise, fantastic. If they don’t, we need to consider our options.”

The event also features male and female speakers who “believe that sex is real and important and must not be overshadowed or even replaced entirely by ‘gender identity ideology.’”

‘Hateful’

Phillimore stressed that it is not “hateful” to hold a “gender-critical” belief, as was confirmed by an employment tribunal appeal in June 2021 in the case of Maya Forstater. This successfully established a binding legal precedent that “gender-critical beliefs were in principle protected by the Equality Act.”

Phillimore is part of the Bad Law Project along with actor and activist Laurence Fox and campaigner and former policeman Harry Miller. It was set up to deal with what they call “a culture of coercion and control that is fast replacing our legal system.”

Eventbrite told Phillimore that it had determined that her event was “not permitted” on the platform “as it violates our Community Guidelines and Terms of Service.”

“As a result, your event has been unpublished. Please be aware that severe or repeated violations of our guidelines may result in the suspension or termination of your Eventbrite account,” it added.

She said that the event does not promote “violent” or “hateful” content and wants a court to confirm that what Eventbrite has done is unlawful. Phillimore also believes it is a clear breach of the Equality Act.

“The only reason, that has to be, is because they are offended by my gender-critical views ie. that sex is real and it matters,” she said.

On Twitter, she wrote that, “If it is really the case that a foreign company can compel UK citizens to contract out of their statutory rights, and can impose whatever kind of discriminatory practices it likes, without accountability, then this needs to be crystal clear to all of us.”

‘Gender-Identity Theology’

Phillimore, who has written extensively on the subject, told The Epoch Times that she calls gender ideology a “gender-identity theology.”

“It is more akin to a religion than an ideology,” she said.

“The way its supporters behave indicates very much to me that it’s a matter of blind faith and punishing the apostates. It’s really interesting when you look at the way they conduct themselves. The sheer anger, the venom, the refusal to listen to reason. It’s a religious response,” she said.

Last week, an MP who wanted to make it illegal in the UK for companies like PayPal to demonetise customers for political reasons removed her amendment, saying that the issue needs to be looked at by the British government in more detail.

On Nov. 3, Conservative MP Sally-Ann Hart presented an amendment to the Financial Services and Markets Bill, which would make it illegal for a financial services provider to withhold or withdraw service from a customer if it’s related to their freedom of expression.

Hart told The Epoch Times by email that she withdrew the amendment, but insisted that the matter is not closed.

“If we do not progress the issue, I will be bringing the amendment back!” she said.

The Epoch Times has contacted Eventbrite for comment.