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Student recently founded organization that opposes men in women-only spaces
A British university student who recently founded an organization exclusively for biological women accused a pub of denying her service this month due to her allegedly “horrible” views about “vulnerable trans people.”
In a letter to the Prince of Wales this week, Cambridge University philosophy major Thea Sewell threatened to sue for discrimination unless the south London pub reverses its decision, apologizes, and compensates her for its actions, The Sunday Times reports.
Allegedly, the pub staff refused to serve Sewell earlier this month when she stopped in with some friends, according to the report. She said the pub is near her family’s home, and she had been going there for years.
Sewell alleges she was told, “You’re not welcome here,” according to The Times:
When she asked why, Sewell said she was given an explanation to the effect that it was because of her “horrible” views on “vulnerable trans people”.
She said she had been “deeply embarrassed” by the rejection and had agreed to leave to save her companion from any further distress. Sewell said that when she returned later that evening to seek “further clarification” from bar staff, she was told: “You’re not allowed in here.”
Sewell said that when she protested, saying that it was unlawful under equality laws to refuse to serve someone on the basis that they held gender-critical views, the same staff member said she was barring Sewell because the bartenders “did not feel comfortable” serving her. …
Sewell alleged that the refusal to serve her “was clearly in relation to my being known to hold gender-critical beliefs” and had been an act of “unlawful belief discrimination”, adding: “I have spoken publicly about my experience of harassment and discrimination because of these beliefs at the University of Cambridge, where I am a student.”
The incident appears to be linked to Sewell’s advocacy for women’s rights, which, in recent months, has attracted international attention.
Last fall, she and two peers began the Cambridge University Society of Women, “a non-partisan organisation dedicated to providing a space for free speech, discussion and association between women.”
“CUSW is proudly a single-sex, women-only environment with a membership open to any woman with a commitment to women’s sex-based rights and concerns,” the society’s website states.
Among other things, Sewell and others in the society advocate for women’s “right to single-sex spaces for the purposes of safety, dignity and fairness.”
As a result, she has been accused of hatred toward people who identify as transgender.
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