Legal challenge launched over Civil Service support for Pride

The Christian Institute has taken steps to remove controversial gender and LGBT ideology from the Civil Service, on the grounds that it compromises political neutrality.

The move followers a court victory earlier this yr which ruled against police participation in a Pride march.

The Institute said it had informed Sir Chris Wormald, the Cabinet Secretary, that it will be searching for a judicial review into Civil Service participation in Pride events.

The Institute can be targeting using rainbow lanyards and the general public listing of pronouns.

Simon Calvert, Deputy Director of The Christian Institute, said that the general public embrace of LGBTQ causes by the Civil Service puts it at direct odds with its requirement to be politically and ideologically neutral.

“The law is evident that civil servants must maintain impartiality on controversial political issues. Whether one agrees with it or not, nobody can deny that the LGBTQ Pride movement and its hard-line gender ideology are profoundly political,” he said.

“Pride London, for instance, attended by Whitehall-based civil servants, has even banned political parties because they don’t support its political demands, which include puberty blockers and gender self-ID.”

The Institute is hoping to duplicate the success of Linzi Smith, a “gender critical” lesbian who brought a case against Northumbria Police Chief Constable Vanessa Jardine.

Smith argued that police participation in a Pride march indicated support for a particular political ideology and that consequently members of the general public couldn’t trust the police to fairly adjudicate in disagreements on that ideology.

In July the High Court in Leeds ruled in favour of Smith, with Mr Justice Linden determining that allowing officers to participate in Pride events was “outside the range of reasonable decisions open to” Chief Constable Vanessa Jardine.

Calvert, citing the case, said, “Involvement in Pride signals support for a highly contentious set of political demands. It is inappropriate for civil servants to be officially endorsing Pride.

“I actually have been working in public policy for many years. I’ve been shocked by what number of civil servants wear Pride lanyards in our meetings with them, even when those meetings are specifically in regards to the clashes between LGBTQ politics and the Christian faith.

“Sitting in front of a phalanx of civil servants in rainbow lanyards gives the look that their minds are closed on the problems we’re discussing. It actually doesn’t communicate the type of neutrality that taxpayers expect of civil servants.”