Man Expelled From Course for Questioning Why Children Were Being Encouraged to Transition Wins Right to Sue

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 UK judge has ruled that a trainee psychotherapist’s claim that he was treated unlawfully as a result of his gender-critical beliefs can be heard in court.

In 2021, former criminal defence barrister James Esses was expelled from his psychotherapist training course, three years in. He alleges that this was for openly discussing his fear that young children are actively encouraged to transition gender.

He has alleged that the professional association UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) ordered the specialist higher education provider Metanoia Institute to have removed him from his master’s course.

Esses argues that pushing an “affirmation-only” treatment model for gender distress undermines exploratory therapy for vulnerable children and that his course provider is an organisation that ascribes to gender theory.

The Epoch Times contacted Esses for comment, who pointed to a statement on his CrowdJustice page and the judgment, which was published on Wednesday (pdf).

Gender Dysphoria in Children

The judgment states that Esses had expressed his concern over “a lack of balance in the discussion and debate around treatment of gender dysphoria, particularly for children” to UKCP. He was told that to join the council he would have to abide by its “ethical framework.”

An email was then sent in April by the council to the chief executive of Metanoia, which stated, “We are greatly concerned by this situation.”

Then in May, Esses’s contract with the Metanoia Institute was terminated, followed by his contract with UKCP.

The case against both Metanoia Institute and UKCP is now clear to be heard at a full employment tribunal.

“Having considered the submissions from the claimant’s representative and the second respondent’s representative, I do not consider it appropriate to strike out the claimant’s direct discrimination because of philosophical belief claim,” wrote employment Judge Beyzade Beyzade.

At a preliminary hearing, Esses’s legal team wrote that he is relying on the protected characteristic of religion or belief under section 10 of the Equality Act, that his philosophical belief is that “sex is binary, immutable and biological and gender is a question of identity based upon a variety of factors, including culture and socialisation.”

He also claims that “gender reassignment is not de facto the appropriate treatment for all individuals experiencing gender dysphoria and that there may be such individuals who ought not to be treated in this manner immediately and/or merely by the fact of their gender dysphoria.”

Esses is the co-founder of Thoughtful Therapists, a group of psychotherapists and counsellors working in the area of gender dysphoria.

He believes that “psychotherapists should explore by way of open-ended discussion the context and possible causes of a person’s gender dysphoria, which may in some cases lead to the person desisting from a course of potentially irreversible and potentially damaging medical intervention such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and sex reassignment surgery,” according to the practice’s website.

Esses’s solicitor is Peter Daly, a partner at Doyle Clayton, who specialises in gender critical cases. He is also acting for Maya Forstater and Allison Bailey.

The Epoch Times contacted UKCP and Metanoia for comment.