Fired for ‘Strong Beliefs’? David Toshack vs #GeoAmey over Pronouns and Free Speech.
A trainee Prisoner Custody Officer has been sacked by private firm GeoAmey, sparking an employment tribunal claim over his protected belief on biological sex. I dissect the implications.
In a shocking twist of logic, GeoAmey reveals its new ‘thoughtcrime’ training module.
Breaking news from the world of public service! It appears GeoAmey, the forward-thinking private company responsible for carting our nation's finest lawbreakers around, has taken a bold step into the future of employee relations. They've discovered a revolutionary new metric for job suitability: having “strong beliefs.”
Just ask David Toshack, a chap who, until very recently, was on track to become an exemplary Prisoner Custody Officer. By all accounts, David was a model trainee. He was praised by instructors, contributed thoughtfully to discussions, and, most importantly, didn't appear to be a secret agent of chaos. But then, a diversity discussion happened. The topic? Managing transgender prisoners.
Now, David, in a moment of what some might call "biological reality-based honesty," expressed the quaint notion that sex is real, binary, and immutable. He also had the audacity to suggest he would use neutral language and treat everyone with respect, but he simply couldn't bring himself to use the requested pronouns that contradicted a person’s biological sex. Imagine the horror!
You see, in our current societal climate, it's not about what is true; it's about what feels true to an individual. Reality has taken a back seat to the relentless demands of the ego, where personal identity is a bespoke creation, a self-label that must be validated by everyone around you. Companies like GeoAmey have apparently adopted this philosophy with gusto. They've realised that the greatest threat to a stable workplace isn't incompetence, theft, or actual violence—it's someone politely refusing to participate in a collective fantasy.
The idea that a person could hold a protected belief based on objective, scientific fact, rather than on the ever-shifting sands of subjective self-definition, is a “thoughtcrime” of the highest order. It's a direct assault on the sacred principle that feelings are facts, and that a person’s self-proclaimed identity is the only reality that matters.
GeoAmey's reaction was swift and decisive. In a masterclass of corporate efficiency, they bypassed all those tedious, outdated disciplinary procedures. No advanced warning, no right to be accompanied, just a quick meeting where David was informed he was “not suitable” due to his “strong beliefs.” This move has now led to a potential employment tribunal claim under the Equality Act 2010.
It's a bold new era for workplace safety. Forget about aggression, incompetence, or actual misconduct. The true threat to a safe working environment is apparently a quiet, well-reasoned belief about basic biology.
The company's handling of the situation was a thing of beauty. When David appealed, they simply changed the reason for his dismissal to "aggressive manner," a claim not supported by their own documents. It's a textbook case in how to manage an inconvenient truth: if the first reason doesn't stick, just invent another one. Who needs evidence when you have a narrative?
David Toshack is now, with the help of the Free Speech Union (FSU) and solicitor-advocate Margaret Gribbon, fighting back. He's trying to prove that you can hold a belief without being a provocateur and that a person's employment shouldn't hinge on their willingness to deny basic biological facts. It's a tough road, but with the legal system on his side and the public's support, he might just prove that you can, in fact, keep your job without having to perform a complete ideological backflip.
Good luck, David. May your beliefs be just strong enough to make it through the employment tribunal without being labelled a sackable offence.