UK charity slammed after banning disabled child from summer camp in 'pronouns' row: 'Ridiculous!'

The child's mother had expressed gender-critical views during the application process, which asked for her and her son's "pronouns" on the paperwork.

Outraged at the question, the 52-year-old mother wrote "seriously?" on the form, prompting a confrontation from the charity and the boy's subsequent ban from the camp.

Discussing the incident on GB News, Case Officer at the Free Speech Union Celeste Warren said: "This is a really strange case of a child who was essentially refused entry to the summer camp because on the application form, they asked for his and his mother's pronouns.

"His mother decided to write 'seriously?' in response to these pronouns, which precipitated a call from the charity to the mother.

"This was heated, during which the mother started to talk about her gender-critical views.

"She expressed the belief that sex is immutable and biological, and the phone call ended abruptly.

"The charity then contacted the mother, saying that they are not allowing her or her son to attend this the summer camp.

"They allege that this was due to the aggressive nature in which the mother carried out the phone call, however, FSU Scotland was able to help the mother submit a subject access request, which revealed the true reason that the mother and her son were not permitted access were because her gender-critical views, were not in line with Over the Wall."

Criticising the decision as "clear discrimination", Ms Warren stated: "Clearly this is gender-critical discrimination and completely ridiculous.

"So our General Secretary Toby Young wrote to the Charity Commission and the Scottish Charity Commission, pointing out that the charity is actually going against its own charitable objectives by doing this.

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"Over the Wall's objectives are to promote or assist in the promotion and the relief of suffering for seriously ill children, so denying this child and his mother access to the summer camp because the mother holds gender-critical views is clearly in violation of their charitable objectives."

Delivering his verdict on the incident, host Martin Daubney said it was "astonishing" that the charity allowed the child to miss out on an experience over "pronouns".

He fumed: "It seems astonishing that disabled child can miss out on something so giving and meaningful as a summer camp, because the mother won't use pronouns. It's just incredible."

Ms Warren agreed, responding: "It really is. It's so disappointing to see a charity like this put ideology essentially above the joy of a child.

"The purpose of this camp is to allow disabled children to interact with each other, to have these unique experiences.

"I mean, this is a summer camp that takes place on beautiful grounds, these are acres and acres of natural environment that really prove a benefit to a lot of these children.

"And it is ridiculous that they've been denied access because of politics."

The charity has maintained that the rejection wasn't due to the mother's response, but rather her "aggressive" telephone manner and concerns about potential "conflict" with a transgender child attending the camp.

In a statement, a spokesman for Over The Wall said: "We welcome the Charity Commission's potential investigation.

"This family was declined a place on a family camp where children are accompanied by parents or siblings.

"This was not due to his mother's views, but the aggressive nature in which she expressed them."