Green Party in legal battle with ex-member suspended for mocking ‘fairy’ pronouns

She is accused of mocking "fae/faer" pronouns – a type of neopronoun inspired by mythical beings that some people use instead of traditional he/him or she/her.

The party's disciplinary committee found her comments about these "fairy pronouns" were "clearly antagonistic" and breached rules on welcoming diversity.

Ms Bateman found herself in hot water after a speech at Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park back in March 2022.

She addressed gender-critical activists and didn't hold back, questioning how far her fellow Greens would "prostrate" themselves to the "pronoun police."

She also coined the phrase "cognitive cis-connance" – a play on cognitive dissonance – and mocked the idea "that every time someone says men are not women, a person with fairy pronouns literally dies."

The disciplinary committee wasn't impressed, noting she'd read out party policy on trans identities "in a clearly overtly sarcastic fashion" that drew boos from the crowd.

But her legal battles with the party stretch back years.

Ms Bateman says she was first placed on a "no-fault" suspension in 2021 after asking whether Kathryn Bristow, then co-chairman of Green Party Women, was biologically female.

The following year brought another suspension after she warned that "gender variant" people were being permitted to stand for the women's committee and defended single-sex spaces.

The party deemed her statements "insensitive, uncivilised, disparaging, unethical, bullying, and could have caused offence," resulting in a six-month ban.

Her final expulsion came in January 2023, triggered by a complaint from two senior party figures who accused her of "making trans people feel unwelcome."

Ms Bateman argues the party's stance on trans rights completely undermines its credibility on climate science.

"The Green Party prides itself on being a party of science, and we want people to believe us on climate change," she told The Telegraph.

"It's absolutely ridiculous to say we can't tell you whether someone is male or female, but we're a science-based party. I mean, it makes a mockery of it."

She also revealed the hostility she faced from fellow members, claiming one person launched a petition calling her "an anti-Semitic, eugenicist, fascist, far-Right bigot" who should be kicked out.

A leaked party dossier drawn up by the Greens' own lawyers raised concerns that expulsions of members questioning gender ideology hadn't always followed "due process."

The document suggested disciplinary action was sometimes driven by "individual hostility to gender-critical beliefs."

Green Party leader Zack Polanski has made his position crystal clear, stating that people are "not necessarily" born male and female and that kicking out "transphobic" members is one of his "red lines."

Ms Bateman believes the party is too committed to reverse course now.

"The Green Party will be the last party to ever acknowledge that what's gone on is wrong," she said.

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