Sex, Gender and LGBT Policy

Bromley Humanists (BH)

Legal Alignment: Data Protection Act 2018, UK Equality Act 2010, UK GDPR and the updated EHRC Services Code of Practice (effective from 5 August 2026).

Core Principle: Grounded in Humanists’ belief in human rights, dignity, science, rational logic, and the rule of law.

1. Introduction and Scope

This policy sets out how BH manages its operations, collects data, and governs workplace conduct in relation to sex, sexual orientation and gender reassignment. We are firmly committed to defending the fundamental human rights of all individuals, including women, children, lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender individuals (LGBT).

Everyone has the right to live with respect and dignity, free from violence, discrimination and harassment. This framework ensures our advocacy remains safe, objective, responsible, legally compliant, and insulated from ideological or political conflicts by strictly adhering to the UK Equality Act 2010 and other relevant legislation.

On the other hand, we want to avoid a culture of extreme tolerance, a social environment that pushes unconditional acceptance of all behaviours, beliefs and lifestyles to its limits. While we aim to maximise inclusion, we do not want to trigger the paradox of tolerance, in which leniency towards intolerant behaviours and ideologies can ultimately undermine and destroy the tolerant society itself. If we encounter actively harmful or exclusionary behaviours or ideologies, we must move from passive tolerance to active boundary management. Protecting a tolerant society requires mindful boundaries, awareness, and care to navigate public vulnerabilities safely. This policy sets clear, non-negotiable boundaries against behaviours that seek to destroy that tolerance.

2. Sexism, Sex Stereotyping and Misogyny

Sexism, sex stereotyping and misogyny are distinct yet interconnected components of a patriarchal social system. Together, they form a pipeline that defines gender roles, justifies inequalities and punishes those who do not comply.

Sex stereotyping (or gender stereotyping) is the practice of arbitrarily assigning specific traits, characteristics, or social roles to individuals based solely on their sex. It acts as a mental shortcut or cultural rulebook for how men and women should behave. It’s about believing that women are naturally nurturing, emotional, submissive, or better suited for domestic tasks, and that men must be dominant, physically strong, logical, and the primary breadwinners. These stereotypes limit personal development, dictate career paths, and create arbitrary restrictions on human potential.

Sexism is the systemic prejudice, discrimination, or devaluation of people based on their sex or gender. It is the broader ideology that uses sex stereotypes to establish and maintain a hierarchy in which one gender (typically male) is held superior. It reflects openly aggressive beliefs, such as the idea that women are manipulative or trying to control men. It may convey seemingly positive but patronising attitudes, such as viewing women as fragile creatures who need protection, which still reinforces their subordinate status. When sexism embeds itself in institutions, it can lead to structural inequalities such as the gender pay gap, unequal representation in leadership, and unfair distributions of domestic labour.

Misogyny is the hatred, contempt, or ingrained prejudice directed specifically against women and girls. While sexism is the underlying theory, misogyny is the enforcement arm of patriarchy. It is not merely an abstract feeling; it is a hostile system that polices and punishes women who challenge traditional male dominance. It functions as a cultural enforcement mechanism designed to maintain male dominance and keep women in subordinate roles. It manifests through objectification, belittling language, controlling behaviour, institutional discrimination, and gender-based violence. It includes verbal abuse, online harassment, slut-shaming, social exclusion, domestic abuse, and sexual violence. Misogyny is most sharply directed at women who violate patriarchal norms, such as those seeking high-power or political positions, refusing male attention, or stepping out of the domestic sphere.

Sex stereotyping provides the data that sexism uses to justify discrimination. If society accepts the stereotype that women are irrational, it uses that stereotype to justify sexist policies, such as keeping women out of political decision-making roles. According to contemporary social thinking, sexism is academic, whereas misogyny is combative. Sexism makes patriarchal arrangements look natural or inevitable. Misogyny steps in with hostility when a woman refuses to comply with those arrangements. When sexist justifications fail to keep a woman in a stereotyped role, the response frequently escalates into misogyny. A man acting on sexist beliefs might prefer his wife not to earn more than he does. If she succeeds anyway, he responds with explosive anger, psychological devaluation, or physical violence to restore his dominance; that behaviour has transitioned into misogyny.

3. Devastating Effects of Sexism and Misogyny

It took women generations of hard graft to secure the rights and legal protections they enjoy today. Sex stereotyping, sexism and misogyny form a systemic web that limits women and girls’ potential from childhood through adulthood and throughout their lives. Their consequences span multiple areas of life.

They are the root cause of gender-based violence, domestic abuse, sexual harassment, stalking, and femicide. Constant exposure to these devastating behaviours causes severe anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and a persistent sense of unsafety. They drive workplace discrimination, the gender pay gap, and barriers to leadership roles. They force women and girls to self-censor online and in public spaces for fear of becoming targets of abuse. They enforce rigid gender roles, restricting women’s choices regarding their careers, appearance, and bodily autonomy.

Unfortunately, the UK has seen a pronounced spike in sexist and misogynistic attitudes, particularly among young men and boys. This resurgence is driven by several modern social and technological factors. Social media platforms use engagement-driven algorithms, so content that provokes outrage or division keeps users online longer. Research from institutions such as University College London (UCL) shows that algorithms actively push toxic, anti-women content onto the feeds of vulnerable or lonely teenage boys within minutes of them joining a platform.

High-profile influencers have commodified hyper-masculinity. They exploit male insecurities about dating, shifting economic realities, and loneliness. By offering a false sense of community, they steer young men towards believing that women are manipulative or to blame for their problems. Moreover, societal shifts, such as economic instability, the cost-of-living crisis, and changing gender dynamics, have left many young men feeling excluded or left behind. Misogynistic groups exploit this by framing gender equality as a zero-sum game, convincing men that women’s advancement requires male disenfranchisement.

4. How Modern Misogyny Differs from Older Misogyny

While the fundamental goal of misogyny, namely the subjugation of women, remains unchanged, the modern variation operates differently from the traditional version. Modern misogyny is primarily online, driven by hyper-targeted algorithms and viral short-form videos, but it also spills over into offline settings.

Misogyny, like many other forms of online misconduct, is masked by online anonymity, enabling globalised swarm harassment. Its active resentment of women’s and girls’ empowerment is framed as male victimisation. The tech-driven abuses include doxxing (sharing someone’s private or personal information online), deepfakes (replacing a person’s face or voice with someone else’s), and unsolicited explicit material.

Traditional misogyny operated largely through passive social structures and expectations. In contrast, modern misogyny is highly decentralised and entrepreneurial, weaponising technology to turn gender bias into viral, profitable content.

5. How Misogyny Affects Organisations

Misogyny severely damages organisations by eroding workplace culture, driving away women’s talent, and creating significant legal and financial liabilities. Within the charity and voluntary sector, the impact is uniquely devastating; it directly compromises the public benefit mandate required for registered status and affects organisations in several distinct ways:

• It creates hostile environments characterised by casual sexism, bullying, and predatory behaviour, driving women out of leadership pipelines.

• In some organisations, vulnerable service users or whistleblowers face systemic silencing when they report sexual exploitation or harassment by powerful trustees or executives.

• A parliamentary inquiry following the National Secular Society’s “Mission and Misogyny” report found that some registered charities use the guise of advancing religion to promote violence against women, forced modesty codes, or marital rape, while benefiting from taxpayer-funded tax breaks.

• Public exposure of institutional misogyny triggers an immediate collapse in public trust, catastrophic declines in donor funding, and targeted regulatory interventions.

6. Why Workplace Harassment Policies Fall Short

A standard workplace harassment policy functions like a fire extinguisher: it addresses an emergency after it breaks out. Misogyny, however, is the structural hazard that builds up before the fire. Focusing only on harassment leaves major institutional blind spots:

• The Workplace Banter Loophole: Misogyny often thrives in grey areas, such as microaggressions, minor exclusions, or jokes that individual employees might not report as formal harassment, yet which collectively wear down women.

• Systemic Inequality: Harassment policies do not address why women are passed over for promotion, why a gender pay gap exists, or why systemic budget cuts disproportionately affect female-led teams.

• Separation of Symptoms: Treating harassment as an isolated behavioural issue ignores the fact that it is fuelled by a wider culture of disrespect and unequal power.

7. BH Commitment to Stopping Sexism and Misogyny

BH is committed to a workplace and operational environment free from misogyny, sexism, and gender-based inequality. BH maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards misogyny, sexism, and gender-based hostility.

We maintain a strict zero-tolerance policy towards all forms of sex-based discrimination, harassment, and abuse. This policy applies to all trustees, employees, volunteers, contractors, and service users across all operations, including online and digital spaces.

The purpose of this policy is to bring together all forms of sex-based bias into a single, actionable framework. This policy ensures we meet our legal duties under the Equality Act 2010 and fulfil our public benefit mandate as a registered charity.

We categorise and tackle sex-related misconduct through four distinct legal facets: BH maintains a zero-tolerance approach to misogyny, sexism, and gender-based hostility. It addresses direct and indirect discrimination, harassment, and victimisation.

• Direct Discrimination concerns overt actions in which a woman is treated less favourably because of her sex. For example, restricting a female employee from client-facing roles because of assumptions about her family commitments.

• Indirect Discrimination covers neutral rules, criteria, or practices that apply to everyone but place women at a particular disadvantage. For example, mandating late-night networking events as a core metric for promotion disproportionately penalises those with primary childcare responsibilities.

• Harassment involves unwanted conduct related to sex that violates dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment. For example, this includes tolerating sexualised jokes, commenting on physical appearance, or dismissing degrading digital communication as office banter.

• Victimisation protects employees from being targeted, sidelined, or penalised for raising a complaint or supporting a colleague who spoke up. For example, denying a woman a promotion or excluding her from projects after she reported a senior executive’s inappropriate behaviour.

8. Respecting and Protecting LGBT Rights

BH is committed to fully respecting and protecting the rights of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) individuals. We strictly adhere to UK legislation, primarily the Equality Act 2010, which protects individuals from discrimination, harassment, and victimisation on the basis of their protected characteristics, including sexual orientation, gender reassignment, and marriage or civil partnership. We also operate in full compliance with the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Gender Recognition Act 2004 to ensure the dignity and privacy of all individuals.

We enforce a zero-tolerance policy towards homophobia, transphobia and any other form of discrimination or harassment towards LGBT individuals. We foster a safe, welcoming and inclusive environment where everyone can be their authentic selves.

We ensure equity in membership, recruitment, promotion, training, and volunteer opportunities for LGBT individuals, basing decisions solely on merit and capability. We design and deliver our services to be fully accessible, respectful, and inclusive of LGBT communities. We respect individuals’ right to privacy regarding their sexual orientation and gender identity, and we manage all personal data strictly in line with UK data protection laws.

9. Gender Reassignment Cases

On 16 April 2025, UK higher court rulings confirmed that the protected characteristic of “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refers explicitly to binary biological sex rather than to gender identity. Furthermore, in August 2026, the Equality and Human Rights Commission issued an updated Code of Practice confirming that a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) does not change a person’s sex for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010. Trans people, however, remain protected from discrimination on the grounds of gender reassignment, whether or not they hold a GRC. BH sincerely respects trans people’s rights, choices and feelings, and we’ll do our best to accommodate their needs.

10. A Dual Track Approach

Rather than adopting the demand to abolish single-sex spaces based on biological sex, BH, as a pragmatic group, utilises the following legal provisions to maintain these boundaries.

• We uphold that delicate or sensitive communal spaces, such as domestic violence refuges, communal hospital wards, changing rooms, and toilets, should be female-only on the basis of biological sex.

• However, to protect transgender individuals from inconvenience, discomfort, or risk, we advocate for, and where possible demand, that our venue suppliers provide individual, self-contained, gender-neutral spaces (e.g., single-occupancy unisex toilets and changing rooms) alongside female-only spaces. This ensures trans dignity without infringing on women’s privacy.

• We maintain the use of biological terms for sex-specific in all our communication and correspondence to ensure public messaging remains clear to the general public. We also recognise that terms such as “mother” or “woman” are vital for many reasons, including healthcare and human rights data tracking.

• BH also uses a dual-track approach to communication. In broad public communications, we retain sex-based language. At the individual and administrative levels, we allow trans members, staff, volunteers or guests to indicate their preferred name and pronouns on forms and in systems, ensuring respectful treatment without dismantling the linguistic framework.

• BH evaluates its policies on safety, fairness, and legality rather than on individuals’ opinions or ideologies. For example, in competitive physical sports or private settings, we maintain biological sex boundaries to prevent exploitation, injury or abuse. However, in low-risk environments where physical differences do not affect fairness or safety, such as community art groups, professional networks, or educational seminars, we promote full inclusion and welcome trans women as participants.

11. BH Proactive Duties

We do not wait for an incident to occur before taking action. In line with UK law, we take the following reasonable preventative steps to safeguard our team and service users:

• Risk Assessments: We conduct biannual risk audits of workplace culture, lone-working setups, and charity fundraising events where there is a potential for discrimination.

• Third-Party Protection: We actively protect our staff, members, and volunteers from misogyny, harassment, or discrimination by third parties, including donors, beneficiaries, and institutional partners.

• Bystander Intervention: We provide mandatory training to empower all members, volunteers and staff to safely challenge and disrupt everyday sexism, discrimination and microaggressions.

• Banning Harmful NDAs: We will never use Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) or confidentiality clauses to silence victims or cover up systemic sexual misconduct.

12. Digital and Online Spaces

Misogyny, abuse and discrimination frequently manifest in digital environments. The following behaviours are strictly prohibited on our equipment and premises, on personal devices used for BH business, on social media platforms, and on personal accounts where BH is named:

• Sending, saving, or sharing sexist memes, jokes, or objectifying images.

• Targeted online trolling, gaslighting, or exclusionary behaviour in group chats.

• Cyberstalking, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, or creating deepfake content.

• Using derogatory, gendered slurs in any digital correspondence.

13. Reporting and Whistleblowing Procedures

If staff, members, volunteers, or beneficiaries experience or witness misogyny, discrimination, or harassment, they can report it safely through the following channels. Every report will be promptly and impartially investigated in full confidence. See also our “Complaint Procedure”.

• Internal Route: Report directly to a trustee, a manager, or the person in charge at the time. If the complaint concerns your Line Manager, escalate it directly to the Board of Trustees.

• Independent Escalation Route: If the complaint concerns a Trustee or a member of the Executive Board, reports must be made directly to the Chair of the Board of Trustees or a designated external whistleblowing hotline. See also our “Complaint Procedure”.

14. Governance and Accountability

• For Employees, members and volunteers, breaches of this policy will be treated as misconduct and may result in dismissal for gross misconduct.

• For Trustees: Any trustee found to have engaged in sex-based abuse or misconduct, or to have actively covered up such behaviour, will be removed from the board.

• Regulatory Reporting: In line with our duties to the Charity Commission, any serious incident of harassment, systematic misogyny, or safeguarding failures will be reported immediately as a Serious Incident.

15. Code of Conduct

A. Mutual Respect and Courtesy

• All employees, members, volunteers, visitors and service users must treat one another with professional courtesy and respect.

• We welcome diverse viewpoints. Holding the “gender-critical” belief that sex is binary and immutable is a protected philosophical belief under the law. No person will face disciplinary action or social exclusion for holding or expressing these views. Individuals are also protected from harassment and discrimination on the basis of gender reassignment.

B. Freedom of Speech and Language

• Employees, members, and volunteers will not be required to include personal pronouns in email signatures, badges, or introductions. Pronoun mandates are rejected as compelled speech. Official communications and data logging will use clear, sex-based terminology.

• No Denigrating Language: The charity will not use language that reduces biological women to body parts or functions (e.g., “menstruators” or “cervix owners”) in any internal or external communications. We do not use language that deconstructs the terms “woman” or “man”. For example, terms such as “assigned female at birth” or “menstruators” are avoided in favour of “biological male or female” or “woman or men”.

• Institutional Impartiality: BH will remain neutral in highly contested socio-political debates that fall outside its core charitable purpose. We will avoid adopting flags, badges, or lanyards that signal allegiance to specific gender-identity political movements.

C. Protection of Women’s Rights and Single-Sex Spaces

BH recognises sex as a binary biological reality recorded at birth. We uphold that women’s rights are intrinsically tied to biological sex. In line with statutory legal exemptions under the Equality Act 2010, we support and maintain single-sex services, spaces (such as toilets, changing rooms, and domestic violence shelters), and opportunities (such as sports categories) where privacy, safety, and fairness for biological women require them.

D. Safeguarding Children and Young People

BH prioritises the safeguarding and physical and mental well-being of children and young people.

• Evidence-Based Support: We support a cautious, evidence-based, exploratory approach to children experiencing distress (dysphoria) regarding their bodies or gender.

• Protection from Medicalisation: We do not endorse or fund initiatives that promote irreversible medicalisation or social transition in minors without rigorous, long-term psychological oversight.

• Age-Appropriate Safeguarding: All educational or outreach materials for young people must be age-appropriate and must not present contested ideological theories about gender identity as settled scientific fact.

16. Protected Data Collection Framework

To ensure UK GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliance while respecting individual privacy, data collection must separate biological sex from transition status.

A) Standard Intake / Monitoring Form Template:

Confidential Data Collection Form

1. Legal Name (in full): _____________________________________________

2. Preferred Name (if different): ___________________________

3. Sex (Required for statutory monitoring and single-sex service allocation):

[ ] Female (biological sex)

[ ] Male (biological sex)

4. Gender Reassignment Status (Optional - Provided voluntarily under UK GDPR):

* We respect your privacy and feelings. If you have undergone, are undergoing, or plan to undergo a process of gender reassignment, you may indicate this here to help us tailor our support and ensure your dignity and safety are protected.

[ ] Yes, I am a transgender person / undergoing gender reassignment.

[ ] No.

[ ] Prefer not to say.

5. Communication Preferences:

* Please let us know how you prefer to be addressed in verbal communications (e.g., Preferred pronouns and form of address).

b) Data Collection Principles:

• Proportionality: We collect sex or transition data only when it is directly relevant to service delivery, legal monitoring, or medical safeguarding.

• Sensitivity: Forms are designed to capture necessary facts without compelling individuals to validate an ideology or compromise their privacy.

17. Objective Definitions

To maintain legal and intellectual clarity, BH relies on objective definitions grounded in current law and science rather than on fluid socio-political theories:

Biological Sex: An objective, binary (male and female), and immutable physical reality determined at conception. It is organised around the production of two distinct types of gametes (sperm and ova). This is a protected characteristic under the law (Equality Act 2010), known as Sex. By framing our policy around the legal terms: Sex, Sexual Orientation and Gender Reassignment, we protect the human rights of trans people without endorsing the belief that a person can literally change their biological sex or that an internal “gender soul” overrides material reality.

Sexual Orientation: A person’s attraction to individuals of the same sex, the opposite sex, or both. This includes lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals. It is entirely distinct from gender identity. Sexual orientation concerns whom a person is attracted to (a physical, interpersonal reality), whereas gender identity concerns how a person perceives themselves (an internal, subjective psychological state).

Transgender Individuals have an internal sense of self or psychological identity, which may differ from their biological sex. BH respects transgender identities and strongly opposes the harassment of all such individuals. However, our internal policies, public advocacy, and data collection treat sexual orientation and gender identity as distinct concepts with distinct needs. We reject the assumption that the social and political goals of the gender identity movement inherently align with the rights of individuals attracted to the same sex.

Gender Reassignment: The statutory legal characteristic that protects individuals who are proposing to undergo, are undergoing, or have undergone a process to transition away from their biological sex. This policy uses this statutory definition to protect transgender individuals without affirming that an individual can literally change their biological sex.

The Core Differences Between the Groups: The divide between different LGBT advocacy groups stems from a fundamental philosophical disagreement over biological sex versus gender identity. Some organisations are staunch advocates for transgender inclusion and gender-affirming care, and championing trans rights is central to their mission. However, some gender-critical groups advocate separating LGB and trans rights and raise concerns about gender ideology in sports and healthcare. For more information, refer to the official websites of various groups.

Some groups argue that redefining homosexuality as “same-gender” rather than “same-sex” attraction erases the legal and social framework that protects gay men and lesbians. For instance, they assert that a lesbian has a human right to define her boundaries based on biological sex, and that expecting her to accept male-bodied individuals into her dating pool or into single-sex spaces is fundamentally homophobic. Citing data from youth gender clinics, they express deep concern that a large proportion of children experiencing gender distress (dysphoria) would simply grow up to be happy lesbian, gay, or bisexual adults if left un-medicalised. They view the hasty social and medical transition of minors as a form of conversion therapy targeting same-sex attracted youth.

Important Note: As set out in this policy, BH relies on the rights of all relevant groups, grounded in current law and science, rather than on subjective and shifting socio-political ideas.

Conversion Therapy: Historically, conversion therapy (sometimes called reparative or gay-cure therapy) was a widespread, state-sanctioned medical and psychological effort to force gay and lesbian individuals to become heterosexual. In the mid-to-late 20th century, homosexuality was classified as a mental illness.

As a matter of principle, BH commits to a comprehensive ban on conversion practices for all LGBT individuals, ensuring that no one is subjected to coercive attempts to change or suppress their sexual orientation or gender identity. However, we do not extend the definition of “conversion therapy” to include any non-affirming response to a child’s self-declared gender identity or expression. Such extensions introduce extensive ideological overreach, rather than safeguarding vulnerable individuals, and risk criminalising therapists, educators, parents, social workers, colleagues and friends. They suppress open debate, enshrine a contested belief system (ideology) in law, and undermine safeguarding, human rights and critical enquiry across public institutions.

Instead, we focus strictly on preventing harm and protecting personal safety and explicitly distinguish abusive conversion practices from legitimate, neutral, and exploratory care and therapies. This ensures that clinicians, counsellors, parents, and colleagues can freely support individuals as they navigate complex feelings about gender and sexuality, without ideological pressure.

18. Policy Review Details

Approved by: Board of Trustees

Date of Approval: September 2026.

Next Review Date: September 2027.