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Counsellor wins £70,000 after ‘trans heresy hunt’ at rape charity
Roz Adams won a tribunal case against Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre after its former boss masterminded a campaign of harassment against her
Mike Wade
, Senior Reporter
The Times
Roz Adams was accused of being transphobic after defending a victim who wanted to know the sex of their counsellor
A trauma specialist has been awarded almost £70,000 and won a public apology from the rape crisis charity who forced her out of her job in a row over women-only spaces.
The payment to Roz Adams was twice the anticipated figure and came after a tribunal found she was the victim of a “heresy hunt” at Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC), where her “sex realist” beliefs were at odds with those of Mridul Wadhwa, the trans activist who was the centre’s chief executive.
Adams suffered harassment after she stood up for a female victim who wanted assurances she would receive counselling from a woman, with Wadhwa identified as the “invisible hand” behind the counsellor’s persecution.
For 16 months under Wadhwa, who identifies as a trans woman but has no gender recognition certificate, the ERCC had no women-only spaces. Referrals to the centre have been paused while its safeguarding procedures are revamped.
In his remedy ruling, Ian McFatridge, the judge, ordered the centre to publish a statement and to refer survivors of sexual assault to Beira’s Place, the women’s refuge established by the author JK Rowling as an alternative source of support for female victims of sexual violence.
The ERCC has been ordered to apologise publicly to Adams for alleging that she was transphobic and acknowledge that there was no evidence to support the allegation and that its disciplinary action against her was wrong.
The centre is also required to acknowledge Adams “was motivated by a wish to act in the best interests of service users when she questioned how to respond to the service user” and that nothing the counsellor did constituted bullying or harassment.
Mridul Wadhwa, a trans woman, was chief executive of the charity until she resigned
It must also state it accepts the tribunal’s findings that it harassed and discriminated against Adams “because of her gender critical beliefs”, under the terms of the Equality Act.
At an earlier redress hearing, Adams argued that Rape Crisis Scotland (RCS), the umbrella organisation for 17 centres across Scotland, was at fault for failing to have a clear definition of “woman”. She urged the tribunal to make a ruling that would affect centres nationally.
Adams said: “It’s pretty shocking to me how [Rape Crisis Scotland] can claim to defend [women] when the issue at Edinburgh Rape Crisis is not having women-only spaces and not defining women … It is at the heart of where the issues lie.”
McFatridge declined to make a ruling with wider implications. He said: “It is clear … that this is an area where people hold strong beliefs and individuals on both sides of the argument hold strong views that the other side are wrong or misguided or indeed that these opposing beliefs are dangerous.
“It is not part of the tribunal’s role to come down on one side of the argument or another.”
Last month Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis severed links with RCS citing conflicts over the inclusion of trans women in support services and said it intended to provide a single-sex service staffed by an “all-female workforce”.
Adams’s compensation payment of £68,990 includes redress for discrimination and constructive dismissal as well as compensation for emotional pain and suffering.
Wadhwa was sent home from the ERCC in May and has quit as chief executive.
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