Sharron Davies backs free speech and women’s rights campaigners calling for Sport England’s diversity chief to be fired for his role in ‘Orwellian’ transgender row
- Sport England is facing calls to sack its diversity champion, Aedan Wolton
- Wolton accused former colleague, Rachel Meade, of making ‘transphobic’ posts
- Complaint to Social Work England led to Meade being suspended from her job
Sport England is facing calls to sack its diversity champion for his role in an ‘Orwellian nightmare’ that almost cost a dedicated social worker her job of 20 years.
Olympic swimming star Sharron Davies last night joined free speech and women’s rights campaigners calling for the sporting quango’s diversity chief, Aedan Wolton, to be fired or resign.
Mr Wolton, whose taxpayer-funded job is to ‘tackle inequalities’ in sport, had accused a former colleague, Rachel Meade, of making ‘transphobic’ posts on her private Facebook page.
Last night, Sharron Davies MBE said Mr Wolton’s role in Mrs Meade’s ordeal meant he should be axed from his job as Strategic Lead, Equality at Sport England
She had shared links to news articles, including from The Mail on Sunday, about transgender issues, also to blogs and petitions surrounding the national debate over whether people should be allowed to self-identify their gender.
Mr Wolton’s single complaint to the regulator Social Work England led to the mother-of-two being suspended from her job at Westminster City Council for a year.
She also faced being struck off by the watchdog at a ‘fitness to practise’ hearing.
Legal proceedings hung over her for almost two years.
Aeden Wolton, whose taxpayer-funded job is to ‘tackle inequalities’ in sport, had accused a former colleague, Rachel Meade, of making ‘transphobic’ posts on her private Facebook page
In a humiliating climbdown, last week, Social Work England dropped its case against the 54-year-old, who said the ‘last two years have been nothing short of an Orwellian nightmare for me and my family’.
She added: ‘My apparent crime was to share some news articles and petitions about the self-ID gender debate to fewer than 50 friends on Facebook. I found myself wrongly accused of holding abhorrent transphobic views.’
Last night, Ms Davies MBE said Mr Wolton’s role in Mrs Meade’s ordeal meant he should be axed from his job as Strategic Lead, Equality at Sport England.
She said: ‘This person should not be employed by Sport England if he does this type of thing.’
Toby Young, from the Free Speech Union, said: ‘It’s ridiculous that she was put through two years of hell on the strength of a single complaint from an ex-colleague.’
Olympic swimming star Sharron Davies last night joined free speech and women’s rights campaigners calling for the sporting quango’s diversity chief, Aedan Wolton, to be fired or resign
Mr Wolton, 37, declined to comment. At Mrs Meade’s tribunal hearing last week, her barrister Sarah Phillimore accused Mr Wolton of trying to ‘humiliate’ her client and ‘send a chilling message to any other social worker who dared hold and express ‘gender critical’ views’.
Mrs Meade’s solicitor, Shazia Khan, accused Social Work England of failing to uphold freedom of speech and called for the body to apologise to Mrs Meade. It declined to last night.
Sport England said transgender inclusion in sport was a ‘challenging and emotive area of policy we have always understood and accepted that there are a wide range of personal views’.
Mrs Meade is suing Westminster City Council for discrimination at an employment tribunal and is fundraising to fight her case.
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