Mary-Ann Stephenson
The Diplomat
People, composure and the difficult conversation held well.
Mary-Ann Stephenson is a seasoned leader in the field of equality and human rights, with a focus on navigating the complexities of diverse perspectives. This interview highlights her commitment to mediating conflicts and fostering understanding among various groups to uphold democratic values.
“There is a complexity here, right? Because our hate speech framework has tended to be based on the perception of the person at the receiving end, the freedom of expression protections in the Human Rights Act are generally based on the idea that there's quite a high level of protection for political speech, quite rightly, and that does inc…”
“I think that is one of the issues, the role of the Equality and Human Rights Commission is to uphold and protect everyone's rights and make sure that everyone is treated without discrimination, harassment or victimization. And that's really about making sure that we can all live with dignity and respect, right?”
“Against Mosley's fascists. Fascists, yes. And I think for me, you know, there's some important things there. I mean, one of the things is there is a right to protest. You have these two groups protesting. The other thing is that there are limits on those rights.”
“And many don't have surgery, and they are still protected under the Equality Act. So the protection in the Equality Act is not for people with gender recognition certificates. It's for anybody who is undergoing, proposing to undergo or has undergone a process and the process isn't specified.”
Political Thinking with Nick Robinson — “Inequalities don’t happen by accident” Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson on trans rights, Islamophobia, and why equality still matters
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