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The Free Speech Union vs. transgender people

The Free Speech Union is a British “anti-woke” organization founded in 2019. It is notable for the high proportion of anti-transgender activists involved.

In 2026, their site was hacked and their donor list was published by Bash Back, a trans-led direct action project.

Background

The Free Speech Union (FSU) was registered in the UK in 2019. Nigel Biggar, Douglas Murray, Ian Rons, Radomir Tylecote, and Toby Young were the first directors.

In 2020 FSU got involved in supporting critics of COVID lockdowns and other government responses. In 2022 PayPal briefly shut down the accounts of FSU and Toby Young for policy violations, speculated to be regarding COVID misinformation.

In 2023, British nationalist Tommy Robinson criticized FSU and Ian Rons for not allowing Robinson to become a top-level member. Robinson said FSU doesn’t really believe in free speech.

Anti-trans activism

In November 2021, the FSU announced that it would be taking legal action against Essex University for no-platforming anti-trans activists Jo Phoenix and Rosa Freedman in December 2019.

In September 2025, the FSU provided legal assistance to anti-trans extremist Graham Linehan after Linehan was arrested for posts on X that encouraged people to assault transgender women.

Donor list

According to two reports by Democracy for Sale, key FSU funders include:

  • Injustice Foundation (Charity #: 1141953): ÂŁ380,000+ – trustees Matthew Elliott and Jon Moynihan as well as Lord Nigel Vinson and Richard Smith
  • Federated Foundation / Borwick Charitable Trust (Charity #: 291528): ÂŁ10,000 in 2023 – Tory peer Jamie Borwick
  • Jon Moynihan
  • Students for Liffe $97,930 – run by US anti-abortion lawyer Zachary Kester. Kester also donated $97,930 via Fiscal Sponsorship Allies Inc. to the US branch of FSU
  • Alliance Defending Freedom – via ADF International (UK). “In 2020, ADF International (UK) received ÂŁ324,000 in “ADF support”; by 2024 that had risen to ÂŁ1.1 million of a total ÂŁ1.3 million income.”
  • Paul Cook: ÂŁ25,000 (for the Hamit Coskun Fundraiser)
  • David Franks: ÂŁ11,000 (to the FSU)
  • Craig Turner: ÂŁ10,000 (for the Graham Linehan Fundraiser)
  • Alexander Gerko: ÂŁ9,500 (for the Jamie Michael Crowdfunder)
  • Philip Chesterfield: ÂŁ5,000 (to the FSU)
  • Julia Hartley-Brewer: ÂŁ1,000 (to the FSU) 
  • Sarah Phillimore: ÂŁ150 (for Graham Linehan Fundraiser and PC Prior).

People (UK)

Officers

Staff: Tracy-Jane Afriyie, Sam Armstrong, Rebekah Brown, Sophia Cabuderra, Georgina Casey, Karolien Celie, Tim Cruddas, Fiorenza Dell’Anna, Bryn Harris, Thomas Harris, Esther Hartley, Fraser Hudghton, Benjamin Jones, Vinay Kapoor, Jill Levene, Louis Maby, Jan Macvarish, Ben Maney, Lynsey Metcalfe, Stephen O’Grady, Sigrun Olafsdottir, Zahira Patel, Connie Shaw, Max Thompson, Celeste Warren, Toby Young

Advisory council

Writers’ advisory council

Legal advisory council: Rebecca Butler, Preston Byrne, Paul Cavin, Geoffrey Davies, Paul Diamond, Robert Dougans, Christopher Gelber, Larry George, Luke Gittos, Steven Greer, Gareth Hughes, John Jolliffe, Spencer Keen, Jaan Larner, Graham Lodge, James Montgomery, Roderick Moore, Wanjiru Njoya, David Palfreyman, Peter Smith, Andrew Tettenborn, Raymond Wacks, Patrick Way, Paul Yowell

Scottish council: Shereen Benjamin, Tom Burns, Joanna Cherry, Puneet Dwivedi, Murdo Fraser, Jamie Gillies, Brent Haywood, Peter Kearney, Jayne Laidlaw, Penny Lewis, Jenny Lindsay, Iain Macwhirter, Kirstin McLean, Lindsay Paterson, Jim Sillars, Kapil Summan, Neil Thin, Adam Tomkins, Tom Walker

Northern Ireland advisory council: Simon Chambers, Jeffrey Dudgeon, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Kate Hoey, Jenny Holland, Ben Lowry

People (outside UK)

FSU Canada

FSU Australia

FSU International

FSU New Zealand

  • Team: Lucy Cammock-Elliot, Hannah Clow, Jillaine Heather, Stephanie Martin; Jonathan Ayling (via Westminster Declaration)
  • Council members: Douglas Brown, David Cumin, Stephen Franks, Dane Giraud, Roderick Mulgan, Thomas Newman, Ani O’Brien, Geoff Plimmer, Robin Van Ausdall, Jordan Williams

FSU South Africa

  • Our people: Sarah Gon, David Benatar, Martin Brassey, Carolyn CronjĂ©, DanĂŻel Eloff, Mark Oppenheimer, Martin van Staden, Richard Wilkinson, Simon Lincoln Reader

References

Geoghehan, Peter (January 15, 2026). Who funds the Free Speech Union? Democracy for Sale https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/who-funds-the-free-speech-union-toby-young

Geoghehan, Peter; Colbert, Max (May 31, 2025). US anti‑abortion cash floods UK free speech frontlines. Democracy for Sale https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/us-antiabortion-cash-floods-uk-free-speech-union-adf

(January 2026). FSU funders. Bash Back https://www.transbashback.com/fsu.html

  • Trimmed data (225K, CSV) https://www.transbashback.com/FSU/donations-trimmed.csv files.catbox.moe/fw8slj.csv
  • Full data (402K, CSV) https://www.transbashback.com/FSU/donations-full.csv files.catbox.moe/wq16ea.csv
  • Backup link https://drive.proton.me/urls/DHRSXBBA8#PscGfOJcKJCQ

Wright, Alison (June 29, 2024). Part 1. Toby Young’s disclosed interests and those undisclosed, by audience. Alison’s Newsletter https://alisonwright.substack.com/p/part-1-toby-youngs-disclosed-interests

Bales, Karam (April 11, 2024). The Free Speech Union’s Key Role in Developing Government Legislation. Byline Times https://bylinetimes.com/2024/04/11/the-free-speech-unions-key-role-in-developing-government-legislation/

Davies, H. C., & MacRae, S. E. (2023). An anatomy of the British war on woke. Race & Class, 65(2), 3–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/03063968231164905 full text https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03063968231164905

Ahmed, Nafeez (February 16, 2021). “Free speech” Czar role linked to Toby Young’s Free Speech Union & US Right-Wing Funding Network. Byline Times https://bylinetimes.com/2021/02/16/free-speech-czar-role-linked-to-toby-youngs-free-speech-union/

Sherwood, Harriet (9 January 2021). “Students quit free speech campaign over role of Toby Young-founded group”. The Guardian

Golby, Joel (24 February 2020). “Say what you want about Toby Young – no, really, he’ll defend your right to say it”. The Guardian.

Staff report (June 22, 2020). The Free Speech Union. Ducksoap https://ducksoap.wordpress.com/2020/06/22/the-free-speech-union/

Anti-trans coverage

Turner, Camilla (November 26, 2021). Toby Young’s free speech campaign takes on university for silencing gender-critical scholars. The Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/26/toby-youngs-union-set-take-university-court-shunning-gender/

Media

chinkseyMEDIA (December 3, 2023). Tommy Robinson BLASTS Free Speech Union founder Ian Rons for STOPPING HIM JOINING! https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_Xi_kF1OcQ0

Resources

The Free Speech Union (freespeechunion.org)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Facebook (facebook.com)

X/Twitter (x.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

LinkTree (linktr.ee)

Instagram (instagram.com)

UK Companies House (find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/)