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Sex Equality and Equity Network (SEEN) vs. transgender people

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Sex Equality and Equity Network (SEEN) is a British anti-transgender web farm “open to UK civil servants and public sector staff.”

SEEN represents “gender critical” employees in the UK Civil Service and public sector. SEEN states that they believe “biological sex to be binary and immutable, that biological sex matters for both women and men in our everyday lives, including for our rights and needs in the workplace, and that biological sex must not be conflated with, or replaced by, the concepts of gender or gender identity.”

Background

The standalone SEEN website was launched on October 13, 2022.

Their official government page was launched in March 2023 and states:

“SEEN is a staff network committed to promoting and supporting sex equality and equity between women and men in our workplaces, and helping all staff to thrive at work and fulfil their potential. The focus of our network is on challenging sex discrimination and upholding rights and protections that relate to sex (including the protections provided to those with the protected characteristics of sex, pregnancy and maternity and sexual orientation, as set out in the Equality Act 2010). We recognise that to achieve this and ensure sex equality and equity sometimes requires treating women and men differently, according to our different rights and needs.

We are also committed to the protected belief (covered by the protected characteristic of religion and belief in the Equality Act 2010) that biological sex is binary and immutable, that biological sex matters for both women and men in our everyday lives, including for our rights and needs in the workplace, and that biological sex must not be conflated with, or replaced by, the concepts of gender or gender identity.

SEEN membership is open to UK civil servants and public sector staff – from central government departments, agencies, and their associated public bodies including arm’s length bodies – who support our mission and share our values.”

Organization

Websites listed include:

X/Twitter accounts that do not appear to have websites include:

Groups with no website or X/Twitter account include

  • SEEN at KCL (launched August 2025 on King’s College London intranet)

Lawsuits

SEEN members have been subject to Employment Tribunal complaints.

Elspeth Duemmer Wrigley

Case: Tempest vs DEFRA & Rural Payments Agency

In March 2024, SEEN chair Elspeth Duemmer Wrigley was sued for comments and posts made in the workplace, including:

  • A statement made during a seminar on ‘Women and Autism’ in which I stated that ‘only women menstruate’.  
  • A post listing the 9 protected characteristics from the Equality Act, which highlighted that gender expression, gender identity and gender were not listed as protected characteristics.  This followed errors in staff training where some or all of these were included
  • A link shared to a well known children’s book, “My Body is Me” by Rachel Rooney 
  • A link shared to a SEEN website published interview with detransitioner and fellow civil servant Ritchie Herron
  • A link shared to a SEEN website piece written by a young lesbian colleague discussing her Jamaican heritage and experience of being a lesbian in the civil service.
  • A statement made in July 2022 on an internal work forum in which Duemmer Wrigley shared gender critical opinions

Duemmer Wrigley and SEEN were represented by Sex Matters member Naomi Cunningham from Outer Temple Chambers and Jon Heath from JR Levins.

Andreas Mueller

Case: PQ vs Andreas Mueller & Others

In August 2024, Andreas Mueller, co-chair of SEEN, was sued for comments and posts made in the workplace, including:

  • Challenging a post that equated gender critical people with racists and homophobes
  • Discussing the meaning of safeguarding following a post minimising genuine concerns by women about single sex bathrooms. 
  • ‘Liking’ some gender critical posts 
  • Asking colleagues not to publicly speculate on the motives for a murder which was still under active police investigation at the time

2025 rule changes

On September 23, 2025, the UK Civil Service issued a new rule because “Ministers and Civil Service leaders have been concerned by recent reports of inappropriate events being conducted by some networks in the Civil Service.” 

On October 13, 2025, the main SEEN website took down their blog content: “SEEN welcomes the Civil Service policy for staff networks published recently. In light of the new editorial process that the policy sets out, SEEN is taking the proactive step of taking down our website’s blog content pending review in line with the new process.”

References

UK Employment Tribunals (June 2, 2026). Claim No. 2502512/2023: Witness Statement of Samantha Tempest. https://genderblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260602-Samantha-Tempest-Witness-Statement-Leeds-Employment-tribunal-Defra.pdf

UK Employment Tribunals (November 14, 2025). Case Number: 1802467/2024 and 2502512/2023. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6940286e33c7ace9c4a421da/1802467.24___2502512.23_Judgement.pdf

Cabinet Office and The Rt Hon Nick Thomas–Symonds MP (September 23, 2025). Civil Service staff networks to only meet outside working hours and have all events signed off by senior managers. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/civil-service-staff-networks-to-only-meet-outside-working-hours-and-have-all-events-signed-off-by-senior-managers

Anti-trans coverage

Tribunal Tweets (June 3, 2026). Tempest vs DEFRA & Rural Payments Agency. Open Justice with Tribunal Tweets https://tribunaltweets.substack.com/p/tempest-vs-defra-and-rural-payments

Tribunal Tweets (April 23, 2025). PQ vs Andreas Mueller & Others. Open Justice with Tribunal Tweets https://tribunaltweets.substack.com/p/pq-vs-andreas-mueller-and-others

Staff report (October 31, 2024). Civil servants dragged to court over gender-critical beliefs. The Christian Institute https://www.christian.org.uk/news/civil-servants-dragged-to-court-over-gender-critical-beliefs/

Pollok, Emily (November 18, 2024). Civil servants sued for saying sex is binary. Evangelicals Now https://www.e-n.org.uk/uk-news/civil-servants-sued-for-saying-sex-is-binary/

Edginton, Steven (October 22, 2024). Civil servants sued by colleague over claims transgender people can’t change sex. The Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/22/civil-servants-sued-by-colleague-over-transgender-claims/

Duemmer Wrigley, Elspeth (March19, 2o\024). Chair of SEEN sued for saying ‘only women menstruate.’ CrowdJustice https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/seen-chair-sued/

Mueller, Andreas (August 12, 2024). Public servant sued for saying sex is binary. CrowdJustice https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/sued-again-for-being-gender-cr/

Selected writing by SEEN

SEEN Network (October 13, 2025). A network update. https://seen-network.uk/posts/2025-10-13-network-update/

UK Government SEEN Network (March 2023). Guidance: Sex Equality and Equity Network (SEEN). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-staff-networks/seen-network

SEEN Network (October 13, 2022). A new staff network. SEEN https://seen-network.uk/posts/2022-10-13-a-new-staff-network/ [archive]

Resources

Sex Equality and Equity Network (seen-network.uk)