9 hours ago
Green Party accused of silencing gender critical voices
A former Green Party spokesman who was expelled for raising concerns about transgender ideology has accused the party of silencing gender critical voices.
Dr Pallavi Devulapalli learnt earlier this month that she had been removed from the party following an investigation into comments she made at a hustings event a year ago.
It comes after the party was found to have discriminated against Dr Shahrar Ali, its former deputy leader, over his belief that 'biology is real and immutable'.
Campaigners in the party told The Telegraph that the decision to expel the spokesman exposed an 'authoritarian rot' at the heart of the Greens.
Speaking at an event in June 2024, Dr Devulapalli showed support for sex-based rights and questioned whether trans activists were behaving 'mischievously' in the debate.
The King's Lynn and West Norfolk councillor, who now sits as an independent, was subsequently suspended after also showing her support for the Cass report into self-identification.
'Purge' against gender critical politicians
In an interview with the Guardian, Dr Devulapalli accused her party of launching a 'purge' against gender critical politicians and members.
She said: 'They don't like my stance on trans self-ID and the trans women policy. They didn't come out and say that so they expelled me on a technicality.'
Dr Devulapalli added: 'We've seen the Greens veer away from its original founding culture towards a much more Left-wing authoritarian culture.
'If you say or think the wrong thing, then you're out – that's really worrying.'
She has joined 24 fellow former party members in the new Greens in Exile group, who have been suspended or removed from the party largely because of their gender critical views.
In its ruling expelling Dr Devulapalli, the party said she was being removed to 'avoid or reduce the likelihood of further harm to the party'.
Dr Devulapalli said in response that she was 'disappointed and infuriated' by the decision.
It comes after Dr Ali was awarded more than £9,000 in damages in February 2024 after a judge ruled that the Green Party discriminated against him and that he had been improperly dismissed.
In remarks after his court victory, Dr Ali called for the Equality and Human Rights Commission to investigate the Green Party over how it handles trans rights debates.
The Mayor's and City County Court had ruled that Dr Ali's removal was 'procedurally unfair' because the Green Party identified no code breaches at his dismissal.
In papers submitted to the court, lawyers acting for Dr Ali claimed that officials in the Green Party 'collaborated' to remove him from his post because of his beliefs about gender, which include the view that 'biology is real and immutable'.
'Kafkaesque charges'
Speaking to The Telegraph on Wednesday, Dr Ali said: 'The Green Party is using weaponised disciplinary complaints processes to continue to persecute, exclude and betray sex realist members who have built the party up for over a generation.
'Not content to lose a gender critical discrimination case against me in a landmark protected belief case last year, at an estimated total cost to them of £450,000, they have now expelled our health spokesperson on Kafkaesque charges.
'As a medical practitioner, Pallavi well understood the importance of Cass for protecting children and youth from unsafe 'gender affirming' medical malpractice.
'True Greens are not ones to stand idly by and abide by unlawful discrimination against themselves, when they have been fighting all their lives to end discrimination against others. We have been seeking remedy through the courts to expose the authoritarian rot and will continue to do so.'
A Green Party spokesman said: 'We don't comment on individual cases.'
