The Times view on Baroness Falkner: Hit Job

Baroness Falkner of Margravine has sought specific legal protections for biological women

HOLLIE ADAMS FOR THE TIMES

Baroness Falkner of Margravine is no rational person's idea of an extremist. Few crossbench peers and former members of the Liberal Democrats are. The notion would be laughable were it not what executives at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which she chairs, appeared to believe. After Lady Falkner dared to dissent from fashionable orthodoxies on transgender rights, staff at the watchdog raised complaints of bullying and briefed them to the press. While that inquiry was set to be dropped last night, the row has raised discomfiting questions.

In February, the EHRC's commissioners unanimously agreed to back a review of the Equality Act to better reflect the distinctions between biological sex and gender. In April, Lady Falkner wrote to the government to suggest the legislation