David Isaac, CBE is a British solicitor and Provost of Worcester College, Oxford, where he took office in July 2021. [1] He was previously a partner at law firm Pinsent Masons. He was appointed as the chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission in 2016, [2] serving in that capacity until August 2020. He is also chair of the Court of Governors at University of the Arts London (2018–present). [3] He was previously chair of Stonewall from 2003 to 2012. [4] He was a director of the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund (2005–2014), the Big Lottery Fund (2014–2018), [5] Black Mountains College (2019–20) and a trustee of 14-18 NOW (2016–2019). [6]
Isaac was appointed a CBE in the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours list for services to equality and diversity [7] and was ranked 36th in the OUTstanding top 100 LGBT executives in October 2018. [8]
Isaac was born in Wales and attended King Henry VIII Grammar School in Abergavenny. He went on to study law at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and socio-legal studies at Wolfson College, Oxford. He attended the College of Law in Guildford to pass the Solicitors Final Examination (1979–80).
Isaac was a partner at Pinsent Masons law firm from 2000 to 2021. He was Head of the firm's advanced manufacturing and technology sector from 2014 – 2019 and Chair of the Pinsent Masons' Diversity and Inclusion group.
Isaac was appointed as Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission in 2016. [9] He said that the Commission would use its legal powers more, [10] do more for disability rights [11] and make sure that human rights were protected during Brexit. [12]
His tenure came to an end in August 2020, and his initial replacement was interim chair Caroline Waters (previously deputy chair). [13] [14] [15]
In 2021 Isaac claimed that the Equality and Human Rights Commission was "being undermined by political pressure" by the Second Johnson ministry. [16]
During his time as chair of Stonewall, the charity lobbied to secure legislative change, such as the abolition of Section 28 and the introduction of Civil Partnerships. [17]
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North since 1983. As of October 2020, Corbyn sits in the House of Commons as an independent, following the suspension of the whip.
Stonewall Equality Limited, trading as Stonewall, is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights charity in the United Kingdom. It is the largest LGBT rights organisation in Europe.
The Gender Recognition Act 2004 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that allows people who have gender dysphoria to change their legal gender. It came into effect on 4 April 2005.
Sir Mark Trevor Phillips is a British writer, broadcaster and former politician who served as Chair of the London Assembly from 2000 to 2001 and from 2002 to 2003. He presented Trevor Phillips on Sunday, a Sunday morning talk show on Sky News, from 2021 to 2022, and Sunday Morning on Sky News from 2023
Angela Margaret Mason is a British civil servant and activist, and a former director of the UK-based lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender lobbying organisation Stonewall. She is a former Chair of the Fawcett Society, a UK women's rights campaigning organisation and a Labour Party councillor in Camden.
Ben Jeffrey Peter Summerskill is chair of The Silver Line and director of the Criminal Justice Alliance, a consortium of 135 charities working across the GB criminal justice pathway. He was the chief executive of the UK-based lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality organisation Stonewall, the largest gay equality body in Europe, from 2003 to 2014. He has also worked as a businessman and journalist. Summerskill is an occasional contributor to The Guardian, The Independent on Sunday, The Observer, The Times, Time Out and other publications. In 2015 he won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the British LGBT Awards In 2017, he was appointed by the UK government to the council (Board) of ACAS, the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service. He was first appointed a trustee of the Silver Line in 2017.
The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have developed significantly over time. Today, lesbian, gay, and bisexual rights are considered to be advanced by international standards.
Pinsent Masons LLP is a multinational law firm which specialises in the energy, infrastructure, financial services, real estate and technology, science & industry sectors. The firm ranks among the top hundred law firms in the world by turnover.
Kishwer Falkner, Baroness Falkner of Margravine is a British politician and life peer who is a non-aligned member of the House of Lords. She was the Chairman of the EU Financial Affairs Sub-Committee in the House of Lords from 2015 to 2019.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is a non-departmental public body in Great Britain, established by the Equality Act 2006 with effect from 1 October 2007. The Commission has responsibility for the promotion and enforcement of equality and non-discrimination laws in England, Scotland and Wales. It took over the responsibilities of the Commission for Racial Equality, the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Disability Rights Commission. The EHRC also has responsibility for other aspects of equality law: age, sexual orientation and religion or belief. A national human rights institution, it seeks to promote and protect human rights throughout Great Britain.
Jane Susan Campbell, Baroness Campbell of Surbiton, is a British disability rights campaigner and a life peer in the House of Lords. She was Commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), and served as the Chair of the Disability Committee which led on to the EHRC Disability Programme. She was the former Chair of the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). She was a Commissioner at the Disability Rights Commission (DRC).
The Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) is the national human rights institution for Scotland. It was established by the Scottish Commission for Human Rights Act and started its work in 2008. The Commission is independent of the Scottish and UK Government, and of Parliament.
Jeremy Miles is a Welsh Labour Co-op politician, serving as Minister for Education and Welsh Language in the Welsh Government since 2021. Prior to his present ministerial post, he served in the Welsh Government as Counsel General for Wales from 2017 to 2021, Brexit Minister from 2018 to 2021, and the Minister for coordinating Wales’ recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2021. Miles has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Neath since 2016.
Olukemi Olufunto "Kemi" Badenoch is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Business and Trade since 2023 and President of the Board of Trade and Minister for Women and Equalities since 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Saffron Walden in Essex since 2017.
David William Kinloch Anderson, Baron Anderson of Ipswich, is a British barrister and life peer, who was the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation in the United Kingdom between 2011 and 2017. On 8 June 2018 it was announced that he would be introduced to the House of Lords as a cross-bench (non-party) working peer. On the same day he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE), for services to national security and civil liberties, in the Queen's 2018 Birthday Honours.
Transgender rights in the United Kingdom have varied significantly over time, with the British transgender community facing ongoing challenges not experienced by cisgender (cis) Britons. These include various laws and public attitudes in regards to identity documents, as well as anti-discrimination measures used by or pertaining to transgender people, in the areas of employment, education, housing and social services, amongst others.
The Brexit withdrawal agreement, officially titled Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, is a treaty between the European Union (EU), Euratom, and the United Kingdom (UK), signed on 24 January 2020, setting the terms of the withdrawal of the UK from the EU and Euratom. The text of the treaty was published on 17 October 2019, and is a renegotiated version of an agreement published half a year earlier. The earlier version of the withdrawal agreement was rejected by the House of Commons on three occasions, leading to the resignation of Theresa May as Prime Minister and the appointment of Boris Johnson as the new prime minister on 24 July 2019.
Cleveland Anthony Sewell, Baron Sewell of Sanderstead,, is a British educational consultant and founder and chair of the educational charity Generating Genius. In July 2020, Sewell was appointed chair of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities tasked with looking into race disparity in the UK. Sewell sits as a life peer in the House of Lords. He has been described as an admirer of the Black conservative scholar Thomas Sowell.
Arif Mohuiddin Ahmed is the Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom of the Office for Students, following his appointment in June 2023. Prior to this, Ahmed was a philosopher at the University of Cambridge, where he became a fellow of Gonville and Caius College in 2015, university reader in philosophy in 2016, and Nicholas Sallnow-Smith College Lecturer in 2019. His research interests include decision theory and the philosophy of religion, from an atheist and libertarian point of view. Ahmed studied mathematics at the University of Oxford and philosophy at the University of Sussex and Cambridge.
Maya Forstater is a British business studies and international development researcher who was the claimant in Forstater v Centre for Global Development Europe. The case established that gender critical views are protected as a belief under the Equality Act 2010, while stating that the judgment does not permit misgendering transgender people with impunity. At a subsequent full merits hearing, the Employment Tribunal upheld Forstater's case, concluding that she had suffered direct discrimination on the basis of her gender critical beliefs. The judgement for remedies was handed down in June 2023, with Forstater awarded compensation of £91,500 for loss of earnings, injury to feelings and aggravated damages, with an additional £14,900 added as interest.