Rape crisis centre finally apologises to former worker forced out over transgender row

A controversial rape crisis centre has issued a formal apology to a former employee it forced out over her gender critical beliefs.

A tribunal previously found Roz Adams was the victim of a 'heresy hunt' at Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC).

Her gender-critical beliefs clashed with those of Mridul Wadhwa, the trans activist who was the centre's chief executive before stepping down in September amid a row over its failure to provide single-sex spaces.

Yesterday ERCC issued a formal apology to Ms Adams, admitting it had 'harassed and discriminated against' her.

Support worker Ms Adams suffered harassment after she stood up for a female victim who wanted assurances she would receive counselling from a woman - with Ms Wadhwa identified as the 'invisible hand' behind Ms Adams's persecution.

She was awarded awarded almost £70,000 following the tribunal as redress for discrimination and constructive dismissal as well as compensation for emotional pain and suffering.

In his ruling, tribunal judge Ian McFatridge ordered the ERCC to publish a statement and to refer survivors of sexual assault to Beira's Place, the women's refuge in Edinburgh which was established by gender-critical author JK Rowling as an alternative source of support for female victims of sexual violence.

In an apology to Ms Adams published on its website last night, ERCC said: 'Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre apologises to Rosslyn Adams for having alleged that she was transphobic and acknowledges that there was no evidence to support that allegation (and) its disciplinary decision that Ms Adams had misconducted herself was wrong.'

It added: 'Ms Adams was motivated by a wish to act in the best interests of service users when she questioned how to respond to a service user (as detailed in the Employment Tribunal judgment dated 14 May 2024), nothing Ms Adams did constituted bullying or harassment; and it accepts the Employment Tribunal's findings that it harassed and discriminated against Ms Adams because of her protected gender critical beliefs.'

It ends: 'Beira's Place provides an alternative source of support for female victims of sexual violence,' with a link to the organisation's website.

Following the tribunal awarding her compensation earlier this month, Ms Adams, 53, said: 'I'm grateful to the tribunal for this judgment.'

She called for there to be 'meaningful change at [the] ERCC, as well as at Rape Crisis Scotland (RCS) and the Scottish Government'.

She added: 'My priority remains that all victim-survivors of sexual violence can make a genuinely informed choice about the service they seek and have confidence in who will support them.

'To restore that confidence, I urge these organisations to give a clear definition of "woman".'

The ERCC had been ordered to apologise publicly to Ms Adams as part of the tribunal's ruling.

In September, a report commissioned by umbrella body Rape Crisis Scotland (RCS) condemned the centre for insisting that traumatised rape victims, who can be as young as 12, must specify if they do not want support from someone born a man.

Campaigners had called for Ms Wadhwa, who is biologically male but identifies as female, to be removed - and she quit in the wake of the report after three years in the job.

Writing on X at the time, JK Rowling said 'government funding for Rape Crisis Scotland should be withheld if a single-sex service can't be guaranteed, because that's what the overwhelming majority of female survivors want and need'.

She added: 'This problem starts at the governmental level. Scotland's ruling party, the SNP (for which Mridul Wadhwa stood as a council candidate), has embraced gender ideology wholeheartedly, dismissing all evidence that the most vulnerable women are suffering as a result.'

At the time, Rape Crisis Scotland said: 'We will now be working with ERCC to ensure the recommendations of the review are implemented.'