A former Dundee councillor has been found to have breached the councillors’ code of conduct after using “offensive and gratuitous” language to members of the public on social media.
Gregor Murray was found to have behaved disrespectfully towards two people in posts made on Twitter in March and April 2022.
They were also found to have behaved disrespectfully to a council officer in an email after complaints about the tweets were made.
The former councillor was censured in a hearing held in Dundee by the Standards Commission on Tuesday.
Murray was Scotland’s first openly non-binary councillor and served on Dundee City Council until last year’s local elections.
At the hearing, the panel heard that it was not in dispute that Murray posted a comment in response to a tweet posted by a member of the public.
Their response read: “With absolutely no respect whatsoever, get to f***, TERF.”
In further tweet, which was also not disputed, Murray referred to another member of the public as a “c***.”
The panel heard, having been advised in an email from a senior council officer that
complaints about their Twitter posts had been made, Murray told the officer to “go and tell someone who gives a f***”.
They also wrote: “If I ever wanted to hear from more extremely overpaid, over privileged, cishet white men in politics, who actively work to exclude marginalised communities, I have absolutely no shortage to choose from.”
Conduct ‘inappropriate and unacceptable’
Paul Walker, standards commission convener and chair of the hearing panel, said:
“In this case, the panel considered former councillor Murray’s tweets, that were directed towards two members of the public, to be entirely offensive and gratuitous.
“In addition, the panel considered that former councillor Murray’s conduct, towards a council officer, was entirely inappropriate and unacceptable.
“The panel accepted that former councillor Murray was entitled to advise the officer that they no longer wished to have contact with him.
“The panel agreed, however, that they could have done so in a respectful manner,
without referring to the officer’s assumed personal characteristics.”
The panel considered former councillor Murray’s tweets to be entirely offensive and gratuitous.
Paul Walker, standards commission convener
The panel accepted that it was former councillor’s belief that both
members of the public had expressed what they considered to be transphobic views.
However, the panel determined it did not mean they were entitled to direct profanities and derogatory terms towards them in a public forum.
It was also found the former councillor had been disrespectful to the council officer
in their emails.
The panel noted Murray had failed to show any remorse or to demonstrate any understanding or insight into the impact of their conduct on others.
It was concluded that a lengthy suspension would be the appropriate sanction, however as Murray is no longer a councillor, the panel had no choice but to censure them.
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