A former Dundee councillor has been cleared over disrespectful and harassing behaviour towards a member of the public.
A Standards Commission hearing found Gregor Murray “made public and serious accusations” about the individual “without sufficient justification”.
But following consideration of the politician’s right to freedom of expression, it said a formal ruling of a breach of the Code of Conduct and a sanction “could not be justified”.
Gregor Murray is non-binary and uses the pronouns they/them.
Murray was Scotland’s first openly non-binary councillor and served on Dundee City Council until May’s local elections.
What did the panel find?
At the hearing, it was not disputed that in June 2021 the former children and families convener made public accusations that the complainer, a public law solicitor, had bullied and intimidated trans people.
Murray also alleged that the complainer’s employer, a prominent charity law centre, used public money to defend transphobia.
Tricia Stewart, who chaired the hearing panel, said: “The panel found that former Cllr Murray made public and serious accusations about a member of the public, without sufficient justification.
“The panel found that former Cllr Murray could have expressed their views on the member of the public’s beliefs in a more appropriate manner, without resorting to making offensive and disrespectful personal and public attacks that amounted to harassment”.
‘Not sufficiently offensive’
Panel members were satisfied Murray was “commenting on matter of public concern, namely issues concerning the debate on gender recognition and trans rights”.
It considered that the former councillor “would attract the enhanced protection of freedom of expression afforded to politicians, including local politicians” under human rights legislation.
“The decision to hold this hearing achieved nothing but contributed to the continued decline in my mental health.”
Gregor Murray
The panel said the comments were not sufficiently offensive and gratuitous to justify a restriction on their right to freedom of expression.
Members were “ultimately satisfied that former Cllr Murray was attempting to express their opinion about the complainer’s views and position in a polarised debate, albeit they had done so in a particularly inappropriate manner”.
What did Gregor Murray say?
Murray commented on the decision at length on social media.
“First of all, the decision to hold this hearing achieved nothing but contributed to the continued decline in my mental health,” the former councillor responded.
So today the institutionally transphobic Standards Commission for Scotland (SCS) held a hearing about my conduct.
You can see their press release here: https://t.co/hSVa3Scmlx
I have some thoughts on this. A thread is below.
— Gregor/Fisher Murray (@grogipher) June 1, 2022
“It is only the second time in history the Standards Commission has had a hearing for someone after an investigation by the Ethical Standards Commission has found that there has been no breach.”
And they added: “I cannot understand how the extreme cost to the public purse of all of this can be justified.
“How is this in the public interest in any way, shape, or form?”
A history of social media rows
We reported that Murray quit as Dundee’s children and families convener in 2018 in the wake of a string of social media rows.
The then-North East councillor apologised for a series of expletive-laden outbursts on Twitter after an anti-trans protest at a London Pride event.
The former convener then faced calls to stand down following the discovery of further foul and abusive comments on the news aggregation site Reddit.
Murray was later suspended as a councillor for two months for using “terms that were insulting and offensive”.
An internal SNP complaints procedure was launched against Murray in April 2019 for allegedly “abusing” then-party colleague Joan McAlpine during an online spat over transgender issues.
Murray quit the party the following month citing institutional transphobia.
Conversation