Gay rights officer claims he was sacked because of a sex change

Brighton and Hove council’s gay rights officer was hounded out of a job because he had a sex change, a tribunal heard this week.

Andy Baldwin, 34, says he was forced out of his job for the local authority after he changed his name from Andrea. He claims that he lost his £26,000-a-year job due to a “culture of prejudice and discrimination against transsexuals.”

Linda Beanlands, the council’s head of community safety and Mr Baldwin’s boss told the industrial tribunal that she did not know that he had undergone a sex change until the day he resigned.

She refuted claims made by Mr Baldwin that the council discriminates against transsexuals: “I do not accept that the council work environment was discriminatory.”

The hearing continues.