When the Scottish writer Gillian Philip posted a tweet in 2020, she could not have imagined the devastating consequences that would follow. At the time, her fellow author JK Rowling was under relentless attack for her view that a conflict exists between women’s right to use single sex spaces, such as refuges, and moves to allow trans people to use such facilities on the basis of self-identification.

Philip shared the Harry Potter creator’s concerns about male-bodied individuals accessing places set up to support women traumatised by men’s violence and added the hashtag #ISTANDWITHROWLING to her Twitter bio. And then her world came crashing down. The online mob came for Philip, denouncing her as a bigot, as a vicious transphobe. And those with whom she had enjoyed long working relationships let her down badly.

Philip’s literary agent dumped her. And publishers HarperCollins, for whom she had been contracted to ghost-write fantasy novels for children under the pen name Erin Hunter, informed her that her services were no longer required. Rowling may be too big and powerful for the bullies to cancel but they succeeded in destroying Philip’s career. She now drives a lorry for a living.

The cruelty with which she was treated takes the breath away. Having lost her husband only weeks before, she was treated with contempt by people who surely thought themselves paragons of moral virtue. But Philip found that her perfectly common views had the support of others and, with their backing, launched a legal challenge, alleging discrimination by both book packaging business Working Partners and publisher HarperCollins.

A preliminary tribunal hearing in June 2022 did not go Philip’s way. It was deemed that, as a freelancer, she was not an employee of Working Partners. One need not be a supporter of Philip’s views to recognise that the implications of that ruling are grave. In a job market where increasing numbers are self-employed, the decision effectively said that companies to whom freelancers are contracted have no legal obligation to treat those workers with fairness and dignity. Philip had worked for Working Partners and HarperCollins for years and they were entitled to cut her adrift on the basis of her personal views.

On Wednesday, Philip’s lawyer Shah Qureshi of legal firm Irwin Mitchell will appear before the Edinburgh Employment Appeal Tribunal where he’ll argue that last year’s tribunal decision leaves Philip without protection from unlawful discrimination under the 2010 Equality Act.

Philip’s legal team are quite right to say that the outcome of this appeal could have ‘significant repercussions’ for others. Qureshi says:

Non-traditional employment relationships are now commonplace, and it is important that those working under such arrangements, like Gillian, get the same protections as others. This includes the right not to be discriminated against for one’s beliefs. There are many workers in publishing and the creative industries with unorthodox working arrangements who nevertheless have mutual obligations with their employers akin to that required to be classed as a worker or employee.

Many who joined the abhorrent hounding of Philip also work in the circumstances described by her lawyer. If Gillian Philip wins her appeal, she’ll have struck a victory not just for herself but for some of those who participated in the witch hunt against her.