A woman who lost a lawsuit against her university over equality claims has filed an appeal against the ruling.
Lisa Keogh, 30, ordered lawyers to take Abertay University to court after she was investigated for saying “women have vaginas” during a webinar on transgender issues.
The mother-of-two was investigated by the University of Dundee over the summer after her classmates complained that she made “hateful, discriminatory, sexist, racist and transphobic” comments during an online seminar on gender politics.
The law student also said that “not all men are rapists” and that “men on average are physically stronger than women” during the discussion.
Their legal action followed a two-month investigation by the university into the mother of two while she was taking her final exams for a law degree.
The university had received a complaint. Keogh made comments that were variously “hateful, discriminatory, sexist, racist, and transphobic.”
However, he concluded that there was no evidence that she had done anything wrong after investigating.
Keogh launched the legal action alleging that Abertay discriminated against her on the basis that she held “gender critical” views on feminism.
But last week, Sheriff Gregor Murray dismissed the offer and confirmed submissions made by attorneys representing Abertay.
Keogh has now launched an appeal against the ruling and launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise £12,000.
She said: ‘The sheriff has dismissed my case saying he did not harm me.
‘We need to raise enough money to appeal this so I urge you to share this page as much as possible and donate if you are able to.
‘My freedom of speech was suppressed and my hope is that this will never happen to anyone again, especially in a debate in a university setting.
‘We are now moving forward with an appeal and I hope all of you will continue to support me.
‘Thank you for all the support you have shown so far. Without your kind words, support and donations we would not have come this far.’
In his previous fundraising campaign, more than £26,000 was raised.
Keogh claimed that Abertay had only launched disciplinary proceedings because of his views and this was in violation of human rights laws.
In his written judgment, Sheriff Murray said: “The defender had the right to take action to investigate the allegations.
‘He couldn’t be guilty of discrimination just because he did it. After the investigation of this case, the complaint against the persecutor was not admitted.
Abertay University said: “We take note of the court’s decision in this matter.”
