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	Every generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfil it, or betray it
	Franz Fanon

In a twelve day hearing commencing on 15th November 2010, Central London Employment Tribunal will hear the seminal case of Ms. E Stanford-Xosei v The Women's Resource Centre and Others. Ms Stanford-Xosei will be representing herself in the historic case, the first to be brought by a former employee on the multiple grounds of anti-Black racism and its specific form of Afriphobia, anti-faith discrimination and discrimination as a result of her philosophical belief and advocacy of Black Feminism at a UK based White led national 'feminist' organization Stanford-Xosei also alleges that she experienced heterophobic discrimination as a result of her sexual orientation in that she is heterosexual and not a lesbian, in an organization where she states there were hierarchies of preference and treatment afforded to women according to their racial backgrounds, predominantly (Euro) feminist gender/lesbian separatist values as well as sexual orientation.

The legally complex mine-field for the Employment Tribunal, will be to unravel the concept of 'Intersectional or combined discrimination' in which the intersections between, race, religious belief, sexual orientation as well as 'philosophical belief' and expressions of Feminism have converged into the alleged institutionalized discriminatory practices in an organization which sees itself as being progressive. With an established track record in the Reparations and Pan-African Social Movements, Stanford-Xosei is more commonly known to others for her Pan-African reparations activism.

Black Feminist Movements grew out of, and in response to, the Abolitionist, Black and Pan-African Liberation Movements as well as the Women's Movement/s. All too often, "Black" was equated with Black men and "woman" was equated with White women. As a result, Black women are an invisible group whose existence and needs were ignored. Patricia Hill- Collins defined Black Feminism, in Black Feminist Thought (1991), as including "women who theorise the experiences and ideas shared by ordinary Black women that provide a unique angle of vision on self, community, and society". Black Feminism include the interventions and projects known as Multiracial Feminism, Critical Race Feminism, Transnational Feminism, Womanism, Caribbean, African, African American and Black British Feminism Black Feminisms have brought awareness of the “intersectionality” of race, gender, sexuality, class, and national or transnational identity; the historicity and cultural specificity of the subordination Black women face; and the effects of racism, colonialism, unequal forms of economic development, and globalization on Black communities.

This case is timely given the coming into force of the Equality Act 2010, in October, which for the first time in British law recognized the concept of intersectional or combined discrimination, something which has long been recognizes in South African, Canadian and North American legal jurisdictions. Accordingly, the case has thrown up many complex and cutting edge issues in the legal minefield of Human and Peoples Rights and anti-discrimination law, igniting historical and contemporary tensions between the political agendas and activism of Black (African) and White (Euro-American) feminist movements.

As the issues are further unpacked, the case will generate interest and reignite unsettled questions in the arenas of Anglo/Eurocentric Western Feminism, Black/African Feminism/s, African Womanism, Secular Fundamentalism and the racist-sexist-heterophobic presumption that African and migrant communities are more 'homophobic' than Anglo-European communities. The issue of whether as a Black woman of African heritage with marginalized and minoritised religious beliefs, Stanford-Xosei experienced 'heterophobic' discrimination is also to be determined. This case will therefore test whether the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 can also protect heterosexuals of her class from unlawful discrimination as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons.

No stranger to controversy, Stanford-Xosei's case comes at a time when there have been high profile media influenced debates about homophobia, lesbianism and homosexuality within African heritage communities. However, these debates often ignore and marginalize the voices, political perspectives and activism of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans gender and intersex (LGBTI) persons of African heritage in campaigning against racism and homonationalism within the LGBTI organizations and communities. Due to such sensationalist and often biased media reporting, there have been growing concerns about tendency to exacerbate existing tensions between and within Black/African and other racialised (minoritised) communities thus serving to derail historical and contemporary efforts to harness the revolutionary potential of all conscientious persons of African heritage and other racialized progressive forces in order to truly build a counter hegemonic politics of emancipation that is not predicated on 'oppression olympics', cultural imperialism, homonationalism or the de-contextualised and falsely dichotomized hierarchy between social, economic, political and cultural rights.

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Esther's Case | Religion

The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 prohibit discrimination in the workplace by reason of any religion or belief. The regulations were amended in 2007, so that "belief" now means "any religious or philosophical belief." The concept of protecting a person's freedom to hold religious or other philosophical beliefs without suffering detriments or discrimination is one that is enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights: 'Freedom of thought, conscience and religion'. In the landmark case of TW Nicholson v Grainger PLC, the Tribunal accepted Environmentalism as a 'belief' and there has been widespread legal opinion and commentary on this case surmising that these regulations could also apply to give protection to belief in Feminism as a genuinely held philosophical belief. Heterophobia is a term used to describe irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against heterosexuals, but according to psychologists White and Franzini (1999) it is only one end on a spectrum of attitudes, behaviors and feelings towards heterosexuals. They introduce the term "heteronegativism" to encapsulate this range

Ultimately, she hopes that her case will act as a catalyst for more reasoned, respectful and informed public debate, cross-community and policy dialogue about the impact of racism and other forms of intersectional discrimination even within organizations and social justice movements which are considered to be progressive. Ms. E Stanford-Xosei v The Women's Resource Centre and Others is a test case and could possibly influence future discrimination policy, legislation, case law and service provision. According to Stanford-Xosei, the legal scholar activist who recently set up her own law related education and training social enterprise called 'Soul Law', some of the key questions being raised by this landmark case are:

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	The status of Black women places us at the intersection of all forms of subjugation in society-racial oppression, sexual oppression and economic exploitation. This means that we are a natural part of many different struggles- both as Black People and as women…It is in the context of an under-standing of our oppression based on sex, race and class, and the recognition of our struggle being part and parcel of the struggle for the liberation of all our people from all forms of oppression, that Black Feminism is defined for us
	Brixton Black Women's

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Who determines what is a racist incident? How do women discriminate against other women? How should the Queen Bee Syndrome (women bullying other women) be dealt with and what is the psychology behind this behavior? Can women’s organizations be institutionally racist? Can you be racist if you are in an interracial relationship? Is Feminism a movement for White women only? Why are all the women still ‘White’ and all the ‘Blacks’ still men? What has happened to the Black Women’s Movement in the UK? Do you have to be ‘secular’ to be a feminist? Is the framework of pro-choice v pro-life inclusive of Black and other racialized women’s reproductive justice activism? Does ‘equality’ for women mean being equal to White men Are the various expressions of religiosity as practiced by people of African origin recognized in law? What is the role of men in the struggle for women’s emancipation? How can White-led women’s organizations avoid being complicit in the proliferation of imperial Feminism in the name of women’s human rights? What is the role of state funded NGO’s in social movements and how can development workers/social justice activists work towards a sociopolitical vision of true emancipation rather than co-optation?

This case will generate interest in Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Caribbean creating a transnational buzz; a case in which the dynamic and powerful Soul Law Practitioner fell 'victim' to the alleged discriminatory practices of women who claimed to be guardians and practitioners of a political theory, philosophical belief and social movement to which many women from the African Diaspora have espoused as a vehicle for their own gendered sociopolitical and economic liberation.

	This is discriminatory as I am now compelled to justify my spiritual and ethnic/national identity and heritage journey in a way that a Jew, Christian, Muslim or Pagan does not.
	Esther Stanford

In her final salvo, Stanford-Xosei says that her case is premised upon the concept of “Taking back the Power-to-Define” for people of African descent as a form of resistance to the internalization of White Supremacist racist norms, criteria and practices and the suppression as well as repression of Black/African intellectual thought, knowledge, lived experiences and praxis that opposes racism, sexism and imperialism  in White led voluntary and community sector organizations She raises the bar by posing the question:

In man-made and natural law, who determines the norms for personal governance and why shouldn't the law protect me? Who would have thought that 159 years after the same admonition of African American abolitionist and feminist Sojourner Truth, I would be asking: am I not a woman and a human being too?

For Stanford-Xosei, this is ultimately a reparations question as fundamentally it is about her right to: reclaim and transform her self and community identity; express her Pan-African identity and personality; be treated with dignity and respect as a Black woman of African Hebrew heritage rather than the ahistorical, depoliticised misnomer ‘BAME/R* woman’; and to be free from racial exclusivity and woman’s inhumanity to woman in the workplace.                  

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ISSUES OF FAITH AND FEMINISM

Taken from Esther Stanford-Xosei's response to the Respondents' request for Further & Better Particulars, requesting her to outline her African spiritual beliefs: "In recognition that religion is the deification of culture and in seeking to seize back the power to define my own reality, identity and existence, (which is also consistent with Black feminist thought), I have resisted many official labels and designations which do not recognise my right to manifest and reclaim an African expression of my spiritual identity and religious beliefs as is consistent with the Declaration on the Rights of Minorities and Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which states that: In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use their own language.

The Employment Equality Regulations (Religion or Belief) 2003 defines religion or belief as follows: 'religion' means any religion 'belief' means any religious or philosophical belief a reference to religion includes a reference to a lack of religion a reference to belief includes a reference to lack of belief. Beliefs do not have to be philosophically ‘similar’ to religious beliefs. Religion or belief ‘must have a clear structure and belief system.’ The Respondents are disputing that Stanford-Xosei’s beliefs are protected by the legislation.

So, in accordance with this taking back the power to define, I say the following in relation to my religious belief expression: I describe the predominant influence on my Pan-Africanist and African Diaspora religious beliefs and spirituality as African Hebraic Spirituality. The African emphasis on spirituality does not contradict, differ, or conflict with orthodox religion or religious beliefs. In fact the African belief in spirit allows for an appreciation and a respect for every truth-centred religious/spiritual tradition where there is a search to know, commune with and honour the divine.

Often, people confuse the African recognition that Eurocentric forms of religion was used to oppress and colonise African peoples with being against religion. . I recognise that one having a belief in African spirituality does not mean that one has to reject his/her religion or religious beliefs. There is no conflict. To the contrary, it is probably because of African people's sense of spirit and spirituality that many Africans are amongst the most religious people in the world. I would also like to state that what I believe is a personal undertaking between me and the Creator, nevertheless, I also recognise that the Respondents are seeking clarification of my beliefs since I am claiming discrimination on the grounds of religious belief, among other grounds. I do not belong to a religion but have beliefs which are typically classified as religious beliefs which also inform how I express my spirituality. "

	Attempting to bridge secular and faith-based Feminism is very important. Women of faith feel that the rights movement is anti-religion, and the rights activists haven't made enough effort to listen to and include the women of faith. The social justice movement needs both voices. We need to be able to move to the next step, of dialogue between the rights world and the religious world.
	Dorothy Q. Thomas

The right to freedom of opinion and expression is a complex right that includes the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds and through whatever medium. This means, inter alia, that when an individual's right to freedom of expression is unlawfully restricted, the right of others to 'receive' information and ideas is also violated.