Free Speech Union of Australia (FSUA) is assisting a Western Australian librarian fired for refusing to go along with forced speech.

Declan Mansfield lost his job with the Armadale council after he abstained from LGBTQ+, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training.

Despite 15 disaster-free years working for the city, the librarian was dismissed because of his beliefs, FSU alleged. 

In an October piece for the Spectator Australia, Mansfield said he had conscientiously objected to participating in the DEI struggle session.

From here, Mansfield tried to explain to his bosses that “local government should be philosophically neutral.”

Rather than listen and appreciate a differing point of view, they appear to have thrown a tantrum.

Consequently, the “tolerant and inclusive” workplace became intolerably hostile.

Mansfield was accused of bullying and harassment. Consequently, he was “forced to resign.”

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request turned up 156,000 files, which, Mansfield recalled, “contained evidence of discrimination” against him.

Staff comments obtained through the FOI, Mansfield said, “pointed in only one direction – he had been condemned for a thoughtcrime.”

According to the FOI, allegations of “bullying and harassment” were based on two sentences, where he once said, “So-and-so put a USB in a computer. You’re not supposed to do that.”

Additional accusations included “misleading rhetoric” when sharing concerns about his mistreatment with colleagues and “gossiping.”

It gets worse.

With the help of the FSUA, Mansfield took his complaint to the WA Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC).

The case was dismissed 

Mansfield’s hope for a just reckoning is unlikely to come from the commissioner, whose tenure was extended by WA Labor for another 4 years in 2023.

The reason for this, Mansfield reasoned, could be due to the fact that the “commissioner, Dr John Byrne AM, once praised DEI in a speech.” 

While admirably focused on helping people with disabilities, Dr Byrne appears to be captured by the ideology.

The EOC commissioner is on record advocating for Marxian Woke critical theory – euphemistically labelled social justice – in a number of places (see here, here, and here. Also here, and here).

To add, Dr Bryne asserted in June 2022 that “Unconscious bias (aka thought crime) is the biggest problem [to recruitment] and that workplaces needed techniques to combat it.”

When sharing his story with Kurt Mahlberg, Senior Editor of the Daily Declaration, Mansfield said, “No employee should ever have to pass an ideological litmus test to gain and retain employment.”

“This should be especially so in libraries, which rely at their ideological core on the notion of freedom of speech.”

He was initially okay with the DEI training because Mansfield said he was reassured that the training “wasn’t political.”

His mind changed after doing some research into the training provider.

When he approached the manager with his reasoned objections, he recalled her “not taking too kindly to the refusal to do the training.”

After writing about his concerns for The Spectator Australia, the situation deteriorated dramatically.

Colleagues, he told Mahlberg, began throwing at him the usual slurs.

Accused of bigotry and homophobia for being an independent thinker, the workplace turned toxic.

Concluding with a breakdown of what DEI is, Mansfield told Mahlberg the contents do not match the packaging.

“Diversity is only diversity of identity, not of belief” or speech.

“Equity means discriminating against people because of identity.

“Inclusion means making a space welcoming to people by discriminating against the majority.”

Mansfield’s claims to the Daily Declaration were supported by the Free Speech Union of Australia. 

They reported on X that, 

“Armadale City librarians had, at least once, hidden books critical of the LGBTQ+, and other books that didn’t align with the city council’s orthodoxy.”

The FSUA then called upon other employees to step up and speak out.

For The Spectator, Mansfield said, he’s not giving up.

Instead of walking away, his free speech vs forced speech case will go to the Tribunal.

“The battle of process is over,” he declared, “the battle of accountability is about to begin.”