A group of female nurses has launched a landmark legal case against a UK hospital over its transgender policies after being forced to share a changing room with a man who claims he identifies as a woman. The women say the presence of the male medical staffer is causing fear and panic attacks in what they say should be a women’s only safe space.
Their lawyers from the Christian Legal Centre (CLC) claim the male staffer openly admits ‘they’ do not take female hormones and ‘are’ trying to have a child with ‘their’ girlfriend. They cite nurses as saying ‘they’ loiter in the changing room and intimidate them by staring and asking questions. Some of them are abuse victims. Others are from cultures where they should not be undressing in front of a man.
The nurses claim that the current arrangement is causing panic attacks among female members of staff, including vulnerable women who have experienced sexual abuse. They allege that they were not consulted or given any warning about the policy before it came into effect. The nurses are demanding a change in policy across the country.
The NHS Trust which runs the Darlington Memorial Hospital dismissed a written complaint by 26 female staff members. Managers ignored the concerns for their safety and told them to “broaden their mindset, be inclusive and get educated.” The nurses said they felt “threatened” and “intimidated” at HR meetings about the issue.
The reaction to their concerns incensed the nurses and spurred them to launch an employment tribunal case for sexual discrimination and sexual harassment as well as invasion of privacy. Their case is believed to be unprecedented, meaning it could led to a landmark ruling in employment law.
Christian nurse Bethany Hutchison said NHS transgender policies are putting female hospital staff at risk, but most women are afraid to speak out for fear of losing their jobs. Current Trust policies permit members of staff identifying as the opposite gender to access single-sex toilets, showers, and changing rooms which do not have private cubicles.
“This should not be something women even need to think about. However, the extreme transgender ideology that is putting us at risk is so ingrained and has gone so far that we and other women have no choice but to speak out. The meetings we have had at the hospital have been threatening and intimidating. To say we need educating when staff have multiple degrees was deeply insulting and demonstrates a failure of care towards female staff, some of whom are vulnerable. It is disgraceful that nurses are ending up in tears before they have to go and provide emotional support to our patients,” Ms Hutchison declared.
Another nurse Lisa Lockey said that having to share the changing room with a biological male has made her feel on edge. “We went into nursing because we care about people, but we have been made to question ourselves and made to feel like bigots when we are no such thing. There are lots of trans people who do not pose a threat and we understand that, but with this policy there is no way to decipher who is good and who is bad. This is why we are doing it because there is no policy to protect us, not just in Darlington, but across the country. We are aware that transgender activists will probably hate us for what we are doing, but it is not against transgender people, this is about protecting female space,” she explained.
CLC chief executive Andrea Williams said that trans ideology was having “real and dangerous consequences. The nurses in this hospital have spoken out with fear and trepidation. Between them they have decades of experience on hospital wards and they are the ones that should be protected and comforted as they simply seek to do the job they love without fear of retribution for speaking up.”
Photo: Christian Legal Centre
