Update from Maya
On Monday 19th January I was with Sandie Peggie, Bethany Hutchinson and Lisa Lockey (two of the Darlington nurses) outside Parliament, celebrating their tribunal wins (in Sandie’s case a partial win – she is taking her case to appeal). Also present was nurse Jennifer Melle, who was put through a disciplinary process by Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust, where she works, and who faced further discipline after speaking to the press about it (since I saw her, she has been cleared of further action).
Jennifer’s case is a particularly shocking example of how far institutions will go to avoid using words like “man” for men who identify as trans. She was given a final written warning for referring to a convicted paedophile who needed catheterisation to his penis as “he”. It is hard to believe this kind of thing is really happening in the NHS, but it is.
Left to right: Maya, Sandie Peggie, Bethany Hutchinson, Jennifer Melle, Claire Coutinho MP, Lisa Lockey, Mims Davies MP, Rebecca Paul MP, Rosie Duffield MP
In this picture we are standing behind the offices of the Center for Global Development, where I worked before losing my job for speaking up about transgender ideology six years ago! My case was cited in a letter sent by a cross-party group of MPs to the chair and chief executive of Jennifer’s trust in the run-up to her disciplinary hearing, saying that she had been entirely justified in speaking out to protect her career, income and reputation.
The nurses’ cases have been on the front pages, and Bethany and Lisa have been on Good Morning Britain talking about their tribunal win and the climate of fear in the NHS. More and more people are becoming aware that public bodies are imposing gender-identity rules on frontline workers and service users, and want this nonsense to stop.
On 19th January, Baroness Sarah Ludford said in Parliament that the government has “run out of road” in continuing to delay laying the EHRC code of practice, and that it is failing women and defying the rule of law.
Maya Forstater
NHS nurses on the frontline
In this week’s episode of the Sex Matters podcast, Fiona and Maya discuss the cases of Maria Kelly, Sandie Peggie, the Darlington nurses and Jennifer Melle. They talk about how regulators, trade unions and the government are all failing to follow the law, and what it will take to get the herd to change direction.
They also discuss a letter from David Holdsworth, the chief executive of the Charity Commission, responding to an open letter from “Third Sector Against Transphobia”. In it, he suggests that the commission is waiting for EHRC guidance to be laid before Parliament before considering whether so-called trans-inclusive policies are lawful for single-sex charities – even though regulating charities is the commission’s job, and by law charities must act solely in pursuit of their charitable objects.
Take action: protect children from trans ideology
Next week the Council of Europe, an intergovernmental body that includes the UK, is voting on a resolution calling for criminal sanctions for professionals and parents who do not affirm a child’s self-declared trans identity. If countries take this approach, it will make it even harder for families, therapists and teachers who support an ethical, evidence-based approach rather than “gender affirmation”, which risks locking in a child’s gender confusion and putting them on a path to lifelong medicalisation.
If you haven’t already, please write to the British parliamentarians who represent us there to ask them to vote against the resolution and protect children. It takes just two minutes.
Athena Forum, a new organisation we collaborate with that fights gender ideology in European institutions, has created a template to help you.
In the news
The news that no further action would be taken against nurse Jennifer Melle, who was accused of “misgendering” a trans-identifying paedophile patient, was covered by Giles Shedrick for the Daily Express. Maya said Jennifer had been hung out to dry by her employer and her union, and that the health secretary Wes Streeting needs to stop the transgender obsession that is corrupting the NHS. Maya also wrote an article for the Daily Express on how transgender ideology has taken over the NHS, meaning that instead of focusing on healthcare priorities, many managers there have become obsessed with affirming false identities.
Alison Holt for the BBC wrote a feature on how the NHS became the battleground in the trans debate facing workplaces, with Sex Matters quoted as saying that we were relieved and delighted by the tribunal’s findings in the case of the Darlington Nurses. Fiona did two interviews following the nurses’ win, with Peter Cardwell on TalkTV and Rachel Johnson on LBC.
Writing for The Courier, Sean O’Neil broke the news that employment tribunals Scotland president Judge Susan Walker claimed that AI was not used in the drafting of Sandie Peggie’s judgment, and that Judge Alexander Kemp blamed “erroneous” quotes from Maya’s judgment on an unnamed “judiciary colleague”. Maya said that a proper review should be undertaken. The news was also reported by Simon Johnson for The Telegraph, and Sean followed up his piece with an opinion article arguing that the judiciary risks losing public trust.
Mark McLaughlin for The Scottish Sun covered the news that SNP ministers likened trans-identifying male prisoners in female jails to mothers taking their young sons to the toilet as part of their legal argument in For Women Scotland’s challenge on women’s prisons. Fiona said that it was said it was unforgivable and insulting to compare little boys with trans-identifying male criminals.
The Telegraph revealed that National Resources Wales has told employees that they can use the toilets of the gender with which they identify, and encourages staff to apologise if they use the “wrong” pronouns for a colleague. Helen said that this policy exemplifies the way many UK public bodies are sticking with policies that are clearly unlawful after last year’s Supreme Court judgment.
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It’s infuriating how much the bloody “lived experience” of trans is trumpeted in everyone’s face, but the “lived experiences” of women, detransitioners, parents, teachers, health staff and government employees counts for absolutely nothing. I live in Sydney- the public is generally completely unaware that ‘trans’ is just nonsense made up by grifting career activists riding a very lucrative public funded gravy train. Australia is literally years behind the transnost of the UK (yes of course it’s also Gen X that’s leading the pushback here too lol- who remembers ‘glasnost’ and ‘perestroika’?)
I am in awe of all of you. What you’ve done matters far beyond the UK. Thank you, Sex Matters, for holding the line with courage and clarity under extraordinary pressure. You remind the rest of us that reality does not vanish because it is inconvenient. I’m holding the line in a deeply blue state, inspired daily by your example. Never wheesht.