A group of nurses has won their case against the NHS after they were forced to share their changing room with a trans-identifying biological male.
Employment Judge Sweeney and tribunal members Denise Newey and Malcolm Brain ruled that the policy enforced by County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust had failed to take the concerns of the nurses seriously and amounted to unlawful harassment and discrimination.
The tribunal concluded that the policy violated the dignity of the nurses and created "a hostile, humiliating and degrading environment".
It is the latest landmark judgment to be handed down on transgenderism after the Supreme Court last year declared that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex. That ruling determined that the use of public facilities, like changing rooms, should be based on biological sex rather than subjective feelings.
The Christian Legal Centre (CLC), which supported the Darlington nurses in their case, called Friday's judgment from the employment tribunal "a major victory for women’s rights and workplace safety".
CLC chief executive Andrea Williams said, “This judgment exposes the extent to which the NHS hierarchy has been captured by extreme gender ideology and its willingness to sacrifice women’s safety and dignity in order to uphold it.
"Allowing a man into a female-only space because he claims to be a woman violates human dignity, common sense, the law of the land and biblical truth.
“The NHS and the government should now give up their sabotage of clear judicial decisions and abide by the law which acknowledges that men are men and women are women.”
Responding to the ruling, Bethany Hutchison, president of the Darlington Nursing Union and one of the nurses who brought the case, said, “This is a victory for common sense and for every woman who simply wants to feel safe at work.
"Women deserve access to single-sex spaces without fear or intimidation. Forcing us to undress in front of a man was not only degrading but dangerous. Today’s ruling sends a clear message: the NHS cannot ignore women’s rights in the name of ideology.
“We stood up because we knew this was wrong. No woman should be forced to choose between her job and her safety. This ruling is a turning point, and we will keep fighting until every woman in the NHS is guaranteed the dignity and protection she deserves.”
