Veteran Scottish nurse Sandie Peggie has been cleared of “gross misconduct” allegations for objecting to share a female changing room with a transgender-identifying male doctor, “Beth” Upton, after a protracted legal battle.
As I reported earlier in this space (here and here), Upton lodged a complaint with the Fife National Health Service board, alleging that Peggie had “misgendered” him and claiming that her objections to his presence in the female changing room in December 2023 had been bigoted.
Peggie was then targeted by a campaign to discredit her more than three decades of service as a nurse, with accusations of “failures of patient care.” She was suspended from her work at the Victoria hospital in January 2024.
On July 16, however, NHS Fife announced that an internal hearing had found “insufficient evidence to support a finding of misconduct,” and Peggie’s lawyer, Margaret Gribbon, stated that they were “relieved and delighted” that the excruciating, 18-month internal investigation had reached the correct conclusion. It seems clear that the investigation was an attempt to punish Peggie for her objections to the institution’s implementation of transgender ideology.
Meanwhile, Peggie is still being subjected to an employment tribunal case against NHS Fife that may have national implications. Observers consider it a test case after the U.K. Supreme Court’s April ruling that “woman” is defined by biological sex in the Equality Act. Indeed, the ruling may change the outcome at the tribunal, and LGBT-supportive state apparatchiks are being forced to scramble. As the Guardianreported:
In earlier evidence, Peggie said she had felt “embarrassed and intimidated” when Upton started to get changed alongside her, leading to a heated exchange, the details of which are disputed. The health board has previously described Peggie’s action as “unnecessary and vexatious.” Upton is also disputing it.
NHS Fife’s equality lead, Isla Bumba, told NHS Fife’s counsel, Jane Russell KC, that in August 2023, her line manager, Esther Davidson, had asked for “very generic and informal” advice on how best to accommodate a new gender-confused member of staff, “particularly around changing rooms.” The advice was based on the Equality and Human Rights Commissions’s statutory code of practice, which is currently being revised to reflect the supreme court’s ruling.
Indeed, it appears that some of the accusations are now simply outdated because of the Supreme Court ruling. “I said it could be deemed discriminatory to not allow a [so-called] trans person access to facilities that aligned with their gender, but I recommended that it might be worthwhile having a conversation with the person directly if they had been open about their trans status to see where they would be most comfortable,” Bumba had told the tribunal. Now, however, Peggie may have the backing of the Supreme Court.
Bumba claimed that she was not “aware” of employees other than Peggie objecting to transgender-identifying males using female changerooms, and disputed a claim made by Peggie’s lawyer at the tribunal, Naomi Cunningham, who asked if the NHS was essentially forcing female staff “to participate in a pretence” that transgender-identifying males like Upton were women.
Bumbo, of course, disagreed. The Supreme Court’s ruling, again, is on Peggie’s side. Attempting to have it both ways, Bumba stated that: “I believe gender is a spectrum and people’s views on gender will also be a spectrum.” In short, she believes that transgender-identifying men are women. Peggie does not. The question at hand, however, is which side of that question the law lands on – and that is what has turned this tribunal hearing into a test case.
Since she was cleared of allegations of misconduct, Sandie Peggie is taking steps to ensure that her case is a test case. According to the BBC, Peggie plans to sue her union over their lack of support, alleging that the Royal College of Nursing declined to assist her after she was wrongfully suspended by NHS Fife in 2024. She has also “lodged a complaint of sexual harassment or harassment related to a protected belief against the health board and Dr Upton under the 2010 Equality Act over the suspension.”
The saga continues. This time, however, the odds are in Peggie’s favor.
