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The lawyer representing Fife nurse Sandie Peggie in her action against the health board has launched a blistering attack on SNP Ministers, accusing them of being in “denial” about a Supreme Court ruling on gender identity. Naomi Cunningham said there had been an “astonishing level of misinformation and defiance” after the judgement, which ruled that the terms ‘sex’ and ‘women’ in the Equality Act were based on biology.
The landmark ruling effectively banned biological men who identify as female from women-only spaces such as toilets and changing rooms. Despite that, the Scottish Government has been accused of dragging its heels in implementing the ruling and guaranteeing single-sex spaces.
Ms Cunningham is representing Ms Peggie in a tribunal against NHS Fife and transgender doctor Beth Upton. The veteran nurse says she has suffered unlawful harassment under the Equality Act after being suspended when she complained about having to share a changing room with Dr Upton at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.
The tribunal garnered international media coverage, with a ruling expected in the coming weeks. Speaking to the BBC’s ScotCast, Ms Cunningham said trans ideology had “sunk its claws so deeply into our institutions that it’s really hard to shake free of it”.
READ MORE: Kate Forbes and others who stand up to SNP trans lobby are being ‘disappeared from view’
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She accused governments across the UK of being “terrified of their own activists who are strongly committed to trans ideology,” adding: “At the same time, they probably know that most people in the country don’t buy this nonsense.”
The Supreme Court judgement followed legal action by campaign group For Women Scotland against the Scottish Government and its definition of a ‘female’. The group said only those born a women were considered women under the law, a position the judges broadly agreed with.
The decision has had ramifications all across the UK, with Ministers forced to rip up policies. However, the SNP has faced criticism for the pace at which it has implemented change and has even taken legal action for the right to house transgender women in the female prison estate.
Ms Cunningham said the government was in “denial”, adding : “There has been an astonishing level of misinformation and defiance in relation to the For Women Scotland judgement. They say they’re looking into it and they’re working on it. They’re waiting for guidance.
“They don’t need to. The law is the law and we know what the law is now.”
Responding to Ms Cunningham’s comments, Scottish Conservative shadow equalities minister Tess White MSP said: “This is a damning intervention that should shame John Swinney and the SNP Government into finally doing the right thing. These remarks from Sandie Peggie’s Barrister will chime with mainstream Scots who are sick and tired of the SNP Government dragging their heels on implementing the clear verdict from the Supreme Court.
“They have had over six months to do so, yet they are still putting the safety of women and girls at risk by refusing to do so. The SNP’s gender ideology has become so embedded in Scotland’s public bodies that reckless decisions are being taken, instead of women being guaranteed access to single-sex spaces.
“John Swinney should stop pandering to gender extremists in his party and rule out squandering any more taxpayers’ money in rejecting the verdict from the Supreme Court.”
Ms Cunningham is chair of the Sex Matters campaign group and said she was encouraged to get involved in the gender debate after being “tipped into rage” by cases relating to whether sex was biological.
During the Supreme Court hearing, government ministers argued that any transgender woman with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) was entitled to the same sex-based protections as a biological woman. The case took place against the backdrop of the debate over Nicola Sturgeon’s controversial gender reforms that would have simplified the process for a biological male to obtain a certificate.
Critics said the move would put women in danger as it would make it easier for predatory men to access such spaces by ‘identifying’ as women.
The Scottish Government has been approached for comment.
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