The Trans Agenda: NHS advises GPs to neglect trans kids
News you need, the perspective you won't find anywhere else. The trans community's guide to UK news, media and politics and our place in it.
The Trans Agenda
[13 April 2025]
Follow me on Bluesky - @HLeeHurley.substack.com
It is utterly exhausting to be trans in the UK, or the US, right now. That’s the overwhelming feeling I’m left with as I wrap up this week’s edition. The news cycle may have been quieter than usual in the papers, but the relentlessness of it all remains steady.
The week ahead promises little reprieve. The Supreme Court verdict in the For Women Scotland case looms, and, regardless of how it lands, it will be trans people who feel the impact most acutely.
So, please, take care of yourselves, and remember - we’re in this together, and the fight will continue.
UK & IRELAND NEWS
For Women Scotland ruling to be delivered on Wednesday
The UK Supreme Court is set to rule on whether transgender women with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) are legally recognised as women under the Equality Act. The case, brought by the anti-trans activist group For Women Scotland, challenges Scottish Government guidance that includes trans women in definitions of "woman" for the purpose of public policy and protections. Previous courts have upheld that sex is not limited to biological sex.
The ruling is expected to have major implications for trans rights. The case is a test of our rights to equality, dignity, and legal protection.
NHS told to block sex marker changes for trans youth [Pulse]
NHS England has been ordered to halt issuing new records to under-18s who change gender, following a transphobe-led [Alice Sullivan] government review warning that omitting biological sex data risks patient safety, especially in screening and clinical care. It doesn’t. Wes Streeting said safeguarding children must come first, while still respecting gender identity where appropriate. He is currently doing neither of these things.
NHS begins work on care pathway for people who detransition [TransActual]
NHS England has started developing a new care pathway for people who wish to detransition. Seriously.
New NHS England guidance tells GPs not to share care for trans youth [Jolyon Maugham]
NHS England has issued new advice telling GPs not to enter shared care arrangements with private providers for under-18s seeking hormone treatment. In other words, to neglect them because Wes Streeting doesn’t like their choices. Apply this to any other medical situation you can think of, and you can see how this is nothing more than state-ordered discrimination that will endanger the lives of trans kids even further.
Wes Streeting under fire for silence over group linked to anti-trans abuse [Trans Safety Network]
The UK Health Secretary is facing mounting criticism after leaked messages revealed members of the Bayswater Support Group discussed sabotaging their trans children’s belongings and using chili sauce in makeup. Despite multiple warnings about the group’s abusive practices, Wes Streeting has continued to engage with them on trans ‘healthcare’ policy.
NHS seeks to close tribunal to public [Daily Record]
NHS Fife has requested that the public be excluded from the upcoming employment tribunal involving a ‘dispute’ over a trans doctor existing. The case, brought by nurse Sandie Peggie, is set to resume in July.
AROUND THE WORLD
Norway: Asylum for trans Americans
USA: Montana Republicans join Democrats to defeat anti-trans bill after powerful speech [Erin Reed]
17 Montana Republicans broke ranks to help defeat SB164, a bill that would have criminalised providing gender-affirming care, even for parents merely passing through the state. The turnaround followed a powerful floor speech from nonbinary Representative SJ Howell, who warned against using felony charges to regulate medical decisions and undermine parental rights.
USA: Trump administration to release anti-trans review modelled on discredited UK and Florida reports [Erin Reed]
The Trump administration is preparing to release a biased “review” of transgender healthcare, expected to justify sweeping bans on gender-affirming care. Modelled after the Florida and UK Cass reviews, the report excludes medical experts and uses debunked concepts like “rapid-onset gender dysphoria.”
USA: Trump administration freezes school lunch funds in Maine over trans policy, prompting lawsuit [Erin Reed]
The Trump administration has stopped school lunch funding in Maine, citing the state’s support for trans rights as a Title IX violation. Maine is suing, calling the move unlawful and politically motivated.
USA: DOJ to enforce Trump’s transgender athlete ban in Maine as state refuses to comply [The Day]
The US Justice Department will enforce President Trump’s order to ban trans athletes in Maine schools after the state refused to comply with a federal mandate. Maine officials argue the policy violates Title IX and plan to fight in court, risking $358 million in federal education funding. There are believed to be two trans athletes in schools in Maine.
USA: Florida teacher sacked for respecting trans student’s name, sparking backlash [Erin Reed]
A Florida teacher lost her job, under a state law requiring parental consent, for using a trans student’s chosen name. Though officially dismissed for a policy violation, students, parents, and community members say it was targeted discrimination. A mass walkout, protests, and a petition have since pushed back against the decision.
USA: Health nominee wants ‘corrective care’ for trans people
MEDIA
White House staff refuse to respond to journalists with pronouns in email signatures
The Trump administration has barred federal employees from using pronouns in their email signatures and is reportedly refusing to respond to journalists who include them.
New Statesman set to move even further right [New European]
The New Statesman has appointed former political editor of UnHerd, Tom McTague, as their new editor.
SPORT
FA continue to refuse to ban trans women
The FA has introduced a revised transgender inclusion policy that allows trans women to continue playing in amateur women’s football, provided they meet testosterone-based medical criteria. The updated rules, which took effect on April 1, maintain the FA’s commitment to inclusion while allowing for case-by-case assessments if concerns arise. Bigots pushing for a blanket ban were unsuccessful, yet again.
The FA confirmed that no trans women are currently playing at elite level and stressed that any future decisions would continue to prioritise fairness and inclusion. They also noted that there only around 20 trans players from a pool of thousands playing.
Trans fencer removed from college team after opponent’s protest sparks national tantrum [Pink News]
A transgender fencer is no longer on Wagner College’s women’s team following a viral tantrum in which her cis opponent, Stephanie Turner, who has reportedly competed in mixed-gender competitions, refused to compete against her. Though Turner was disqualified for violating competition rules, the incident predictably ignited the tinderbox of conservative outrage. Turner has since been embraced by the right-wing grift-o-sphere, picking up a $5,000 bigot prize, amongst other things.
Protests grow as Canadian roller derby teams push back against US anti-trans orders [The Globe and Mail]
Roller derby teams across Canada are increasingly boycotting cross-border matches in protest of US anti-transgender policies enacted by the Trump administration. Citing safety risks and solidarity with gender-diverse players, athletes are cancelling games, creating travel safety protocols, and calling out the chilling impact of exclusionary laws, despite risks to their rankings.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
THE WEEK AHEAD
Full parliament business can be viewed here. Parliament is in recess until 22 April.
Monday 14 April
High Court holds first hearing in case brought by women against Andrew Tate
Tuesday 15 April
Jury selection begins in Harvey Weinstein retrial
80 years ago: Bergen-Belsen liberated
🚨Wednesday 16 April
For Women Scotland Supreme Court ruling
Report: Private rent and house price statistics
Thursday 17 April
Donald Trump hosts Giorgia Meloni at the White House
Friday 18 April
Luigi Mangione due to appear in federal court in New York
JD Vance expected to visit Italy
Saturday 19 April
250 years ago: American Revolution began
SHORTS
A $600,000 federal grant to research feminine hygiene products was axed after US officials falsely labelled it a study on transgender menstrual cycles
THE PAPERS
Overall, the papers were slightly quieter this week than last and down a full 58% on the week before.
The drop can be attributed solely to the Mail, Guardian and Times reducing their output.
The Telegraph has not let up at all. 13 this week, compared to nine last and 12 the week before.
In contrast, the Times had just two while the Mail and Guardian had one each.
Headlines this week have included such delights as:
Nurse suspended after calling transgender paedophile ‘Mr’ [Telegraph]
Transgender inmates may get wigs and underwear [Mail]
Don’t use rapists’ preferred pronouns, judges told [Telegraph]
Whose bylines were on all these articles? Ben Rumsby, Charles Hymas, Daily Mail reporter, Daily Telegraph reporter, Ethan Croft, Jenny Johnston, Martin Ziegler, Michael Deacon, Michael Searles, Oliver Brown (x2), Sally Weale, Simon Johnson (x2), Telegraph editorial, Tim Sigworth, Will Bolton.
Quoted, mentioned or featured this week: Abigail Wilson, Andrea Williams, Christian Legal Centre, Darlington Nurses (x2), EHRC (x2), Emma Hilton, Fiona McAnena, For Women Scotland, Free Speech Union, Helen Joyce (x2), Jennifer Melle, JK Rowling (x3), Karina Conway, Kathleen Stock, Kellie-Jay Keen, Lynne Pinches, Martina Navratilova, Maya Forstater (x2), OFS, Prof Alice Sullivan (x2), Sex Matters (x3), Stephanie Turner, Sullivan Review, Tess White (x2), Toby Young, Wes Streeting, Women's Rights Network.
Spotted or know something you think I should include in the Trans Agenda?
THE PAPERS Monday 7 April - Sunday 13 April
Monday Total: 3
Telegraph [3]
![NHS doctors shown how to ‘change’ sex of trans patients Tavistock ‘defies review’ by briefing on how to amend patients’ sex on public records to ‘avoid upset’ The Daily Telegraph7 Apr 2025By Michael Searles Health Correspondent NHS doctors have been taught how to help transgender patients re-register “with a new sex marker” on public records, in defiance of a recent review. In a briefing session for GPS and other clinical staff, top doctors at the adult gender identity clinic at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, explained “how to amend records accordingly to avoid subsequent upset and possible complaints”. The session, which was delivered on Thursday, explained various aspects of the care transgender patients receive, and advised GPS on how to refer them, maintain a “lifelong prescription of maintenance hormone therapy” and change their recorded sex. The advice defies a recent review by Alice Sullivan, a professor of sociology at University College London, who outlined the risks of conflating biological sex and gender when it comes to clinical care, sex-specific cancer screenings and safeguarding. In the session, Dr James Barrett, the lead doctor at the Tavistock’s adult gender identity clinic, explained to family doctors how to change sex markers, including on passports and at the bank. He told doctors: “Changing your name is really quite simple and easy, and once you’ve changed your name, you can re-register yourself in your new name and with a new sex marker in very many of the places where we’re all registered: at the bank, and the tax and benefits agency, and down the dentist and on your driving licence.” “To change the sex marker on your passport, the patient will need a letter. The letter can come from a primary care practitioner [a GP] or can come from the clinic.” The advice comes despite the Sullivan review recommending that transgender patients do not receive new NHS numbers and changed sex markers. The review cites the importance of biological sex in providing healthcare, for example when it comes to inviting patients for cancer screenings or for doctors to make a diagnosis about symptoms, for which the cause may differ based on a person’s sex. Prof Sullivan said “a confusion between sex and transgender and gender-diverse identities” had developed in recent years and there had been attempts to “merge these two things into one variable”. The Department of Health said the findings would be considered with “the gravity they deserve, ‘The ill-founded advice is particularly tone deaf given the ink on Sullivan ‘review is barely dry’ as it reforms gender identity services across the board” . It comes after The Telegraph revealed the General Medical Council is planning to remove sex and gender from the doctors’ register meaning patients will not be able to look it up. Helen Joyce, of human rights charity Sex Matters, said the “ill-founded advice to his peers is particularly tone-deaf given the ink on the review is barely dry”. “It is trans people who will be most harmed by destroying sex-based data records.” A spokesman for Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust said: “Staff run information sessions for healthcare professionals. These involve clinician-to-clinician discussions about a range of issues including prescribing, maintenance hormone therapy, birth gender and its implications for routine cancer screening and cardiovascular outcomes.” Article Name:NHS doctors shown how to ‘change’ sex of trans patients Publication:The Daily Telegraph Author:By Michael Searles Health Correspondent Start Page:8 End Page:8](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!keJi!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fea4731e2-44e3-438f-84db-917bccb73bf1_246x572.png "NHS doctors shown how to ‘change’ sex of trans patients Tavistock ‘defies review’ by briefing on how to amend patients’ sex on public records to ‘avoid upset’ The Daily Telegraph7 Apr 2025By Michael Searles Health Correspondent NHS doctors have been taught how to help transgender patients re-register “with a new sex marker” on public records, in defiance of a recent review. In a briefing session for GPS and other clinical staff, top doctors at the adult gender identity clinic at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, explained “how to amend records accordingly to avoid subsequent upset and possible complaints”. The session, which was delivered on Thursday, explained various aspects of the care transgender patients receive, and advised GPS on how to refer them, maintain a “lifelong prescription of maintenance hormone therapy” and change their recorded sex. The advice defies a recent review by Alice Sullivan, a professor of sociology at University College London, who outlined the risks of conflating biological sex and gender when it comes to clinical care, sex-specific cancer screenings and safeguarding. In the session, Dr James Barrett, the lead doctor at the Tavistock’s adult gender identity clinic, explained to family doctors how to change sex markers, including on passports and at the bank. He told doctors: “Changing your name is really quite simple and easy, and once you’ve changed your name, you can re-register yourself in your new name and with a new sex marker in very many of the places where we’re all registered: at the bank, and the tax and benefits agency, and down the dentist and on your driving licence.” “To change the sex marker on your passport, the patient will need a letter. The letter can come from a primary care practitioner [a GP] or can come from the clinic.” The advice comes despite the Sullivan review recommending that transgender patients do not receive new NHS numbers and changed sex markers. The review cites the importance of biological sex in providing healthcare, for example when it comes to inviting patients for cancer screenings or for doctors to make a diagnosis about symptoms, for which the cause may differ based on a person’s sex. Prof Sullivan said “a confusion between sex and transgender and gender-diverse identities” had developed in recent years and there had been attempts to “merge these two things into one variable”. The Department of Health said the findings would be considered with “the gravity they deserve, ‘The ill-founded advice is particularly tone deaf given the ink on Sullivan ‘review is barely dry’ as it reforms gender identity services across the board” . It comes after The Telegraph revealed the General Medical Council is planning to remove sex and gender from the doctors’ register meaning patients will not be able to look it up. Helen Joyce, of human rights charity Sex Matters, said the “ill-founded advice to his peers is particularly tone-deaf given the ink on the review is barely dry”. “It is trans people who will be most harmed by destroying sex-based data records.” A spokesman for Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust said: “Staff run information sessions for healthcare professionals. These involve clinician-to-clinician discussions about a range of issues including prescribing, maintenance hormone therapy, birth gender and its implications for routine cancer screening and cardiovascular outcomes.” Article Name:NHS doctors shown how to ‘change’ sex of trans patients Publication:The Daily Telegraph Author:By Michael Searles Health Correspondent Start Page:8 End Page:8")
Tuesday Total: 3
The Guardian [1]
Telegraph [2]
Wednesday Total: 0
Thursday Total: 2
Daily Mail [1]
Telegraph [1]
Friday Total: 3
The Times [1]
Telegraph [2]
Saturday Total: 1
Telegraph [1]
Sunday Total: 5
Mail on Sunday [1]
![If we wandered around the male consultants’ changing room in just our underwear claiming to be men and they felt threatened... well, we all know who’d win THAT battle As court showdown looms, the nurses branded bigots simply for challenging the trans orthodoxy that has every public insitution in its grip, on why they refuse to cave in The Mail on Sunday13 Apr 2025By JENNY JOHNSTON STANDING STRONG: Tracey Hooper, Annice Grundy, Lisa Lockey and Bethany Hutchison. Left: A MoS report on their story FOUR members of the most famous ‘bunch of nurses’ in Britain are wondering how things might have panned out if they hadn’t been, as one of them puts it, ‘just a bunch of female nurses’. Lisa Lockey, 52, who has spent 35 years working for the NHS, poses an alternative scenario to illustrate her theory. ‘Say one of us did this – just changed our name, and without any other evidence that we were transitioning, walked into the male changing room, believing we had every right to be in there, in our bra and knickers, as the men got undressed. How would that have been received? ‘You can joke about it and say, “Oh the men would love that”, but in all seriousness, I don’t think they would like it at all. ‘I also think that if the male surgeons, anaesthetists and consultants in that male changing room had something to say about the situation, it would be dealt with very differently from the off. ‘It’s the difference between men and women, isn’t it? Men are listened to way more than women are, unfortunately.’ We will never know how that hypothetical situation would have turned out, but we do know what happened when 26 nurses at Darlington Memorial Hospital – Lisa included – spoke up after they found themselves in a similar, albeit reverse, situation. Back in 2023, to their abject horror, they discovered that they were expected to undress alongside a biological male colleague who went by the name of Rose and identified as a woman – even while striding around in boxer shorts, male genitalia very much intact and in evidence. After questioning whether this could possibly be right, and saying they felt threatened and intimidated by the presence of a male in the female changing room – one, it is important to note, who was not taking hormones, and had been open about the fact that ‘she’ was sexually active and trying for a baby with ‘her’ female partner – the nurses were told by their HR department that they were the ones with the problem. They needed to ‘broaden their mindset’, they were told. To be more ‘inclusive’. They also needed to be ‘re-educated’. Their anger is still palpable today. ‘We were treated like naughty schoolgirls,’ says Tracey Hooper, 46, who has clocked up more than 20 years as a nurse and thought she was unshockable. ‘When we raised genuine concerns, the message was, “Shut up and go away.”’ In a move that may well be recorded in the history books, the Darlington Nurses – now heroines to many – refused to be silenced. Eight of them not only went public with their concerns, even in the face of threats of disciplinary action and warnings that they could lose their jobs, but effectively went to war against their own bosses. They launched an extraordinary legal action against County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, accusing it of sexual harassment and discrimination, claiming that the trans-inclusive agenda was effectively trampling over women’s hard-fought rights. On April 2, five of them: Lisa, Rose conjures up images of a delicate person – this is a big, burly bloke Tracey, together with colleagues Bethany Hutchison, Annice Grundy and Joanne Bradbury, attended court for the preliminary hearing of this landmark case – one that could have ramifications for every public sector organisation in Britain. Although the case had been scheduled to start in June, the Trust asked for more time to conclude its internal investigation and will now be heard in October. But already the nurses have notched up a victory: they objected to an application for the transgender colleague concerned – Rose Henderson – to be granted anonymity during the proceedings, and won. The judge ruled that allowing Rose’s identity to be concealed would be against the principle of open justice. Bethany, 37, the youngest of the nurses but the one who led the revolt, explains why they feel it was important for Rose to be identified. ‘I like to quote my friend Sandie Peggie on this [a Scottish nurse who has taken similar legal action north of the border]. She says privacy is for changing rooms, not courtrooms. ‘This case isn’t about Rose – our issues are with the Trust, not Rose personally. ‘But at the same time I think it’s important that the public sees what we are dealing with here. ‘Most people don’t have any idea, because the name Rose conjures up images of a delicate, fragile sort of person. This is not a delicate sort of person – this is a big, burly bloke.’ Having already faced accusations that they are bigoted transphobic bullies – astonishingly, including from their former union representative – the women want every twist and turn of this debacle to be laid bare in a courtroom. Lisa says: ‘I think the public will be astonished at what women are being asked to accept. It’s completely crazy. ‘This isn’t a group of mouthy women who are twisting against a poor transgender person who is just trying to quietly live their life. It is not. It’s about so much more. ‘It baffles me that people keep saying this is a trans issue. What we are dealing with is a man who is obviously attracted to women being in the female changing room, which is supposed to be a safe space.’ It is striking that every single time these women refer to Rose they use the he/him pronouns. They all see a clear difference between the transgender patients they’ve treated using preferred pronouns – and there have been a few – and Rose. ‘It’s about respect,’ says Lisa. ‘But there is no mutual respect with Rose. He’s not bothered. There is no consideration there. It’s like rocking up to a party you haven’t been invited to.’ It feels terribly wrong, too, that such an almighty fight is being left to ordinary nurses. Some of the most powerful people in the land – up to and including Health Secretary Wes Streeting – have paid lip service to them, yet still it has come down to these women putting their careers on the line. While they may have the backing of high-profile supporters such as J.K.Rowling (‘millions of women stand with the Darlington nurses,’ she has said), they do not have her financial cushion. As we sort the logistics for this interview, the madness of what they feel they have to do – ‘for our daughters, and for everyone’s daughters,’ says Annice, 55 – becomes apparent. These warrior women, as they have been dubbed, are all working mothers with varying shift patterns and giddying to-do lists. They have children to be picked up from nursery, grandchildren to mind. Accommodating others is their default setting, even off duty. Annice, who works full time, and has ‘a son, a daughter, a stepdaughter, five grandchildren and a mum who was widowed three years ago’, apologises for having to tweak the timings. She has to run an elderly neighbour to a hospital appointment. It is also obvious that these are the sort of women for whom making others feel comfortable is hardwired. There is a moment where I ask Lisa how many children she has – is it two or three? ‘Now I don’t want you to feel mortified when I tell you...’ she begins, before explaining she has two living sons, but lost her daughter to cancer when she was four years old. And yet these are the women who will walk into a courtroom, knowing they are going to be called uncaring bigots with nothing better to do than cause trouble. Of course they are terrified, but point out they are acting for so many others who can’t put their heads above the parapet – including the international nurses who dare not speak out for fear of losing their visas and right to work. Even so, they are acutely aware of how much is at risk. ‘Of course it’s a worry,’ says Bethany. ‘It’s my livelihood, my career and I love my job.’ You do wonder if the HR managers at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust ever called up Bethany’s file before they told her she needed re-educating. This is a woman with THREE degrees, including – yes, really – a master’s in disaster management. Women who are hardwired to make others feel comfortable She downplays the academia, joking about her convoluted path to the NHS wards: she studied environmental development at university, then a stint working on a malaria project in West Africa as part of her dissertation sparked a passion for nursing. ‘The plan was to kind of save the world, maybe work for Medecins Sans Frontieres, but that stopped when I married and had children,’ she laughs. The irony, though... the woman who could have had a career on the front line has indeed found herself on a battlefield, leading her own little army. She baulks at that suggestion, however. ‘I don’t see myself as any sort of warrior woman,’ she says. None of them do. Annice points out that before she was a nurse she used to be a store manager for Laura Ashley – hardly a training ground for ‘this sort of thing’. The tribunal expects to hear from 30 witnesses, these women – and Rose – included. Doubtless there will be debate about who said what and when, but what’s striking about the women’s accounts today is the sense that full conflict could have been avoided if they’d been listened to. It isn’t known exactly when Rose began to identify as a woman, but they had been vaguely aware of a transgender nurse working at the hospital for several years, but no one thought much of it. Lisa recalls her first encounter with Rose, in the summer of 2023. ‘I walked in to get changed one day and heard a male voice. At first, I thought I’d come in the wrong door, but then I remembered the transgender person.’ When she saw Rose, however, she was shocked. ‘I expected someone in women’s clothes, but although he has long hair he just wears jeans and a T-shirt. ‘I can’t stress this enough – he looks and dresses like a man.’ She was embarrassed to strip off in front of ‘this obvious man’, so she didn’t. ‘I rummaged about in my bag and pretended to be busy until he left.’ Her second encounter with Rose came some weeks later, after a busy shift. ‘It was as busy as I’d ever seen it, some people coming off shift, some going on. There were bodies – boobs and bums, basically – everywhere. Then I saw Rose just walking about chatting to everyone. ‘I’m not the sort who strips off anyway, and I remember thinking, “Well, I’m not getting undressed in front of you,” so gathered my things up and went to There were boobs and bums everywhere – and ‘Rose’ just walking about the toilet cubicle. I was in there for quite a while, but when I came out Rose was still there, walking about. I remember thinking, “How long does it take you to get changed?”’ Although she insists there was no confrontation, ‘I did detect a look... a sort of, “I dare you to say something”. But I just smiled and left.’ Lisa stresses that she went home that day thinking she was the problem and that she needed to be ‘more accepting’. Yet in their break-room, the nurses started nervously talking about how Rose’s presence was making them feel uncomfortable. Nor could the women ignore the fact that Rose had been open with colleagues about not taking female hormones through a desire to try for a baby. Mind-blowing. A major flag came when some of the international nurses ‘whose religion or culture forbids them from undressing in front of men who aren’t their husbands’ began to share their distress. Some began to wear to wear leggings and T-shirts under their clothes, to avoid ever being undressed when they changed into their uniforms. Bethany was the one who first spoke to superiors. She says: ‘I had a word with the sister on the ward, and she spoke to senior management, who said there was nothing they could do because of the Trust’s inclusiveness policy.’ At the same time, however, Bethany says she was taken aside by a clearly upset colleague. ‘She approached me cautiously, bless her. She said she was glad I’d raised it because she’d been abused as a child, by a man, and had been having panic attacks in the changing room because she had to get dressed with a man in there. ‘That was it for me. I thought, “This is wrong.”’ By now Bethany had sought legal advice, and was furiously reading up on the law around safeguarding. Word had swept through the hospital that the nurses were not accepting the status quo. Lisa recalls the relief. ‘I remember thinking, “Oh, it’s not just me then. Good.” That was when the ball started rolling, slowly.’ That was in August 2023, although the first formal complaint was made in April 2024, when the women felt they were out of other options. The women are being supported by the Christian Legal Centre. Chief Executive Andrea Williams says that accountability and justice in this case was ‘long overdue’, adding: ‘It is completely unacceptable that ideological radicals within NHS management have turned what should be a safe and supportive workplace into a cultural battleground.’ A spokesman for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘[We are] fully committed to supporting all members of our staff and ensuring a safe, respectful and inclusive working environment. We recognise legal proceedings are under way and we are engaging with the process in full accordance with employment law and the tribunal’s instructions. As this case is ongoing, it would not be appropriate to comment in detail.’ This case will pivot on how the Trust reacted to the women’s concerns, and questions will surely be asked about why this matter has dragged on for so long. Bethany insists that for the best part of a year they were ‘stonewalled, dismissed, made to feel that we just didn’t matter’. She adds: ‘All that was coming back was “inclusivity”. A particular low was when one HR manager said she wouldn’t have a problem undressing in front of a man, “because she was ex-Forces.”’ All accuse the Trust of heavyhandedness. There was a warning that speaking publicly about the case ‘would not be helpful’. Some developments were unnecessarily confrontational. The nurses turned up for work one day, to find a notice taped on the changing room door indicating it was now ‘inclusive’. They saw it as a slap-in-the-face confirmation that Rose’s rights trumped theirs. A request that separate changing facilities be made available to Rose was rejected. Instead the nurses were offered a small locker room – little more than a cupboard with one hook on the back of the door – to change in. Rose has not tried to use this room but ‘that’s not the point,’ argues Bethany. ‘It’s the policy that’s wrong. It’s not about individual rooms.’ Lisa steps in: ‘It probably doesn’t sound like it, but none of us wish Rose ill,’ she says. ‘The fault here lies with the Trust, which has allowed this situation to happen. The common sense thing would have been to do what we asked for in the first place – create a third changing space for transgender people.’ She chats for a minute about the layout of the hospital, suggesting where this could be. I ask about the size of the designated male changing room. ‘I’ve no idea,’ she says, surprised. ‘I’ve never been in it.’ Why would she? Article Name:If we wandered around the male consultants’ changing room in just our underwear claiming to be men and they felt threatened... well, we all know who’d win THAT battle Publication:The Mail on Sunday Author:By JENNY JOHNSTON Start Page:12 End Page:12](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qpEc!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5384bacb-4f06-4b06-88f7-4c4630f8e770_1142x726.png "If we wandered around the male consultants’ changing room in just our underwear claiming to be men and they felt threatened... well, we all know who’d win THAT battle As court showdown looms, the nurses branded bigots simply for challenging the trans orthodoxy that has every public insitution in its grip, on why they refuse to cave in The Mail on Sunday13 Apr 2025By JENNY JOHNSTON STANDING STRONG: Tracey Hooper, Annice Grundy, Lisa Lockey and Bethany Hutchison. Left: A MoS report on their story FOUR members of the most famous ‘bunch of nurses’ in Britain are wondering how things might have panned out if they hadn’t been, as one of them puts it, ‘just a bunch of female nurses’. Lisa Lockey, 52, who has spent 35 years working for the NHS, poses an alternative scenario to illustrate her theory. ‘Say one of us did this – just changed our name, and without any other evidence that we were transitioning, walked into the male changing room, believing we had every right to be in there, in our bra and knickers, as the men got undressed. How would that have been received? ‘You can joke about it and say, “Oh the men would love that”, but in all seriousness, I don’t think they would like it at all. ‘I also think that if the male surgeons, anaesthetists and consultants in that male changing room had something to say about the situation, it would be dealt with very differently from the off. ‘It’s the difference between men and women, isn’t it? Men are listened to way more than women are, unfortunately.’ We will never know how that hypothetical situation would have turned out, but we do know what happened when 26 nurses at Darlington Memorial Hospital – Lisa included – spoke up after they found themselves in a similar, albeit reverse, situation. Back in 2023, to their abject horror, they discovered that they were expected to undress alongside a biological male colleague who went by the name of Rose and identified as a woman – even while striding around in boxer shorts, male genitalia very much intact and in evidence. After questioning whether this could possibly be right, and saying they felt threatened and intimidated by the presence of a male in the female changing room – one, it is important to note, who was not taking hormones, and had been open about the fact that ‘she’ was sexually active and trying for a baby with ‘her’ female partner – the nurses were told by their HR department that they were the ones with the problem. They needed to ‘broaden their mindset’, they were told. To be more ‘inclusive’. They also needed to be ‘re-educated’. Their anger is still palpable today. ‘We were treated like naughty schoolgirls,’ says Tracey Hooper, 46, who has clocked up more than 20 years as a nurse and thought she was unshockable. ‘When we raised genuine concerns, the message was, “Shut up and go away.”’ In a move that may well be recorded in the history books, the Darlington Nurses – now heroines to many – refused to be silenced. Eight of them not only went public with their concerns, even in the face of threats of disciplinary action and warnings that they could lose their jobs, but effectively went to war against their own bosses. They launched an extraordinary legal action against County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, accusing it of sexual harassment and discrimination, claiming that the trans-inclusive agenda was effectively trampling over women’s hard-fought rights. On April 2, five of them: Lisa, Rose conjures up images of a delicate person – this is a big, burly bloke Tracey, together with colleagues Bethany Hutchison, Annice Grundy and Joanne Bradbury, attended court for the preliminary hearing of this landmark case – one that could have ramifications for every public sector organisation in Britain. Although the case had been scheduled to start in June, the Trust asked for more time to conclude its internal investigation and will now be heard in October. But already the nurses have notched up a victory: they objected to an application for the transgender colleague concerned – Rose Henderson – to be granted anonymity during the proceedings, and won. The judge ruled that allowing Rose’s identity to be concealed would be against the principle of open justice. Bethany, 37, the youngest of the nurses but the one who led the revolt, explains why they feel it was important for Rose to be identified. ‘I like to quote my friend Sandie Peggie on this [a Scottish nurse who has taken similar legal action north of the border]. She says privacy is for changing rooms, not courtrooms. ‘This case isn’t about Rose – our issues are with the Trust, not Rose personally. ‘But at the same time I think it’s important that the public sees what we are dealing with here. ‘Most people don’t have any idea, because the name Rose conjures up images of a delicate, fragile sort of person. This is not a delicate sort of person – this is a big, burly bloke.’ Having already faced accusations that they are bigoted transphobic bullies – astonishingly, including from their former union representative – the women want every twist and turn of this debacle to be laid bare in a courtroom. Lisa says: ‘I think the public will be astonished at what women are being asked to accept. It’s completely crazy. ‘This isn’t a group of mouthy women who are twisting against a poor transgender person who is just trying to quietly live their life. It is not. It’s about so much more. ‘It baffles me that people keep saying this is a trans issue. What we are dealing with is a man who is obviously attracted to women being in the female changing room, which is supposed to be a safe space.’ It is striking that every single time these women refer to Rose they use the he/him pronouns. They all see a clear difference between the transgender patients they’ve treated using preferred pronouns – and there have been a few – and Rose. ‘It’s about respect,’ says Lisa. ‘But there is no mutual respect with Rose. He’s not bothered. There is no consideration there. It’s like rocking up to a party you haven’t been invited to.’ It feels terribly wrong, too, that such an almighty fight is being left to ordinary nurses. Some of the most powerful people in the land – up to and including Health Secretary Wes Streeting – have paid lip service to them, yet still it has come down to these women putting their careers on the line. While they may have the backing of high-profile supporters such as J.K.Rowling (‘millions of women stand with the Darlington nurses,’ she has said), they do not have her financial cushion. As we sort the logistics for this interview, the madness of what they feel they have to do – ‘for our daughters, and for everyone’s daughters,’ says Annice, 55 – becomes apparent. These warrior women, as they have been dubbed, are all working mothers with varying shift patterns and giddying to-do lists. They have children to be picked up from nursery, grandchildren to mind. Accommodating others is their default setting, even off duty. Annice, who works full time, and has ‘a son, a daughter, a stepdaughter, five grandchildren and a mum who was widowed three years ago’, apologises for having to tweak the timings. She has to run an elderly neighbour to a hospital appointment. It is also obvious that these are the sort of women for whom making others feel comfortable is hardwired. There is a moment where I ask Lisa how many children she has – is it two or three? ‘Now I don’t want you to feel mortified when I tell you...’ she begins, before explaining she has two living sons, but lost her daughter to cancer when she was four years old. And yet these are the women who will walk into a courtroom, knowing they are going to be called uncaring bigots with nothing better to do than cause trouble. Of course they are terrified, but point out they are acting for so many others who can’t put their heads above the parapet – including the international nurses who dare not speak out for fear of losing their visas and right to work. Even so, they are acutely aware of how much is at risk. ‘Of course it’s a worry,’ says Bethany. ‘It’s my livelihood, my career and I love my job.’ You do wonder if the HR managers at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust ever called up Bethany’s file before they told her she needed re-educating. This is a woman with THREE degrees, including – yes, really – a master’s in disaster management. Women who are hardwired to make others feel comfortable She downplays the academia, joking about her convoluted path to the NHS wards: she studied environmental development at university, then a stint working on a malaria project in West Africa as part of her dissertation sparked a passion for nursing. ‘The plan was to kind of save the world, maybe work for Medecins Sans Frontieres, but that stopped when I married and had children,’ she laughs. The irony, though... the woman who could have had a career on the front line has indeed found herself on a battlefield, leading her own little army. She baulks at that suggestion, however. ‘I don’t see myself as any sort of warrior woman,’ she says. None of them do. Annice points out that before she was a nurse she used to be a store manager for Laura Ashley – hardly a training ground for ‘this sort of thing’. The tribunal expects to hear from 30 witnesses, these women – and Rose – included. Doubtless there will be debate about who said what and when, but what’s striking about the women’s accounts today is the sense that full conflict could have been avoided if they’d been listened to. It isn’t known exactly when Rose began to identify as a woman, but they had been vaguely aware of a transgender nurse working at the hospital for several years, but no one thought much of it. Lisa recalls her first encounter with Rose, in the summer of 2023. ‘I walked in to get changed one day and heard a male voice. At first, I thought I’d come in the wrong door, but then I remembered the transgender person.’ When she saw Rose, however, she was shocked. ‘I expected someone in women’s clothes, but although he has long hair he just wears jeans and a T-shirt. ‘I can’t stress this enough – he looks and dresses like a man.’ She was embarrassed to strip off in front of ‘this obvious man’, so she didn’t. ‘I rummaged about in my bag and pretended to be busy until he left.’ Her second encounter with Rose came some weeks later, after a busy shift. ‘It was as busy as I’d ever seen it, some people coming off shift, some going on. There were bodies – boobs and bums, basically – everywhere. Then I saw Rose just walking about chatting to everyone. ‘I’m not the sort who strips off anyway, and I remember thinking, “Well, I’m not getting undressed in front of you,” so gathered my things up and went to There were boobs and bums everywhere – and ‘Rose’ just walking about the toilet cubicle. I was in there for quite a while, but when I came out Rose was still there, walking about. I remember thinking, “How long does it take you to get changed?”’ Although she insists there was no confrontation, ‘I did detect a look... a sort of, “I dare you to say something”. But I just smiled and left.’ Lisa stresses that she went home that day thinking she was the problem and that she needed to be ‘more accepting’. Yet in their break-room, the nurses started nervously talking about how Rose’s presence was making them feel uncomfortable. Nor could the women ignore the fact that Rose had been open with colleagues about not taking female hormones through a desire to try for a baby. Mind-blowing. A major flag came when some of the international nurses ‘whose religion or culture forbids them from undressing in front of men who aren’t their husbands’ began to share their distress. Some began to wear to wear leggings and T-shirts under their clothes, to avoid ever being undressed when they changed into their uniforms. Bethany was the one who first spoke to superiors. She says: ‘I had a word with the sister on the ward, and she spoke to senior management, who said there was nothing they could do because of the Trust’s inclusiveness policy.’ At the same time, however, Bethany says she was taken aside by a clearly upset colleague. ‘She approached me cautiously, bless her. She said she was glad I’d raised it because she’d been abused as a child, by a man, and had been having panic attacks in the changing room because she had to get dressed with a man in there. ‘That was it for me. I thought, “This is wrong.”’ By now Bethany had sought legal advice, and was furiously reading up on the law around safeguarding. Word had swept through the hospital that the nurses were not accepting the status quo. Lisa recalls the relief. ‘I remember thinking, “Oh, it’s not just me then. Good.” That was when the ball started rolling, slowly.’ That was in August 2023, although the first formal complaint was made in April 2024, when the women felt they were out of other options. The women are being supported by the Christian Legal Centre. Chief Executive Andrea Williams says that accountability and justice in this case was ‘long overdue’, adding: ‘It is completely unacceptable that ideological radicals within NHS management have turned what should be a safe and supportive workplace into a cultural battleground.’ A spokesman for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘[We are] fully committed to supporting all members of our staff and ensuring a safe, respectful and inclusive working environment. We recognise legal proceedings are under way and we are engaging with the process in full accordance with employment law and the tribunal’s instructions. As this case is ongoing, it would not be appropriate to comment in detail.’ This case will pivot on how the Trust reacted to the women’s concerns, and questions will surely be asked about why this matter has dragged on for so long. Bethany insists that for the best part of a year they were ‘stonewalled, dismissed, made to feel that we just didn’t matter’. She adds: ‘All that was coming back was “inclusivity”. A particular low was when one HR manager said she wouldn’t have a problem undressing in front of a man, “because she was ex-Forces.”’ All accuse the Trust of heavyhandedness. There was a warning that speaking publicly about the case ‘would not be helpful’. Some developments were unnecessarily confrontational. The nurses turned up for work one day, to find a notice taped on the changing room door indicating it was now ‘inclusive’. They saw it as a slap-in-the-face confirmation that Rose’s rights trumped theirs. A request that separate changing facilities be made available to Rose was rejected. Instead the nurses were offered a small locker room – little more than a cupboard with one hook on the back of the door – to change in. Rose has not tried to use this room but ‘that’s not the point,’ argues Bethany. ‘It’s the policy that’s wrong. It’s not about individual rooms.’ Lisa steps in: ‘It probably doesn’t sound like it, but none of us wish Rose ill,’ she says. ‘The fault here lies with the Trust, which has allowed this situation to happen. The common sense thing would have been to do what we asked for in the first place – create a third changing space for transgender people.’ She chats for a minute about the layout of the hospital, suggesting where this could be. I ask about the size of the designated male changing room. ‘I’ve no idea,’ she says, surprised. ‘I’ve never been in it.’ Why would she? Article Name:If we wandered around the male consultants’ changing room in just our underwear claiming to be men and they felt threatened... well, we all know who’d win THAT battle Publication:The Mail on Sunday Author:By JENNY JOHNSTON Start Page:12 End Page:12")
Sunday Telegraph [4]
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