A NHS nurse was "forced out" of her job after she mocked the transgender flag online.
Amy Gallagher, a mental health nurse, is now looking to sue South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, where she worked.
The case, regarding two social media posts, has already cost her £10,000, with the nurse seeking to raise £2,500 ahead of a preliminary hearing this month.
Elliot Hammer of Branch Austin McCormick, who is known for representing the Free Speech Union in the case of Higgs v Farmor’s School, is representing Gallagher.
A NHS nurse was 'forced out' of her job after she mocked the transgender flag online
PA/ Amy GallagherHammer's past case confirmed the protection for gender-critical and related beliefs in the workplace.
It comes just weeks after the Supreme Court ruled that the terms “women” and “sex” in the Equality Act referred to biological women and biological sex.
The NHS nurse expressed her gender critical views in social media posts made online.
She replied to another user’s comment about “woke capitalism” with the word “Hell” above a picture of a Progress Pride flag co-branded with McDonald’s.
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Amy Gallagher expressed her gender critical views in social media posts made online
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Additionally, she criticised the concept of “non-binary” and “non-binary” art when she replied, “non-binary essentially means ugly”.
Gallagher believes the treatment she received from the NHS trust was “unlawful” leading to pressure to resign rather than return to her role after an investigation.
The investigation, which saw her move to a non-patient-facing role, lasted more than a year, with Gallagher claiming she experienced “hostility” towards her.
Gallagher explained, on a crowdfunding page to raise funds for her legal battle, that she was “forced into a non-patient-facing role” as a “hostile investigation” began.
Amy Gallagher wrote “Hell” above a picture of a Progress Pride flag co-branded with McDonald’s
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Gallagher believes the treatment she received from the NHS trust was 'unlawful'
PAShe said: "They asked me if I thought I had betrayed patient trust by criticising gender ideology and promoting gender critical and classical liberal ideas. They also questioned my nursing practice because I didn’t believe that a person could be ‘born in the wrong body’."
"Given the hostility I would have received from staff if I returned and the stress of the investigation, I had no choice but to resign. My criticism of gender ideology – my protected beliefs under the Equality Act 2010 – has cost me my job.
“I believe the NHS’s treatment of me is unlawful. As a result, I am taking them to an employment tribunal.
“My case will be a test case for whether the NHS takes seriously the Supreme Court’s decision that sex is binary and that a ‘transwoman’ is not a woman. People are either biological men or biological women. It is not transphobic or offensive to say so or to criticise gender ideology.”
The crowdfunding page, which was set up to raise money for legal fees, has raised £213,522.
