A huge round of applause for these incredible women.
The Darlington nurses went to a tribunal over a policy that allowed their transgender colleague, Rose Henderson, a biological male, to use a female changing room.
Although in what world they would have to make a stand on this, in this day and age, I don’t know.. Seems pretty obvious to me.
Now Rose had been using the facilities since 2019 as a student nurse, and the complaints only began in 2023.
Now I suspect before then, no one said anything sooner for fear of being ostracised or losing their job.
Rose Henderson had said the nurses were guilty of "direct discrimination and harassment that has created an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating and offensive environment, due to my protected characteristics".
So, the fact that Rose is transgender.. but what about the women’s protected characteristics?
The nurses' claim included allegations that Rose Henderson had harassed colleagues inside the changing room.
Nana Akua reacts to the tribunal ruling of the Darlington nurses
|GB NEWS
One of the nurses, Karen Dansen, claimed that Rose Henderson repeatedly asked her whether or not she was getting changed yet - and said this triggered a panic attack due to prior trauma. Rose denied the allegations and the tribunal rejected the claim.
The case closed with the employment tribunal finding that the nurses from Darlington Memorial Hospital suffered harassment from their NHS trust, with the "effect of violating the dignity of the claimants and creating a hostile, intimidating, humiliating and degrading environment for them".
Wow.. how did we get to this?
Where women are intimidated by their employer for expecting a duty of care that their female only spaces are respected and preserved?
It is done for the safety of women, that is not to say that Rose did anything wrong or that they were a threat, but lets take the case of a trans man, so a biological woman who was allegedly repeatedly raped at a psychiatric hospital by men.
Protecting female only spaces is nothing personal to Rose or any other biological male, but surprise surprise, women don’t want men in their female only changing spaces and given the supreme court ruling, I don’t get why some organisations are still dragging their heels on this one.