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Following recent victories in the cases of the Darlington Nurses and Jennifer Melle, Christian Concern and its legal arm The Christian Legal Centre (CLC) have launched a petition calling on the government to ensure that single-sex spaces, such as changing rooms, are indeed only available to one sex.
Melle was subject to a lengthy disciplinary process following an altercation with a transgender patient, who was also a convicted paedophile and prisoner, after she referred to the patient as “Mr” and was allegedly threatened and racially abused, being called a “N****r”. In January Melle, the disciplinary process was dropped and she was reinstated in post.
The Darlington Nurses case also involved a transgender nurse. When the female nurses complained about having to use the same changing rooms as a biological male they were told to “broaden their mindset” and be more “inclusive”. The transgender nurse in question reportedly offered to “educate” them on why they should be willing to get undressed in front of a transgender colleague.
In response the hospital provided the female nurses with a different space of questionable quality in which to get changed. A representative of the nurses, Bethany Hutchison, has visited the US to tell politicians there about the case and the state of freedom of speech in Britain.
Describing their petition, which is addressed to Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Women and Equalities Minister, Bridget Phillipson, Christian Concern state: “He [Streeting] promised in April last year that new policy would be rolled out ‘within weeks’ but so far has failed to act.”
It is asking people to sign the petition to “ensure that no woman is forced to change in the presence of a man”.
The petition says that up and down the country public institutions, especially the NHS, have failed to respect last year’s Supreme Court ruling that single-sex spaces are indeed meant only for people of that sex.
According to the petition, “Recent legal cases, including their Employment Tribunal victory, have made it clear that women’s changing spaces are supposed to be for females only.
“But policies at workplaces around the country, particularly in the NHS, are still forcing women to share these personal spaces with biological men.”
The petition is due to be delivered on 11 February.
