A Week in the War on Women: Monday 20th January – Sunday 26th January

Monday 20th January – A Room of One’s Own

We have written previously about the group of courageous nurses who are taking legal action against the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust after being robbed of their single sex changing facilities.

The nurses are all employed at Darlington Memorial Hospital. Since August 2023 they have been forced to share their changing room with a 26-year-old trans-identified male who calls himself ‘Rose’. By his own admission, ‘Rose’ does not take cross-sex hormones as he and his female partner are trying to conceive a child. He does not have a GRC and remains legally male. Apparently, his one concession to his self-declared ‘gendered identity’ is long hair. But the NHS trust’s policy allows its staff to self-identify into whichever bathroom and changing room they choose.

The nurses say that ‘Rose’ stares openly at their breasts when they are in a state of undress, walks around in his boxer shorts and lingers in their changing room ‘longer than necessary’. The changing room is open plan and does not have individual changing cubicles so the women have no escape from ‘Rose’ when they are undressing Obviously, they have found this situation ‘intimidating and upsetting’.

One nurse spoke to The Daily Mail about being forced to share a locker room with ‘Rose’. Sexually abused as a child, this woman has PTSD and struggles to be alone around males. She described an incident during which ‘Rose’ repeatedly asked her if she was going to get undressed, leaving her upset and traumatised. Another nurse told the paper that many of her colleagues are women from different faiths and cultures and, for them, undressing in the presence of a male is impossible.

When the nurses tried to complain to the hospital’s management about this intolerable situation, they were ignored. However, they did suddenly find themselves in an ‘impromptu meeting’ at which an HR manager told them they ‘need to compromise’. They were instructed by HR to ‘be more inclusive’, ‘broaden their mindset’ and ‘be educated and attend training’. Following this offensive and dismissive response, the nurses had no choice but to instigate legal proceedings against County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.

This week, a preliminary hearing at Newcastle Employment Tribunal heard that ‘Rose’ has engaged in ‘confrontational behaviour in the hospital’ and is trying to intimidate the nurses who’ve brought the case.

Bruno Quintavalle, the nurses’ legal counsel, told the tribunal, “It is the claimants’ position… that far from being reduced to a state of fear and concern about his psychological or physical integrity, Rose has responded to the initiation of proceedings by trying to intimidate the nurses by engaging in confrontational behaviour in the hospital in situations where he would not usually be expected to be. This suggests that far from being in a state of shock, Rose is fully on top of things”.

Bethany Hutchison, one of the Darlington nurses, gave a witness statement that they had ‘started to feel quite intimidated’ by Rose’s behaviour. She added that, although ‘Rose’ is a theatre nurse, he was frequenting the day surgery ward where the claimants worked. Before the nurses raised their concerns, Rose was ‘rarely seen outside of theatres’. Another of the nurses, Karen Danson, gave a witness statement in which she described seeing ‘Rose’ in the hospital canteen. “On those occasions, Rose is always staring and trying to intimidate us all”, she said.

Simon Cheetham KC, who represents the NHS trust, applied for an order to be made to prevent the reporting of Rose’s surname. He did not dispute the allegations of intimidatory behaviour being made against ‘Rose’.

Employment judge, Sharon Langridge, reserved her decision on the application and said she would issue it in writing within the next few weeks.

The tribunal is scheduled to begin on 16th June.

Also Today – Victorian Values

The Lesbian Action Group (LAG) is a sex realist lesbian organisation based in Victoria, Australia. In August 2023, the group’s organisers applied to host a lesbian event at the state’s new pride centre in St. Kilda to celebrate International Lesbian Day in October. Not unreasonably, the group sought an exemption from the Australian Human Rights Commission to exclude heterosexual people and males from the event. The exclusion of males included those males who ‘identify as women’.

The Victorian Pride Centre rejected the group’s application. A letter to organisers from CEO, Justine Dalla Riva, stated: “Your request to hold an event that excludes and seeks to legally discriminate against people on the bases of their sex, sexuality and gender is inconsistent with the Pride Centre’s purpose”.

The Pride Centre, the first of its kind in Australia, was built specifically for the use of LGBTQ people. Of course, it is happy to host trans-only events. But lesbians, it seems, cannot be allowed their own space in which to congregate.

Consequently, the LAG applied to the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) for a 5-year exemption. The group planned to host their event for International Lesbian Day at an alternative venue and then continue to hold regular female-only lesbian events during the exemption period.

The AHRC decreed that the LAG does not have the right to hold lesbian events which exclude males. The preliminary decision rejected the LAG’s exemption application. The AHRC claimed that a lesbian-only event open only to females would constitute ‘unlawful discrimination’ on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The AHRC seems to believe that being a woman is an ‘experience’ in which males can participate: “The Commission is not persuaded that it is appropriate or reasonable to make distinctions between women based on their cisgender or transgender experience.”

Further reasons given for rejecting the application appear to include a) don’t be mean to trans ladies and b) you won’t stop males forcing their way in anyway.

The LAG decided to appeal this decision and in September took their case to Australia’s Administrative Appeals Tribunal (now known as the Administrative Review Tribunal).

This week, on Monday 20th January, the tribunal handed down its decision. It upholds the original AHRC ruling and denies lesbians the right to meet publicly without the presence of trans-identified males.

In his judgement Member Stewart Fenwick wrote, “In summary, the Applicants identify as a discrete minority… identified by their sex and sexual orientation, characteristics that afford them the protection of the SDA. They seek to actively discriminate against another group… identifiable by their gender identity, a characteristic also protected under the SDA. I have determined that endorsing overt acts of discrimination cannot be the intended effect of the s 44 exemption power in the SDA”.

Some people are more equal than others in Australia, it seems.

Tuesday 21st January – This Never Happens

Hollie Hanson, a 26 year old female from Knottingley in West Yorkshire, was an internet ‘influencer’ with tens of thousands of TikTok followers. For years Hanson shared photos of herself and her partner, Lauren, creating an illusion of a seemingly loved-up and extremely happy couple. However, the reality was quite different with Hanson subjecting to Lauren to years of physical and emotional abuse.

Between 2020 and 2024, Lauren suffered Hanson’s jealousy and controlling behaviour. She was banned from using her phone, monitored while using social media, prevented from contacting her friends and family and was also restricted financially with Hanson controlling their joint bank account. In January 2020, Hanson attacked Lauren with a vodka bottle, hitting her in the head and rendering her unconscious before then slashing her leg. On another occasion, Hanson poured fuel over Lauren before setting the liquid alight with a cigarette, causing Lauren’s boots to catch fire.

Hanson’s abusive behaviour finally came to light last September when she was caught on camera strangling Lauren and repeatedly threatening to kill her. She had attacked Lauren in a jealous rage after a night out, pinning her to the bed with a hand around her throat. When a male friend called round to check on Lauren later that night, Hanson physically assaulted him too, grabbing him around the neck by his neck chain. Lauren had secretly recorded being strangled by Hanson on her mobile phone and subsequently handed the footage to West Yorkshire Police.

Hanson admitted a number of charges including intentional strangulation, engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour in an intimate relationship towards a female partner, and common assault. This week, at Leeds Crown Court, she was sentenced to seven years, including three on licence, and was made the subject of an indefinite restraining order.

In a victim impact statement read in court, Lauren said of Hanson, “She’s ruined me as a person… The realisation is that Hollie Hanson is my abuser. I worry that I will never get over the pain and hurt she’s caused me. I hope to never set eyes on her again”.

As reported by The Daily Mail and The Sun, the court was told that Hanson now identifies as transgender and demands he/him and they/them pronouns. Since being on remand at HMP New Hall women’s prison, Hanson has applied for a gender recognition certificate.

However, it seems that very few other media outlets have chosen to mention Hanson’s transgender identity in their reporting on her conviction. BBC News, neglecting to mention Hanson’s trans status, made a reference to ‘LGBTQ+ relationships’ but carefully avoided referring to Hanson with sexed pronouns. The Wakefield Express and The Yorkshire Evening Post did exactly the same. Leeds Live also failed to mention Hanson’s transgender identity and referred to her with they/them pronouns. The Manchester Evening News similarly neglected to mention that Hanson identifies as trans and its article referred to her with female pronouns.

Even the West Yorkshire Police obfuscated the facts of the case by concealing Hanson’s current trans status and by carefully avoiding the use of sexed pronouns.

One wonders how prominent her trans status might have been had Hanson been the victim, not the perpetrator, in this story.

Wednesday 22nd January – And Nothing But The Truth

We have reported previously on nurse, Sandie Peggie, who works in the A&E department at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy and who objected to sharing the female-only changing room with a trans-identified male colleague, Dr Beth Upton. It is reported that Dr Upton began ‘identifying as a woman’ in 2022, the same year he qualified as a doctor. He started working at the A&E department of Victoria Hospital in August 2023.

The General Medical Council (GMC) erroneously records him as ‘female’ on its website.

As with many other NHS bodies, NHS Fife’s policy allows staff members to use bathrooms and changing rooms etc in accordance with their self-declared ‘gender identity’ rather than their sex. Sandie Peggie was forced to share the women’s changing rooms with Dr Upton on three separate occasions. On the third occasion, late at night on 24th December 2023, Ms Peggie was alone with Dr Upton. He started to take off his clothes and it is reported that the pair ‘exchanged words’.

Following this incident, Dr Upton made a formal complaint against Sandie Peggie, accusing her of bullying him and claiming that he’d experienced a ‘hate incident’. Peggie was immediately placed on ‘special leave’. In January 2024, she was suspended from work pending an investigation into her “Alleged unwanted behaviours”towards another member of staff. Following the intervention of her solicitor, she returned to work in April 2024 but NHS Fife then instigated disciplinary proceedings against her.

Peggie’s solicitors subsequently began legal proceedings against NHS Fife and Dr Beth Upton himself, alleging multiple breaches of the Equality Act 2010. In a very unusual move, both the NHS and Dr Upton made formal applications for the case to be heard in private and for the names of the individuals and the hospital department involved to be concealed. Their application was denied.

The lawyer acting for NHS Fife and Dr Upton tried to compel Sandie Peggie to kowtow to Dr Upton’s ‘gender identity’. Jane Russell requested that employment judge, Sandy Kemp, impose an order to prevent Ms Peggie and her legal team from referring to Dr Upton with male pronouns.

Ms Russell claimed that the ‘gratuitous misgendering’ of Dr Upton by Ms Peggie and her lawyers has caused ‘pain’ and ‘harm’ to her client and she accused them of “Contributing to a climate of hostility and hatred towards trans people”. She demanded that they should refer to Dr Upton in ‘neutral’ terms in future hearings. Ms Russell said that using preferred pronouns is ‘simply a matter of courtesy’ and claimed that allowing Ms Peggie, her lawyers and witnesses to refer to Dr Upton with male pronouns would amount to ‘state-sanctioned harassment’.

She told the court, “I’m afraid the way the claimant and her representatives are conducting this case is a form of activism, that in my submission, is contributing to a climate of hostility and hatred towards trans people, which is actively harmful and has actively harmed the second respondent. It shouldn’t be allowed. It is simply not acceptable for a party to litigation and a witness to face harassment in the course of a tribunal hearing… Certainly, I would feel very uncomfortable being a party to state-sanctioned harassment, and I urge you not to go down that path”.

Ms Peggie’s lawyers branded the attempt to restrict their own language as ‘wholly unreasonable’. Naomi Cunningham, representing Ms Peggie, said, “This question of whether Dr Upton is a woman, in any meaningful or salient sense, is right at the heart of the claimant’s case. The claimant says he’s not a woman, he’s a man, and that’s why he shouldn’t have been in the female changing rooms. The claimant can’t put her case, clearly and forcefully, without using correct-sex pronouns, as opposed to preferred pronouns. We don’t seek to police Ms Russell’s language, they are entitled if they wish to use preferred pronouns, even if they are counter-factual”.

Later in the week, Judge Sandy Kemp ruled in favour of Ms Peggie and allowed the use of male pronouns for Dr Upton in court. However, he said that he realised it may be ‘painful and distressing’ for Dr Upton to be described as a man and warned that he “Will not hesitate to intervene if male pronouns are used gratuitously and offensively on a repeated basis with no good reason to do so”.

There is every good reason to use male pronouns for Dr Upton at all times; he’s a man.

The full 10-day tribunal is due to begin on 3rd February. Meanwhile, it is understood that Dr Upton is still being allowed to use the female-only changing room at Victoria Hospital.

Thursday 23rd January – Leave Them Kids Alone

This week the Women and Equalities Select Committee (WESC) held a one-off hearing on the ‘Evidence base on the safety and effectiveness of puberty blockers’. As Hannah Barnes points out, it is a glaring omission that Dr Hilary Cass was not invited to give evidence. Instead, a ‘bizarre choice of witnesses’ were called to appear.

The first witness was Professor Gary Butler, a paediatric endocrinologist and former clinical director of the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS). He has previously criticised the Cass Review and its recommendations and claimed that GIDS has been the subject of lies in the media. The second witness was Professor Simona Giordano, a bioethicist and long-time propagandist for puberty blockers who sits on the ethics board of the World Professional Transgender Health Association (WPATH). The third speaker was Oxford Professor Emeritus, Ashley Grossman, who has never worked with gender-distressed children nor contributed to any of the research in this area.

Writing in Unherd, Josephine Bartosch, pointed out, “These expert witnesses are every bit as blinkered by their belief in gender ideology as the trans activists on TikTok, only with more clout. Their commitment to the idea that some children are innately trans, and that their cross-sex identity ought to be affirmed with drugs, shone through every answer”.

Professor Butler dismissed ‘anxiety around bone density’ and maintained that puberty blockers are ‘recognised as a reversible treatment’. This is entirely contradicted by NHS guidance. Butler also tried to claim that he was aware of hundreds of young patients across the country who had been prescribed puberty blockers without ill effects. However, this claim is completely at odds with the findings of the Cass Review. Professor Simona Giordano denied knowing of any studies showing that puberty blockers reduce bone density or have a psychological impact and she described the restriction of the use of such drugs as ‘draconian’.

Sarah Owen, the committee’s Labour chair, allowed such obviously erroneous claims to pass without challenge and Hannah Barnes describes the questions put to the ‘expert’ witnesses by the WESC members as ‘anachronistic and ignorant’. Only Rosie Duffield MP used what little time she was given to push back against the erroneous assertions being made by the supposed ‘experts’.

As Hannah Barnes states, “With this pointless, error-strewn hearing… the only thing the WESC has succeeded in is creating the impression that it seeks to undermine the Cass Review… The public deserves better than this committee”.

Keira Bell attended the WESC hearing to listen to what was said about the so-called ‘gender affirming’ medical treatment that caused her so much harm. Keira made a statement about what she heard which was published by Transgender Trend.

“It is now clearer than before that these ‘experts’ – one of whom was in charge of my treatment – do not have children’s wellbeing as their priority. I found it deeply troubling and hurtful to hear their lack of emotion in this matter, the denial of the lack of evidence and their ideologically driven spiel. I am sickened by the continuous lies and evasion of facts and accountability.”

Only two days after the ideology-driven WESC session took place, The Times reported that the number of children in England diagnosed with gender dysphoria has risen 50-fold over the past decade.

Our politicians really need to start joining the dots.

Friday 24th January – Men Make The Best Women

We have written previously about trans-identified male, Karla Sofía (formerly Carlos) Gascón. He’s a 52-year-old Spanish actor in a heterosexual marriage and has fathered a teenage daughter. He began ‘identifying as a woman’ in his late 40s.

In 2020, Gascón underwent cosmetic surgery to feminise his appearance and give him prosthetic breasts. Shortly after his surgery, he gave media interviews about his desire for even bigger breasts and laughing that his wife is jealous of his pert new bosom. He added that he has copied his teenage daughter’s hairstyle.

For his performance as a trans-identified character in the musical, Emilia Pérez, Gascón has already won a number of prestigious film industry awards supposedly intended for female actors. In the past year he was named Global Breakout Actress of the Year at the Ischia Global Film & Music Festival, lifted the Best Actress trophy at the European Film Awards, scooped an award at Elle’s Women in Hollywood Celebration and won the International Actress trophy at Glamour Spain’s Women of the Year Awards. In May last year, Gascón won the coveted Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Following the Cannes Film Festival, Gascón instigated legal proceedings against French politician, Marion Maréchal, for describing him as a man. Reacting to Gascón’s win, Maréchal posted on X/Twitter, “So a man has won best actress. Progress for the left means the erasure of women and mothers.” Gascón responded by filing a legal complaint against Maréchal for a supposed ‘sexist insult’ due to his ‘gender identity’.

In recent weeks he has been nominated for much-coveted Golden Globe and BAFTA awards, both in the Best Actress category.

And now he has been nominated for the leading actress prize at the forthcoming Oscars ceremony, yet again stealing an opportunity which was intended for a woman.

Saturday 25th January – This Never Happens

Oliver Smith is a 21-year-old man who ‘identifies as transgender’ and uses they/them pronouns. He’s also a convicted sex offender who kidnapped, threatened and raped a 14-year-old schoolgirl.

In 2023, Smith was convicted of voyeurism and of possessing child sexual abuse images but he escaped a custodial sentence. In September 2024, he raped a 14-year-old girl at knifepoint. He laid in wait for her in woodland in Bordon, Hampshire, and then kidnapped her as she walked home from school. He held a box-cutter blade to her throat, threatened to stab her, and then forced her into a secluded spot in the woods where he raped her. After her horrific 45 minute ordeal, Smith forced the terrified girl to wash herself with river water to destroy the evidence of his crime.

Although Smith tried escaping by taking a train to a remote part of Scotland, he was arrested the day after the attack.

In November 2024, Smith appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court and pleaded guilty to a number of offences including rape, attempted rape, false imprisonment, threatening with a blade, and breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

This week, Smith was in court again for sentencing. Handing down a prison sentence of 12 years, Judge James Newton-Price KC described Smith as ‘calculated and predatory’ and spoke of the long-term harm caused to his traumatised victim.

In reporting on this story, the BBC deferred to Oliver Smith’s preferred pronouns and referred to him as they/them throughout its article. In its press release about Smith’s sentencing, the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Police did the same. Our national broadcaster and our police force – publicly funded bodies – are bending an obsequious knee to the ‘gender identity’ of a convicted paedophile who raped a 14-year-old girl with a blade at her throat.

What a time to be alive.

Sunday 26th January – I Can’t Believe It’s Not Satire

Formerly known as Alan Baker, 36-year-old trans-identified male, Alexandria Stewart, is a convicted murderer. When he was 25 years old, Baker killed a 36-year-old father of two, John Weir, stabbing him over sixteen times. The pair had met on a dating site and Baker invited Weir to his home. Only hours later, Weir was brutally stabbed to death. In August 2013, Baker was convicted of Weir’s murder and of trying to cover up his senseless crime.

Sentencing him to life imprisonment at the High Court in Glasgow, Judge Lord Boyd told Baker was told he must serve at least 19 years in jail before being eligible for parole and said he was guilty of a ‘wicked and brutal’ attack. “As for the reason for this, it is only you who will know”, said Lord Boyd. “John Weir did nothing which remotely justified what happened to him that night”.

According to the BBC, Baker grinned as he was led away in handcuffs to his cell.

Stewart now ‘identifies as a woman’. Despite not having undergone any physical alteration other than some facial feminisation (ie his male genitalia remains intact) he was moved to the female estate to serve his sentence and has been accommodated in the women’s wing of HMP Greenock since 2016. According to The Daily Record, Stewart had a relationship with another trans-identified male inmate, Sophie Eastwood, when the pair were both being held in Greenock. In 2021 it was reported that Stewart began a sexual relationship with a female Greenock inmate, Nyomi Fee, who was convicted of abusing and killing her own two-year-old stepson.

Earlier this week, The Telegraph reported that Baker has taken legal action against a female prisoner at HMP Greenock, claiming he is the victim of ‘misgendering’ and ‘transphobic abuse’. The trial is currently underway.

Appearing in Greenock Sheriff Court this week, Baker revealed that he underwent expensive feminising cosmetic surgery while incarcerated.

According to The Daily Record, in 2019, Stewart requested a tracheal shave which was approved by prison authorities. A tracheal shave is a procedure which reduces the size of the adam’s apple and is carried out for purely aesthetic reasons. It is not known whether the tax-payer or Baker himself shouldered the cost of this ‘gender affirming’ surgery. Under prison regulations, Baker could have paid privately for the surgery which costs around £7,000. It is available via the NHS but the nearest services to HMP Greenock are in Newcastle, 170 miles away, and in Nottingham, over 300 miles away.

Either way, it seems obvious that Baker’s surgery will have taken place off-site so he will have required prisoner transport provided by GeoAmey and must have been accompanied by prison staff. A very expensive exercise all round.

Tess White MSP, Scottish Conservative shadow equalities minister, commented, “Taxpayers will be outraged if it emerges that public money was used to fund cosmetic surgery for a convicted murderer… SNP ministers must come clean about who paid for this operation and whether this dangerous criminal was allowed to travel and stay overnight for it.”

Susan Smith of For Women Scotland told The Daily Record, “We are very disturbed to learn that a dangerous prisoner was allowed out to seek unnecessary cosmetic surgery. Yet again, we see favourable double standards are applied to prisoners who adopt a trans identity. We doubt that a female murderer would be allowed day release for botox or a nose job… At a time when resources are stretched both for prison and health services, this looks like a profligate indulgence of a manipulative man”.

Quite.

See you next week.

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This article (A Week in the War on Women: Monday 20th January – Sunday 26th January) was created and published by Free Speech Backlash and is republished here under “Fair Use”