It was in 1992 that former Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson described the NHS as the “closest thing the English people have to a religion.” Fast forward to today and the NHS has itself become a cathedral to one of the most zealous creeds gripping the Western world. In the UK, the NHS is where gender ideology has caused the most harm, and where the pushback against it has been most powerful. The Cass Review and the subsequent banning of puberty blockers would arguably not have happened without NHS whistleblowers, staff and patients, speaking up and winning lawsuits. Even today, the fight for women’s access to single-sex spaces is most salient in the respective legal battles of NHS nurses, Sandie Peggie and the Darlington Five.
Gender ideology has, of course, spread like wildfire throughout many organisations and industries from policing, education, and the civil service to banking, advertisement, and entertainment. Accompanied by the literal planting of a Progress Pride Flag, the takeover was not subtle. It was not organic either. The flag doesn’t just indicate ideological capture — as if this wasn’t sinister enough — it is also usually indicative of a cynical ploy to obtain approval from activist organisations such as Stonewall; a high ranking on their workplace equality index ensures that ESG initiatives and targets are met, which ultimately impacts on investments. This all sounds very corporate doesn’t it? Display the flag of revolution and egalitarian progressivism, and stakeholders will view you more favourably. This unholy alliance is what has come to be known as woke capitalism. Nothing I have seen sums up this corrupt coalition more than the garish intersectional rainbow flag being flown outside McDonald’s with the McDonald’s logo layered over it. Hence why I decided to post this image on social media (twitter/X) and added the word “Hell” above it. It never crossed my mind that my employer, the NHS, would have an issue with me highlighting the vulgarity of one of the world’s biggest purveyor’s of junk food. Apparently, as a NHS nurse you are not allowed to criticise capitalist corporations, or ideologies that encourage homophobia and sexist stereotypes.
South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, where I was working as a nurse, knew I had a social media account and that I was speaking out about the negative impact of DEI in the NHS. I’ve been speaking out about Gender Ideology and Critical Race Theory in the NHS for several years now, and I was quite aware of the devastating impact of being “cancelled” for doing so. I had my first experience of it in 2023 when I was prevented from finishing my psychotherapy training at the now infamous Tavistock clinic for disagreeing with their “anti-racist” stance. I dared to express my view that people should not be judged on the colour of their skin and advocated for the colour-blind approach to race. This was in opposition to Critical Race Theory and ideas such as “white privilege” and “white fragility” which they consistently pushed. I was later deemed too “unsafe” to be with patients.
Unfortunately for me, South London and Maudsley had become “Stonewall Diversity Champions” in 2020 and had adopted a new transgender and non-binary policy. Consequently, when a transgender patient looked me up, did some offence archaeology, and then complained that my “Hell” tweet made them feel distressed, this was taken very seriously. My employer treated the subjective response of one individual as though it was a conclusive fact that I must have done something terribly wrong. I was then informed that some of my work colleagues, as a result of this patient’s complaint, no longer felt comfortable working with me. It was happening again. I was witnessing hysteria and groupthink again. I was being cancelled … again! I was swiftly stopped from working with patients and moved into an administrative role.
NHS trusts will only start to reject gender ideology and protect staff with gender critical views if it is too costly for them not to
To be clear, I didn’t criticise or target any individuals and did not express my views in the workplace. However, the NHS still decided that I needed to be put through disciplinary proceedings and meet with an external investigator. This meeting was farcical. I was told this would be a neutral interview but immediately there were insinuations that I was homophobic and transphobic. When I explained that I am simply against harms being done to children, and think it is important for the NHS to be following the recommendations of the Cass Report, I was looked at with suspicion. Extraordinarily, I was then asked if I thought I had betrayed patient trust by criticising gender ideology. They even went so far as to question my nursing practice because I didn’t accept the metaphysical claim that a person can be “born in the wrong body”.
I am bringing a lawsuit against them. My claim is discrimination on the basis of gender critical beliefs. The way I see it, NHS trusts will only start to reject gender ideology and protect staff with gender critical views if it is too costly for them not to. We now have the Supreme Court ruling that when the Equality Act refers to “sex” it means biological sex, not gender identity. The Supreme Court effectively said “no” to many of the ideas that the progressive pride flag represents. Additionally, there was also the recent case of Higgs vs Farmor’s School. Kristie Higgs, a school employee, was dismissed for gross misconduct after the school received a complaint about her Facebook posts criticising the way gender ideology was being taught in the school. The Court of Appeal ruled that she had been discriminated against and should not have lost her job. Both of these recent wins make it harder for the NHS to keep discriminating against and unfairly treating gender critical employees. That’s not to say they will not keep trying! Many staff in the NHS would likely look at you blankly if you mention the Cass Review or the Supreme Court ruling. They simply do not know about these big milestones and as a result the culture in the NHS remains the same. However, the more we are able to challenge this through legal cases, the more likely the NHS will have to wake up. The financial cost and the political pressure will be too strong. That’s why it is vital that we continue to fight back.
