(LifeSiteNews) — On February 5, we covered the ongoing saga of Sandie Peggie, a U.K. nurse who was suspended from her job at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife, in January 2024 after she objected to a trans-identifying male doctor persistently using the female changing rooms.
This dispute has been unfolding in a 10-day employment tribunal hearing from February 3 to February 13, and Dr. Theodore Upton, who now identifies as “Beth,” has made a series of extraordinary claims.
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Peggie was accused by Upton of “bullying,” “harassment,” and “intimidation,” and he has used the tribunal to claim that he was Peggie’s victim. Conversely, Peggie is alleging that she faced discrimination and harassment due to being forced to share female changing rooms with Upton, who she insists – quite rightly – on referring to as a male. Upton has been appearing at the tribunal “presenting” as a woman, in female clothing, earrings, and long hair.
The tribunal heard that after Peggie “misgendered” him on Christmas Eve 2023, when she encountered him in the female changing room once again, Upton and another doctor considered reporting her to the Scottish police but decided against it to avoid a long court process. They did, however, believe that it “was a police matter.”
Upton told the tribunal that “anybody who’s had an interaction with the police regarding transphobic hate crime, it’s an unpleasant process that takes a long time and often leads nowhere.” He emphasized that “misgendering” can be inadvertent, rather than “a hate incident or a hate crime.”
During the proceedings, Upton bizarrely claimed that he is “biologically female,” and that biological sex has “no defined or agreed meaning in science.” Indeed, the question of biological truth is at the heart of the dispute. Peggie is asserting that because she was forced to use a changing room alongside Upton, she is a victim of sexual harassment.
“Biological sex is a nebulous term and it doesn’t really mean anything, because nobody can accurately or usefully define biological sex because pretty much every human I’m aware of is at least in part biological and many of them have a sex characteristic,” claimed Upton, who added:
I am quite aware of the impacts and implications of somebody’s biological makeup, and as a trans person I’m quite aware of the implications of someone’s biological makeup. There are very few people who don’t think understanding some aspect of somebody’s biology is important in some situation, but there is no agreed definition of biological sex. It’s a nebulous dog whistle.
When pressed on the specifics of what makes someone male or female, Upton went on to claim that both a man and a woman are not necessary to produce children and also stated that if a woman requested a female physician, he would treat that patient unless she specifically requested a different doctor.
According to the Scottish Daily Express, Upton’s comments have received significant backlash. “The Scottish Daily Express understands that at least a dozen complaints about his behaviour have been made to the General Medical Council, which has the power to revoke medical licenses,” they reported. “The watchdog has already come under fire for allowing Beth to classify himself as a woman on the register despite legally being a man and originally being registered under his birth name, Theodore.”
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Upton is insisting that the Peggie’s allegation of sexual harassment is incredibly damaging and focused on the implications of Peggie’s allegation for all trans-identifying people.
“Were it found that it was harassment, it would make it very difficult for me to continue working, as it would mean anytime I went to work, if I was (sic) to use a women’s changing room, I would be potentially at risk of being further accused of sexual harassment,” he told the tribunal. “It would de facto ban me and other trans women from using spaces that align our gender identity.”
It must be noted that is difficult to keep Upton’s competing claims straight: he has stated that he is “biologically female,” but also that he is a “trans woman.”
Upton and his legal counsel are attempting to frame the case as a matter of transgender identities being fundamentally on trial, stating that the consequences of the tribunal deciding in Peggie’s favor would be “difficult.” For once, they are correct. Peggie’s claim that she was sexually harassed is only valid if the tribunal recognizes Upton as a man and rejects his claim to be “biologically female.”
If Upton is a woman, Peggie’s case collapses. If Upton is a man, his case collapses. This presents the tribunal with a Gordian knot that is difficult to cut without either endorsing transgender claims or rejecting them.
