by Alice Lilley, Telegraph
Civil servants face being sanctioned if they fail to use the preferred name or gender of a transgender colleague, leaked Whitehall guidance has revealed.
The guidance, labelled “official sensitive” and created by the Cabinet Office, said calling a colleague by the incorrect pronouns could lead to them being disciplined.
The document outlines how fellow civil servants should treat transgender colleagues at work and includes warnings that “deliberate dead naming or misgendering to deny, mock or invalidate” a trans person would be investigated as potential misconduct.
It also includes guidance telling employees they “may not use facilities of your affirmed gender which are designated as single-sex”, The Times reported.
The leaked guidance said that it should be established whether a civil servant intentionally called someone by their pre-transition name or referred to them by the incorrect gender because of “a neurodivergent condition or memory issue”.
Ministers refused to publish the guidance that was updated after the Supreme Court ruled last year that sex in the Equality Act referred to biological sex.
The Cabinet Office also refused to share the draft policy with this newspaper.
Read also: Trans guidance for civil servants must stay secret, ministers say by Madeleine Ross, Telegraph
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