by Janet Murray, Telegraph
Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling on biological sex, a ‘repressive regime’ threatens to punish staff who challenge gender policies
When Charlotte* discovered that a male colleague was using the women’s changing room at work, she raised the matter with her manager at the NHS. The colleague identified as a woman and had begun using a female name, but female staff had not been consulted about the effect on their changing arrangements.
“The matron spoke to HR and asked: ‘Where should this person change? They’re identifying as a woman.’ And HR said: ‘Well, they change wherever they want. If they want to use the female changing room, that’s what we need to let them do,’” she says.
Nervous about confronting her colleague directly, Charlotte used the Freedom to Speak Up (FTSU) scheme – the NHS’s internal route for staff unable to raise concerns through normal channels – to press quietly for policy change. Nothing happened.
Then came the Supreme Court ruling in April 2025 that the words “sex”, “woman” and “man” in the Equality Act 2010 refer strictly to biological sex. Charlotte’s NHS trust withdrew its gender identification policy immediately. But it was only this August, 16 months later, that staff were finally instructed to use changing rooms corresponding to their biological sex or the available unisex facilities.
Despite all this, however, Charlotte’s male colleague is still getting undressed in the women’s changing room.
“Short of pointing him out personally, I don’t know what else I can do,” she says. “He passes well enough that some staff may not realise he is male. That includes [observant] Muslim women, who could be horrified to discover they had been changing alongside a man. None of the women were asked for their consent. But I’ve got to work with him. I don’t want to make it personal.”