For Women Scotland to intervene in Sandie Peggie tribunal

The National

4 days ago

Peggie, a nurse, was suspended after she complained about having to share a changing room with transgender medic Dr Beth Upton at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife, on Christmas Eve 2023.
She was placed on special leave after Dr Upton made an allegation of bullying and harassment, and cited concerns about 'patient care'.
Peggie then lodged a claim against NHS Fife and Dr Upton, citing the Equality Act 2010, including sexual harassment; harassment related to a protected belief; indirect discrimination; and victimisation.
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The tribunal has become a flash point for gender-critical campaigners and anti-trans groups, particularly following the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman earlier this year.
And now FWS, which took the case regarding the definition of a woman as 'biological sex' to the UK's highest court, have announced they have been granted permission to intervene in the ongoing tribunal.
Correspondence with the tribunal services was posted by the group on their website, and confirmed there had been no objections to their intervention.
It reads: 'Your email and letter of 25th and 28th of July 2025 were considered by the Tribunal, and the parties were offered an opportunity to comment.
'The claimant has no objection to your application under rule 36, and the respondents did not on the understanding that the intervention was purely to be in that written form.'
It added that FWS was given permission to intervene via a written letter.
'The Tribunal is not in a position to comment on the matters you raise until all submissions have been made by the parties, with those in written form and laterally orally on 1 and 2 September.'
FWS also published their submission where they raised 'concerns' about three exchanges that had taken place during the tribunal so far.
The first where Jane Russell KC, for NHS Fife, said that the Supreme Court judgment is an 'abstract case regarding representation on public boards in Scotland does not concern toilets etc'.
Another where the KC said Dr Upton 'is not a man, she is a transwoman', and added that she did not agree with the summary of FWS, and the third which was in a similar vein.
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In response, FWS wrote that the first exchange was 'not factually correct'.
They added: 'In the second and third exchanges, Ms Cunningham was factually correct in her statement that Dr Upton is a man under the Equality Act in accordance with the For Women Scotland ruling by the Supreme Court.
'This should not be a point in dispute by the court, nor regarded as contentious or a hypothesis to be tested.'
We previously told how Peggie allegedly told colleagues that she 'wanted to post bacon through the letterbox of a mosque'.