The Darlington nurses’ victory in the UK sends a message to Councils and the public service in NZ, too.
Our Councils and public service may prefer to pretend that what happens in the UK doesn’t matter in NZ, but they’d be wrong.
When the news came through that the UK Darlington nurses had won their case against their employer – i.e. County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust - who allowed a male colleague who says he’s a woman to use female nurses’ changing rooms, it was very welcome news indeed.
The Employment Tribunal ruling confirmed that allowing men into women’s spaces is unlawful, and violates the rights of female staff. The Trust tried to claim that the policy was lawful, but the Tribunal disagreed. It found that the Darlington Memorial Hospital, where the nurses worked, violated the dignity of the nurses by creating “a hostile, humiliating and degrading environment”. This was compounded by the NHS Foundation Trust not taking seriously the nurses’ concerns about the Trust’s ‘Transition in the Workplace’ policy.
It took a bit over two years, and an incredible amount of courage and stoicism for these eight female nurses to see their complaint about being forced to share their changing room with a male through to the end, although many more female staff than these eight were also unhappy with the situation. The nurses held their ground in the face of pressure and hostile reactions by their employer, Human Resources, other colleagues, neo-rainbow and trans groups, and being completely abandoned by their trans-captured nurses’ union.
In the end, the Christian Legal Centre stepped up for the Darlington nurses, and went into bat for them.¹ Naturally, that drew condemnation, as well.
I don’t know what policies our hospitals here in NZ have around allowing men who say they’re women to use female changing rooms, but Employment NZ says workplaces “should” allow it.² And, the Human Rights Commission also chooses to deceptively phrase its advice in such a way that it sounds mandatory, or at least close to it.³ It’s not mandatory, but the NZ nurses’ union, the NZNO, is considered to be fully supportive of the advice of Employment NZ and the Human Rights Commission, and will not back any female nurses who do not want to share female-only facilities with men who say they’re women. Like the UK, too many of our organisations in NZ are rotten with trans-capture, and make up policies based purely on trans’ wants, and ignore women’s far more credible needs.
That, of course, includes our city and town Councils. I have written previously about the Christchurch City Council’s policies in this regard, but they are by no means alone. Their, and others, philosophy seems to be that unless any woman or girl gets raped or murdered by a man who says he’s a woman in a female space, then there’s nothing really to be too concerned about with allowing men who say they’re women into female spaces. Until such a thing happens, any women or girl who is uncomfortable in any way with a man in what should be a female-only space has to remove herself. The man gets to stay. To be honest, as I mentioned, our organisations are so rotten with trans-capture that I don’t even know if rape or murder would be enough for them to change their policies, unless it became prolific. Only then might they concede that there’s a good reason for single-sex spaces, followed by a ‘sorry about that’ for any harm that might have been caused while they blithely allowed men into women’s spaces.
I’m not holding my breath that the decent thing will be done even under dire circumstances, though. Trans lobby groups have done such a good number on our institutions and organisations, that nothing seems to budge their determination to retain policies which favour men who say they’re women over actual women. We’ve exhausted all avenues in our attempts to show the indisputable rationale - which everyone once knew - behind having single-sex spaces, with no results. They are so wedded to trans ideology, that I’m convinced they can only be separated from it by legal force, and the threat of punishment for non-compliance.
Which is why we take heart at hearing about the successes from overseas, such as that which the Darlington nurses had. These wins are showing us the way, showing us that it can be done, and how it can be done. Even though each country has different legislation, we learn what makes the cases strong. It’s no secret that our judiciary and Tribunals here in NZ do have a number of the trans-captured amongst them, but it must be increasingly evident even to them that legal cases for allowing men who say they’re women into female spaces are decreasingly going the way of trans ideology. The fallback of saying that this practise is ‘internationally accepted’ is crumbling.
Of course, those wedded to trans ideology are not going to divorce it quietly. Others who fall into the ‘go-along’ category will let it go when it no longer suits them to go along, and then pretend they never really went along with it. I suspect the Christchurch City Council will be amongst the former diehards. It’s true that legal challenges are costly, but the CCC’s day of reckoning will come, even if we don’t yet know the ‘when’ of it, and are still learning the ‘how’ of it.
The Women’s Rights Party more writes about the NZ situation of allowing men into women’s spaces at work - Men should be banned from using women’s changing rooms at work.
²https://www.employment.govt.nz/starting-employment/hiring/discrimination-against-transgender-people
³https://tikatangata.org.nz/resources-and-support/frequently-asked-questions
Surely any decent normal male would not be in agreeance with allowing males into female areas. That speaks volumes about what type of males are who are in a position to say that they can.
Would we even know if a man claiming to be a woman raped a real woman in a supposedly women-only space? Most rapes go unreported but if one was reported, would our trans-captured media tell us? Have such rapes already happened? We do know that our mainstream media isn’t interested in asking questions. When I looked at the prison stats Speak up For Women published, I thought it’s unlikely that there haven’t been any assaults/rapes.