A trans doctor felt “unsafe” following a nurse’s “hurtful and demeaning” remarks in the women’s changing room they were both using at work, an employment tribunal has heard.
The tribunal heard that nurse Sandie Peggie allegedly compared Dr Upton to a transgender rapist and had told the doctor “as a man (Dr Upton) couldn’t be in the changing room”.
Ms Peggie, who has 30 years service at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, has taken Dr Upton and Fife health board to a tribunal after being suspended following an incident on Christmas Eve 2023 in the hospital’s female changing area.
The nurse lodged a complaint of sexual harassment or harassment related to protected beliefs under the Equality Act 2010 regarding three incidents when she and Dr Upton were in the changing room together; indirect harassment; victimisation; and whistleblowing.
That came after Ms Peggie was suspended in January 2024 following Dr Upton’s allegation of bullying and harassment. Dr Upton, 29, began working in the hospital’s A&E department in August 2023.
The tribunal in Dundee heard how Dr Upton had began gender transition in January 2022, uses the pronouns she/her, and had been “fully out in all aspects of my life” since August 2022, including at work.
The doctor was giving evidence on the fourth day of the tribunal and explained that during a meeting with a hospital manager in August 2023, as part of a wider conversation they discussed trans identity and use of changing rooms.
The manager was told that Dr Upton had used the women’s changing room previously at work.
Dr Upton said: “As she understood it as my identity is as a woman, that was enough, that I should use the women’s changing facilities.”
The medic spoke about two incidents when Ms Peggie allegedly left the women’s changing room when they were both present and stood outside, which the doctor assumed was based on her trans identity.
A third incident took place on Christmas Eve 2023, Dr Upton told the tribunal, where Ms Peggie started a conversation when they were alone in the changing room.
Dr Upton said: “She told me this was the women’s changing room and she told me that it was inappropriate for me to be in there. “She said that she felt intimidated by my presence and that I couldn’t be in there.”
The doctor said Ms Peggie explained that others felt the same. Dr Upton apologised to the nurse for how she was feeling but told her “as a woman I’m allowed to use these changing rooms”, and said if Ms Peggie had a problem with that she should raise it formally.
Dr Upton added: “She repeated that I can’t be in this room and that I’m not a woman, that it’s not safe, that she understood I was going through some sort of process but as a man I couldn’t be in the changing room.
“I responded to her that I’m not a man and that I can be in this changing room.” The doctor said Ms Peggie asked what her chromosomes were and said it was “like the situation in prisons”.
Dr Upton believed this was a reference to trans rapist Isla Bryson – who was caged for eight years in 2023 for raping two women pre-transition and was initially held in a women’s prison before being transferred to the male estate – and Ms Peggie was implying the doctor’s “presence in the changing rooms to be analogous to that of a sexual predator”.
Asked by lawyer Jane Russell KC, who is representing the doctor and the health board, how this felt at the time, Dr Upton said: “Awful. Really, really upset. Really distressed.”
Dr Upton said the nurse’s questions were “hurtful and demeaning”, adding: “It was deeply uncomfortable and upsetting to have somebody saying such unpleasant and accusatory things to you. I felt unsafe and upset.”
Dr Upton felt “anxious and nervous” after incident on Christmas Eve and worried about running into Ms Peggie.
The doctor encountered Ms Peggie again in the changing room on her first day back after the incident, and told the tribunal: “I just picked up all of my stuff and left straight away.”
The medic claimed to have initially “took refuge” in a cupboard before getting changed in a toilet in order to not be “in a space” with Ms Peggie.
Dr Upton also claimed to have had a panic attack after hearing in April that Ms Peggie would be returning to work following her suspension, and had to be signed off sick for eight weeks.
Dr Upton said apart from the incidents with Ms Peggie her gender identity had generally been “respected” and people at work had been “really lovely”.
The doctor also said the public nature of the inquiry had given rise to numerous “hostile” articles and social media posts, saying: “I feel it’s very difficult for me to live my life normally at the moment. I feel incredibly anxious and and upset by all of it.”
Ms Peggie previously told the tribunal she was “embarrassed” due to menstruation when getting changed in the changing room on Christmas Eve 2023, and she insisted she was not drawing comparisons with a convicted rapist when she likened the situation to a “biological man in a women’s prison”.
She said: “I don’t have a problem with trans people and I didn’t have a problem with Beth until I found him in the female changing rooms.” The tribunal continues.