Nurses win battle to name trans colleague who was in their changing room

Telegraph

27-02-2025

NHS nurses have won a legal battle to name a transgender colleague who used their female changing room.
Rose Henderson can be named for the first time after a judge threw out an application for anonymity from the nurse.
Sharon Langridge, an employment judge, ruled last week that there was no evidence for claims that reporting the full name would cause harm.
The nurse, who was born male, lives as a woman but does not have a gender recognition certificate (GRC) and therefore remains a man under the law, a previous hearing was told.
Eight nurses at Darlington Memorial Hospital are suing the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, their employer, for sexual discrimination and sexual harassment after Henderson was allowed to use a female changing room.
'Potential risk' of harm
At a preliminary hearing last month, Simon Cheetham KC, representing the trust, applied for an order to be made that would prevent the reporting of Henderson's surname because of the 'potential risk' of harm.
In a witness statement, Henderson said 'horrible' comments made online made 'me scared for my own safety'.
The statement also cited media coverage about the case, which it was claimed had been 'amplified by extremely high profile individuals' such as JK Rowling.
'I fear that should my anonymity not be protected, this leaves me open to being targeted directly by people online, or potentially in person,' the witness statement read.
Bruno Quintavalle, counsel for the nurses, opposed the anonymity application, arguing that it would prevent the nurses from being able 'to tell their own story'.
'It is the claimants' position… that far from being reduced to a state of fear and concern about his psychological or physical integrity, Rose has responded to the initiation of proceedings by trying to intimidate the nurses,' he said.
'The statements are unsupported'
Judge Langridge last week ruled that 'no specific instances of the 'horrible comments' are set out in the witness statement, and no particular events are identified in support of the feeling of being at risk'.
'The statements are unsupported by anything concrete at all,' she said in her judgement.
Judge Langridge added: 'Overall, I do not doubt the sincerity of RH's apprehension about being named in the media and potentially subjected to hostile attention, but it cannot be said that her evidence presents a clear and cogent case for departing from the principle of open justice.
'Some of the anxiety that RH expresses is likely already to be present in her life by the mere existence of the proceedings.'
A full employment tribunal hearing is expected to begin on June 16 at Newcastle Employment Tribunal.
'Road to full justice'
Speaking after the ruling, Bethany Hutchison, president of the Darlington Nursing Union (DNU), said the decision was 'an important win on the road to full justice'.
'This is not about Rose and is much bigger than Rose,' she said. 'This is about an untenable Stonewall inspired policy used across the NHS which allows men to use female changing rooms if they merely 'identify' as a woman.
'This policy puts women at risk, and yet no one in the NHS or the government appears able or prepared to do anything about it, so we have to fight this battle instead.'
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: 'Open Justice is a crucial legal principle, especially in such a high-profile case which has huge ongoing public debate, and engagement from the highest levels of government.
'This case is about truth, reality and whether a man can be a woman just because he says so. If we suppress access to open justice and media scrutiny on this case, we suppress the truth.'