The Free Speech Union is demanding the withdrawal of a ‘woke handbook’ being used by South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Trust, prohibiting empathy for female workers worried about sharing toilets with biological males. The Mail has more.
Thousands of workers at a hospital trust in the North East have been given a woke handbook which forbids team leaders using phrases such as “I understand your concerns” to anyone who complains about the issue.
The 38-page document, which applies to more than 8,300 doctors, nurses and support staff, also says that it is discriminatory not to use a trans or non-binary person’s preferred pronoun.
South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust has been accused of unlawfully discriminating against employees with gender-critical views, with critics calling it “a recipe for bullying women”.
The Free Speech Union also said the policy must be withdrawn.
Under the ‘Transitioning at Work and Gender Diversity Policy’, staff are told it is transphobic to “deliberately use the name a trans colleague had prior to transition”. They are also told it is offensive to ask a trans or non-binary person questions such as “which bathrooms do you use?”
The policy tells bosses that employees who identify as a different gender should be allowed to use alternative changing rooms and showers, even if they have no plans to medically transition.
It reads: “Managers must not make supportive comments such as ‘I understand your concerns’ to staff who, for example, complain about trans or non-binary colleagues having access to gendered spaces.
