[user104658]

This is a political hot-potato of a case and also a bit of smoke and mirrors; I actually sympathise with both of the supposed "sides" here because I don't think they are the actual sides - the dispute isn't or shouldn't actually be between the two staff members - the tribunal is about policy.

In short - the issue and the fault lies with the policy or management that allowed the situation to arise and didn't adequately rectify it - probably on ideological grounds. So you can't take ideology entirely out of the equation - but - the issue (legally) is not with the doctor for doing something that was allowed within policy, and not with the staff member who took issue with the policy either.

That is also the facts of the case if you look into it by the way; the court dispute is between the affected nurse and the NHS service provider, not directly between the two parties. But that's not juicy news/political debate in the same way.

The pictures the media are using of the doctor are also misleading as they suggest it's a full bearded bloke presenting as a bloke but "identifying as female" using the changing facilities. They're actually using old photographs and the staff member in question does now (and did at the time of the complaint) "present as female". I'm not saying that particularly matters interms of whether or not other people should be comfortable with it. I do as always fully stand by the idea that women should have safe female-only facilities available. But nonetheless it's worth pointing out when the media is deliberately skewing something, even if only slightly.

This has become a football though, the facts and specifics of this individual case are going to be completely buried under the online discourse around the "issue in general".