Remember the old days? Oh, the old days weren't all great. Life expectancy was shorter, we didn't have all our modern technology, cars were clunkier and less reliable, and modern medicine — well, not all that long ago, my wife and youngest daughter would have both died at the latter's birth three months early, but now they're fine.
But people seemed to have a little more sense only a few short decades ago. For example, you could call a man a man without ending up in court. Speaking of which, there has been a ruling in, of all places, the United Kingdom that seems like a victory for good old horse sense over "woke" horse squeeze.
This seems like a victory that shouldn't have been necessary, but it is.
A nurse can refer to a transgender doctor she claims she was forced to get changed in front of a man at work in a legal victory.
Employment judge Sandy Kemp rejected an NHS request to impose an order on Sandie Peggie, which would have prevented her from using male pronouns or terms to refer to Beth Upton, a doctor who identifies as a transgender woman.
Despite NHS Fife insisting that both the “sex and gender” of Dr Upton is female and that allowing “misgendering” would amount to unlawful harassment, the judge said forcing Ms Peggie and her lawyers to use terms they consider “inaccurate” would be unfair.
Did you get that? NHS Fife, a National Health Services facility in Scotland, is taking one long step past the stupid line and insisting this person's "sex and gender" is female. This is tossing out the gender ideology claim that "sex" is what one has at conception, involving XY and XX chromosomes, while "gender" is whatever one insists it is. Maybe that was the bridge too far for Employment Judge Sandy Kemp, who ruled that free speech — and fact — are still a thing in the United Kingdom.
Ms Peggie believes that Dr Upton is male and therefore should not have been in female changing rooms in Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, where she says she encountered her on three occasions.
She is taking action against both NHS Fife and Dr Upton personally in a case which could have wider implications for how easily trans women can access female single-sex spaces.
If you'll allow me to belabor the obvious for just one moment: Dr. Upton, in case you missed it, is a man.
Note that the primary argument Nurse Peggie is making here is about personal changing spaces. These should be limited to the appropriate personnel, and by that, I mean men and women, respectively. Dr. Upton can "identify" as a canned haggis for all anyone cares, but when it comes time to change out of street clothes into scrubs or whatever Scottish doctors wear to work these days, Dr. Upton should use the changing room associated with his wedding tackle, which is apparently of the XY persuasion. And, yes, a person with that equipment is a man for these purposes, and there's an end to it.
Nurse Peggie shouldn't be subjected to this. No woman should, anywhere. And this case makes one wonder if things are turning around, and if people are starting to see through the extreme end of the "gender ideology" social contagion.
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One Scottish politician seems to have a good bead on things.
The health board has faced criticism for attempting to have the case held in secret, and then to restrict what Ms Peggie can say when giving evidence.
Following hearings last week, Joanna Cherry, lawyer and former SNP MP, said “we don’t have compelled speech in Scotland” and branded NHS Fife’s actions “a shocking waste of public money”.
I'd have to differ with the whole "compelled speech in Scotland," it seems like the United Kingdom as a whole isn't exactly a bastion of free speech, not when people are being hassled by the cops — excuse me, the constabulary — for complaining about Muslim rape gangs.
Here's the silver lining: This is an admittedly mild return to calling Scottish men "men." This is something that would have utterly baffled someone like the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who conquered much of Britain, then when his legions ran across the Scots, cried "For the love of Mars, no!" He then had a huge wall built to protect his Roman soldiers from Scottish madmen wearing blue paint and wielding spears.
And, honestly, Mr. Upton lives in a place where men — real, rugged, caber-tossing men — have been wearing skirts for hundreds of years. Why push the envelope now?
This seems appropriate.
