The situation began during what should have been a standard team meeting. In the informal chat before proceedings began, Karen, in response to another colleague, expressed support for the Olympic Committee’s decision to exclude male athletes from women’s sporting categories. Within minutes, she received a private message from the Trust’s Head of Equality and Inclusion, informing her that she had “upset a lot of people”.
The following day, she was told that her “attitude” towards transgender individuals needed to be discussed.
Three months later, Karen was called to a formal meeting with senior figures at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, where she was questioned about her views on trans people and her ability to provide them with compassionate care.
Believing the matter to have been resolved, Karen was then contacted by the Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing (QICN), which informed her that it had received a complaint about alleged “transphobia” and “bigotry”. She was instructed to delete her social media posts or risk losing her honorary title. The experience caused her significant and understandable distress.
At that point, Karen turned to the Free Speech Union for support.
The FSU wrote to QICN on her behalf, setting out her legally protected right to hold and express gender-critical beliefs under the Equality Act 2010. Shortly thereafter, QICN dropped its investigation and issued a full apology, acknowledging that there was “no case to answer” and that Karen had “done nothing wrong”.
Following a Subject Access Request (SAR), it emerged that the complaint had been made by a senior activist colleague, who had also disclosed information from a confidential internal process – despite that matter having been closed without any disciplinary action. This disclosure appeared to be a malicious attempt to damage Karen’s professional reputation and facilitate the removal of her honorary title.
Any repercussions for this nasty “senior activist colleague” who disclosed confidential information? If not, why not?
Mick Hartley 
Leave a comment