Scottish Government 'disgraceful' and 'in denial' over court ruling, says Sandie Peggie lawyer
Naomi Cunningham likened transgender ideology to a religious cult
The Scottish Government has behaved disgracefully and is in "denial" over the landmark Supreme Court gender ruling, the lawyer representing Sandie Peggie has said.
Naomi Cunningham likened transgender ideology to McCarthyism or a religious cult, and said it had become more deeply embedded in Scottish institutions than elsewhere in the UK.
She said the Supreme Court ruling was "a model of clarity and simplicity", but SNP ministers were dragging their feet because "this ideology has sunk its claws so deeply into our institutions that it's really hard to shake free of it".
Ms Cunningham is representing Sandie Peggie in her employment tribunal against NHS Fife, which is expected to reach a decision before the end of the year.
The nurse was suspended from her job at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy in 2024 after complaining about having to share a changing room with trans medic Dr Beth Upton.
Speaking to the BBC Scotcast podcast, Ms Cunningham, a employment lawyer with three decades of experience, said she knew the case would be legally significant, but not how big a story it was going to become.
"I've been completely taken by surprise by that, the way it's produced news stories day after day after day,” she said.
Earlier this year, judges on the Supreme Court ruled a woman is defined by biological sex under equality law.
The Scottish Government has previously said it accepts the ruling and is taking forward the work necessary to act on it. But critics have accused the Government of dragging its feet.
Ms Cunningham said the Government’s involvement in the issue had been “disgraceful”.
"There has been an astonishing level of misinformation and defiance in relation to the For Women Scotland judgement," she said.
She added: "They keep they're looking into it, they're working on it, they're waiting for guidance. They don't need to. The law is the law and we know what the law is now."
Ms Cunningham accused the Government of “denial”, adding: “I think this ideology has sunk its claws so deeply into our institutions that it’s really hard to shake free of it.”
Elsewhere, Ms Cunningham, who also chairs the Sex Matters campaign group, compared trans ideology to a religion or cult, adding: "But it's not the sort of religion that we are currently very used to in modern British society, because it's a viciously proselytising cult that brooks no dissent."
She likened it to the communist witch hunts spearheaded by US senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s.
“I've been saying for some years we are looking at the most extraordinary social phenomenon of my lifetime,” she said. “I've never seen anything like this. The only thing that I can compare it to, which is obviously not in my lifetime, is McCarthyism."
Asked how this comparison was valid, she said: "Well, a delusional belief and extraordinarily repressive, vicious attacks on people who were seen as dissenters."
Scottish Conservative equalities spokeswoman Tess White said: “This is a damning intervention that should shame John Swinney and the SNP Government into finally doing the right thing.
“These remarks from Sandie Peggie’s barrister will chime with mainstream Scots who are sick and tired of the SNP Government dragging their heels on implementing the clear verdict from the Supreme Court.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government has made clear it accepts the Supreme Court ruling and is taking forward the detailed work necessary.”
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