Nurses and the nursing profession largely caved in disgracefully over Covid-19 and, moreover, turned on anyone—like yours truly and the remarkable Dr Niall McCrae—who dared to speak out against the prevailing narrative. Probably the profession saw its chance to bask in the ‘Save the NHS’ limelight, milk the sympathy of the public and seek a substantial pay rise. Anyone who questioned the severity of the coronavirus, or the efficacy of the measures enforced in its wake was considered to be p1$$ng on their parade. While many nurses worked very hard during the so-called pandemic, and some even died; others found time to make Tik-Tok videos. As a Registered Nurse and Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing I largely despaired of my nursing colleagues.
But there may be hope on the horizon. Nurses seem to be taking a stand on the issue of transgender activism and, specifically, the issue of gender critical feminism. Sadly, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), of which I remain a member, seems to have been won over by the trans Taliban. Last year, Lisa Mackenzie, who was a part-time policy officer for the Royal College of Nursing, was ‘hounded out’ due to her research into transgender issues, specifically, the issue of the apparent confusion over and conflation of sex and gender.
The chief executive of the RCN, Pat Cullen, recently made her views on the transgender issue clear in a blog post. She said: “the ability to self-identify cannot be underestimated by those who have never faced these personal challenges” which seems fair to me and then a piece of nursing motherhood and apple pie: “It is a fundamental principle of the nursing and midwifery code that people are treated as individuals and their dignity upheld, including avoiding making assumptions and the recognition of diversity and individual choice.” But then: “debate is usually healthy…but division – intentionally propagating hate, fears and even smears – should never be tolerated”. Clearly, she does not, in fact, consider that debate is ‘healthy’; it is only “usually healthy”. But she seems to think that “division” is wrong without seeing the irony that without division, there can be no debate. She just wants everyone to think the same thing; in other words, the same as her. Expressing a contrary view is to be: “intentionally propagating hate, fears and even smears.”
But gender critical members of the RCN have made it clear that they do not want to put up with this and clearly fear that, as a result of expressing their views, this will lead to persecution and lack of support from the RCN if they should find themselves in a corner over transgender issues. And, in addition to the case of Lisa Mackenzie referred to above, such nurses have plenty of precedent to which they can refer. Witness the disgraceful hounding of Kathleen Stock from her job at Sussex University over her gender critical writing and the range of authors no longer able to publish with mainstream publishers for expressing the radical opinion that a woman cannot have a penis.
Whether we are witnessing a rising tide from within the nursing profession is hard to gauge. But I know that many nurses openly subscribe to the Sex Matters website and some of our close professional colleagues in midwifery have joined them with their own group @Sexnotgender which describes itself as: “UK nurses and midwives, advocating for an evidence based approach to gender & sex”. But membership of these groups is likely to make individual nurses and midwives more rather than less likely to be persecuted. For any nurses reading this who are RCN members, by all means remain in that organisation as there are many benefits. However, I would urge you also to join the Free Speech Union and the Workers of England Union—both very reasonably priced—as these are amongst the few organisations that will support you effectively should you find yourself at the mercy of the mob.
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