The Scottish Daily Express is a rag but they're nailing the NHS Fife coverage (sorry for any wonky formatting); there are plenty of related stories linked in this one as well. IPSO will smack them down as they did The Spectator, though:
Why the Scottish Express is referring to Dr Beth Upton as a 'man' in Fife nurse tribunal
Rather than referring to the transgender doctor as 'she' or constructing sentences so that he is only ever referred to as 'Dr Upton', we have accepted the biological reality at the heart of this intriguing case
The
employment tribunal brought by veteran nurse Sandie Peggie against NHS Fife and transgender doctor Beth Upton has become one of the biggest stories of the year.
Right from the start, the Scottish Express has been referring to Dr Upton as a man, and using male pronouns when referring to him. This is not out of any toxic bigotry or malign intent:
it is simply stating a fact.
First and foremost, we are calling him a man because
biologically he is a man. He was born and grew up as a male, called Theodore Upton, and he has not obtained a gender recognition certificate to allow him to legally change his gender (not his sex; it is, of course, impossible for a human being to change sex).
Dr Upton self-identifies as a woman, and some argue that it would be a courtesy to refer to him by his chosen pronouns. That might be the case if this were a story about his (or her) achievements in medicine, or something related to his (or her) life outside the hospital.
But this isn't a story about – let's say – Dr Upton's collection of garden gnomes; in such a case, we'd be happy to indulge his chosen pronouns. It is coverage of an employment tribunal, a specialist court held before a judge. People's livelihoods are at stake here.
In court stories, accuracy matters above all else (as I and many other journalists before me have found out to our cost) and so we believe the most accurate way of describing Dr Upton is as a man, albeit one who is choosing to live as a woman.
This has provoked a good deal of response from readers, mostly from people praising our stance. To quote from one email from the dozens we have received: "Other news outlets are confusing everyone into thinking Upton is a 'woman who thinks she's a man', or has had a sex change or something, when in reality he is a man who tells everyone he's a woman called Beth. Your accuracy and truthfulness is refreshing."
Others are not happy, to put it mildly, and we have been told that at least one complaint will be lodged with the Independent Press Standards Organisation. We await to see what IPSO may or may not decide about our approach.
In support of our case is the fact that the vexed question of Dr Upton's pronouns was actually discussed at a preliminary hearing in the tribunal in January 2025. You can read a
full report about it here, on the website of Steen & Co Employment Solicitors.
The key part, however, is that "the judge ruled that the Claimant [Ms Peggie] and her legal representatives could use male pronouns whereas he acknowledged that the Respondents [NHS Fife and Dr Upton] would use female ones".
