Nurse Sandie Peggie plea to MSPs during Holyrood visit
However, First Minister John Swinney and his Deputy, Kate Forbes, declined an invitation to meet, citing the ongoing employment tribunal.
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Ms Peggie, an A&E nurse at Victoria Hospital, is suing her employer after being suspended following a confrontation with Dr Beth Upton.
On Christmas Eve 2023, Ms Peggie experienced a sudden heavy period and was concerned she had bled through her scrubs.
When she entered the changing room, she saw Dr Upton — a trans woman — and, said that in her view, the medic was a man and should not have been in the room.
Dr Upton lodged a formal complaint shortly afterwards.
Ms Peggie was placed on 'special leave' in late December 2023 and suspended in January 2024, pending an investigation into 'alleged unwanted behaviours towards another member of NHS Fife staff'.
Her suspension was lifted in April, but the disciplinary process remains ongoing.
She later lodged legal proceedings in the employment tribunal against NHS Fife and Dr Upton, 'alleging multiple breaches of the Equality Act 2010'.
The tribunal was initially expected to conclude in February after ten days, but has been adjourned until 16 July. It is now due to sit for a further 11 days, in part due to NHS Fife's failure to disclose documentation as ordered by the tribunal judge.
During her visit to Holyrood, Ms Peggie was accompanied by her solicitor, Margaret Gribbon, and Maya Forstater, chief executive of Sex Matters.
The visit came as the organisation threatened the Scottish Government with legal action if it fails to comply with a recent Supreme Court ruling on the definition of sex in the Equality Act.
Ms Peggie's solicitor, Ms Gribbon, said it was vital that politicians heard her client's story directly.
'Politicians needed to hear directly from Sandie to understand the sheer depth of the discrimination and harassment she and women like her have endured in workplaces — in her case, as a nurse with 30 years' unblemished service, simply because she objected to having to undress in front of a man,' she said.
'We were grateful for the politicians' time and welcomed the opportunity to share insights into how misguided actions by public bodies such as NHS Fife have devastating real-life consequences and come at great expense to the Scottish taxpayer.
'We had productive meetings, and the door is always open for any politicians who were unable to meet Sandie today.'
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Ms Forstater added: 'It was important for politicians to hear directly from Sandie Peggie, given that Scottish public bodies — from NHS Fife right up to the Scottish Government itself — are continuing to delay policy changes following the Supreme Court judgment.
'We urged politicians to consider this as a matter of urgency, as the Supreme Court made crystal clear that organisations which allow men to identify their way into female facilities are operating outside the law.
'We are very grateful for those who took the time to meet Sandie, Margaret and me today.'
Mr Findlay said it had been a privilege to hear Ms Peggie's first-hand account of what he described as an 'appalling ordeal'.
'It is outrageous that a dedicated NHS nurse's career has been destroyed and her life consumed by a suffocating legal process simply because she stood up for women's rights,' he said.
'Sandie has paid a massive price for her brave and principled stand against the SNP Government's promotion of gender politics which now infects Scotland's entire public sector.
"NHS Fife should stop squandering vast sums of taxpayers' cash on this nonsense and every state agency in Scotland must now respect the law and women's rights.'
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