Not lying=contempt of court?
A number of rows erupted between the legal team’s during Thursday’s hearing.
The first occurred after Ms Russell KC objected to Dr Upton being referred to as “he” by Ms Cunningham. The NHS Fife lawyer argued that it had caused the witness, Ms Glancey, to use the term “he” in her evidence, quickly following it up with “sorry, she”.
Ms Cunningham has consistently referred to Dr Upton using he/him pronouns throughout this whole tribunal.
It’s still so bizarre to see grown-up people in a courtroom demanding that everyone lie about what sex people are. Upton is a he. Furthermore, that’s what the case is about. It’s both absurd and outrageous that Team Upton are trying to force everyone to lie about his sex.
Ms Russell stepped in today, however, stating that she had checked the equal treatment benchmark from May 2025 which agreed counsel’s should use the preferred pronouns or use gender neutral ‘they’ to avoid “offence”.
But in avoiding “offence” they’re wallowing in confusion, specifically confusion of everyone in the courtroom.
She said: “I am concerned about the fairness of the proceedings with Ms Cunningham’s misgendering which is creating a hostile environment for the witnesses and is confusing them.”
What kind of environment would calling that large smug confident man “she” create for the witnesses? We keep getting caught in this same infinite regress. He’s not a “she” and pretending he is and forcing others to pretend he is a “she” is how everyone got to the courtroom.
Not even half an hour later and the row between the pair was reignited.
Naomi Cunningham had suggested that there were attempts to punish Ms Peggie because the nurse “was guilty of heresy” by maintaining that Dr Upton is a man. Ms Russell strongly interjected. She said it was not heresy and was merely “equal treatment”.
She said: “Dr Upton is not a man. For Women Scotland doesn’t say so. I am very concerned about the latitude being given to Ms Cunningham to be so offensive in court”.
Siiiiiigh. This is what the case is about. Of course Cunningham calls him a man. 1, because he is one, and 2, because that’s why they’re all in court. Russell whining about it is just asking for the court to declare Upton the winner right this second, case closed.
That might be so in the real world, but this is straight out of Alice in Wonderland,. where everything is topsy-turvy, and more than a bit like the Mad Hatter’s tea party.
“Offense” is in the eye of the beholder.
Upton finds it “offensive” to be “misgendered.” But he’s not being “misgendered;” he’s being correctly sexed.
His “gender identity” is a completely made-up thing. It’s not real. “Gender identity” is the thin edge of the wedge. “Oh, that’s not the same thing as sex,” is their foot-in-the-door first move. Once the thin edge has worked its way in, then the claim changes. Then they switch to claiming to be the sex they’re not. That’s the sum and substance of his justification for invading the women’s sex-categorized space: that he’s “really a woman.”
The entire enterprise is a gloating triumph of sticking it to the women. It’s dominance, it’s power, it’s control, it’s mashing women’s faces into the mud, it’s the ultimate insult to women. Which is more offensive: Refusing to play along with a man’s fetishistic fantasy? Or forcing the victims of sexual assault to lie about the offender’s sex?
In judicial and quasi-judicial settings, the touchstone is to tell the truth. Forcing witnesses to lie is the antithesis of justice.