Civil servants face being sanctioned

Written by

July 22, 2026

It’s like being in nursery school. “Now, Doreen, if Bobby likes to pretend to be a tiger it’s unkind to tell him he’s not a tiger.”

Civil servants face being sanctioned if they fail to use the preferred name or gender of a transgender colleague, leaked Whitehall guidance has revealed.

The guidance, labelled “official sensitive” and created by the Cabinet Office, said calling a colleague by the incorrect pronouns could lead to them being disciplined.

Oh come on. In the Civil Service??? Isn’t it time to grow up now? The Civil Service is serious business, and adults pretending to be something they’re not and trying to force others to play along is not serious business. It’s utterly childish and it’s downright embarrassing to watch all these putative fellow adults trying to force others to play the silly game. You want grownups for grownup work!

The document outlines how fellow civil servants should treat transgender colleagues at work and includes warnings that “deliberate dead naming or misgendering to deny, mock or invalidate” a trans person would be investigated as potential misconduct.

But there is no “dead naming” or “misgendering” – there’s only pretending.

The leaked guidance said that it should be established whether a civil servant intentionally called someone by their pre-transition name or referred to them by the incorrect gender because of “a neurodivergent condition or memory issue”.

It doesn’t matter. Employers should not be mandating this kind of lying and games-playing. Everybody should grow up.

Comments

5 responses to “Civil servants face being sanctioned”

Sumi

Jul 22, 2026 4:17 PM

When in doubt, “my/our esteemed colleague” can’t be faulted for lack of respect and avoids pronouns altogether.
Mel G

Jul 22, 2026 5:02 PM

Incorrect pronouns, misgendering etc are against the law in California. It’s posted along with other provisions of labor law at my former workplace at a prestigious university hospital. I retired last week but will always regret not having the courage to quit when I learned we did “gender affirming ” care.
Your Name’s not Bruce?

Jul 23, 2026 6:50 AM

The guidance, labelled “official sensitive” and created by the Cabinet Office, said calling a colleague by the incorrect pronouns could lead to them being disciplined.

Labour continues to fight a misogynistic rearguard action as it does its best to subvert both the spirit and the letter of the Supreme Court ruling from more than a year ago.
Ophelia Benson

Jul 23, 2026 7:56 AM

Incorrect pronouns meaning correct pronouns, of course.
twiliter

Jul 23, 2026 7:58 AM

Aren’t there already laws against harrassment and libel? I think if someone is deliberately calling names and being verbally abusive, trans or not, then this has already been legislated for in most places. The trouble with this particular type of rule making is that it goes down the path of compelled speech. There are already laws and rules about what you can’t say, but laws or rules about what you are required to say are much different, and mostly violate other laws.