An Edinburgh woman says she and her cis women colleagues have been using a secret bathroom at work that trans women don’t know about so they can have “increased privacy.”

Maria Kelly, the people and capability lead for the electronics department at aerospace firm Leonardo UK, revealed the information to a tribunal after filing an official complaint of harassment and discrimination.

Related

VA bans doctors from referring trans veterans to private gender-affirming care providers

“In March 2023 I was walking out of the toilet and one of my trans identifying male colleagues walked in and I was a little taken aback, I didn’t say anything, I just said ‘hi’ and walked out,” she said, according to the UK’s The Mail.

Kelly said trans women in the bathroom makes her uncomfortable because she has heavy periods.

Never Miss a Beat

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

“I had just been washing blood off my hands so I was genuinely quite taken aback so I then started using what we refer to as the secret toilets – they are secret because they are tucked away.”

Kelly told the court it took her years before she decided to bring up the company’s trans-inclusive policy, as she did not want to be placed on the “naughty list.”

She also said she did not want to be labeled transphobic, despite making it clear she does not believe trans people exist and said, “If you were born male you remain male and if you were born female you remain female.”

Kelly also admitted to speculating over her colleagues’ gender identities and tracking their bathroom usage, telling the tribunal that over a period of six to nine months, she identified three people she believed to be trans who were using the women’s restrooms.

“It was running into person B as I was coming out of the toilet that made me think: ‘We are going to have to stop this,'” she said, proceeding to misgender the person. “I am not going to sacrifice my privacy, my dignity, sharing the toilet with a man.”

She said last year, the sign on the secret bathroom was replaced, changed from a female sign to one that simply said WC.

She also said she was upset that, after filing her initial complaint, she had to speak about it in a room with three men.  “I couldn’t believe that I had to sit in a room and justify why dealing with menstruation is a specific issue that women need privacy and dignity about, and then have to explain the consequences of menopause and the unpredictable nature of perimenopausal symptoms.”

The U.K. Supreme Court recently ruled that the legal definition of a woman under the country’s 2010 Equality Act is based on “biological sex” rather than gender identity. After the ruling, the Equality and Human Rights Commission said access to single-sex spaces should be based on biological sex, excluding trans people.

In that case, the U.K.’s top judges were tasked with determining how sex is defined in the 2010 Equality Act. They decided to define the word “woman” as referring to one’s sex assigned at birth, thus excluding transgender people from the same protections as cisgender women. Many trans people across the UK saw the ruling as invalidating their identities.

In May, a group of trans women stood without tops outside the Scottish Parliament building to protest the ruling. Their arms were painted red to represent a mark of solidarity with anti-fascist feminists across Europe. The women also held white roses symbolizing the death of transgender rights in the U.K. and wore tape across their mouths to symbolize trans voices being silenced by the court ruling.

Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.