Camellia Noren
Former Dragons’ Den star Duncan Bannatyne has waded into the explosive debate on transgender women in female spaces, claiming his health clubs offered unisex changing rooms for trans customers, but they were rejected.
He also threw his own hand grenade into the mix by branding some biological males who sought access to female-only spaces ‘perverts and paedophiles’.
Multi-millionaire Bannatyne, 76, spoke out after a group of eight nurses from his local hospital in Darlington, Co. Durham, won an employment tribunal against their employer.
The tribunal found that Darlington Memorial Hospital violated the dignity of the female nurses who had complained about a transgender woman using their changing room.
Father-of-five Bannatyne, worth around £500million, who founded the chain of more than 60 health clubs nationwide, posted on X: ‘I have offered that [unisex changing rooms] to Transexuals [sic] in some of my gyms but they have refused to use them. It was exclusive to them & they wanted to be inclusive.’
He added: ‘Many perverts & pedophiles realize that if they say they now present as female they get easy access to women’s & children’s free spaces. They are not considered true trans people.’
His use of the outdated term transexual is likely to further anger the vociferous trans lobby on social media, for whom the word is considered offensive, preferring the broader transgender.
One of the replies to his first post from @BloomsCereus claimed even more controversially: ‘The ones that turn down unisex and insist on invading women’s locker rooms and toilets are AGP, not trans.’
‘AGP’ refers to autogynephilia, a psychological condition describing a man’s arousal by the thought or image of himself as female, or in female clothing.
It is a huge taboo for the transgender community, who reject the idea that many men who transition are driven by that desire.
In 2024, transgender woman and science teacher turned activist Debbie Hayton argued that her own surgery was motivated by AGP and that ‘trans women are men’.
She wrote: ‘I was a heterosexual male and, therefore, evolved to tune in to signals given off by females. But somewhere wires were crossed, my sex drive was short-circuited and in effect I was sex-signalling to myself. That was what was compelling me to turn my body into a woman.’
In the Darlington case, County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust claimed the nurses had ‘demonised’ their trans woman colleague Rose Henderson and the Trust’s policy was in accordance with guidelines at the time.
The employment panel said the trust had created a ‘hostile environment’, but other elements of their claim were unfounded.
The nurses, who were supported in their claim by Christian Concern, said the ruling was a ‘massive vindication’ and ‘victory for common sense’.
The tribunal heard Rose Henderson, an operating department practitioner had used the changing room since 2019.
Complaints were first made by female nurses from the day surgery unit (DSU) in August 2023.
The trust’s Transitioning in the Workplace policy allowed a person to use the single-sex space that conformed with their gender identity, and anyone of that sex who objected could change elsewhere.
Some 26 nurses signed a letter complaining of Rose’s use of and conduct within the changing room, with her telling the tribunal the allegations, which included staring at women getting undressed, were ‘false’.
In a 134-page judgement, the panel of three headed by employment judge Seamus Sweeney said the trust had harassed and discriminated against the nurses by requiring them to share a changing room with a ‘biological male trans woman’ and then not taking their concerns seriously.
Mr Bannatyne was contacted for comment.
Source: Dailymail.co.uk | Read the Full Story…
