One year on – still myth busting Scottish Trans
Scottish Trans (part of Equality Network) made their own little announcement on the anniversary of our Supreme Court judgment. The untruths and misrepresentations are becoming a little tedious so we thought we’d go through it with our red pen…
Scottish Trans: Our statement on the Supreme Court ruling one year on
One year on from the UK Supreme Court’s ruling that “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 means “biological sex at birth”, trans people still find ourselves facing total uncertainty, as do the services and workplaces that want to include us.
No, you do not face total uncertainty. The judgment provides absolute certainty. It is crystal clear. You just don’t like it.
In an interview with The Times, Lord Hodge explains: “I and my two female colleagues who were the joint authors, went through the act section by section in considerable detail, asking ourselves which interpretation works. Was the Equality Act meant to treat a trans woman with a gender recognition certificate as a woman? And we came unanimously to the view that it didn’t. Did we realise that would cause an outrage for people? Yes, because people had been led to believe by public authorities, among others, for the last 15 years that they had rights, which they didn’t have. So I have some sympathy, quite a lot of sympathy, with the feeling that they had something taken away from them.”
Banned from sports and associations like Girlguiding and the Women’s Institute.
Trans people are not banned from any sports – you just have to play in the correct sex category, the same as everyone else does. And only some trans people – the male ones – are barred from joining female associations such as Girlguiding and the Women’s Institute. All the trans people who are female are welcome, but I guess you forgot about the transmen, again.
Banned from toilets that align with our gender identity in the Scottish Parliament.
No, you are barred from the toilets that are provided for the opposite sex. You and whatever your gender identity is are more than welcome in the loos for your sex. If you’re not comfortable with that, Parliament has even provided additional gender-neutral toilets to specifically cater for you.
Being outed to colleagues at work, or being unable to access safe and inclusive facilities at school because we can no longer use toilets we have used for years.
Believe me, your colleagues know. And it is hardly outing to use gender-neutral/accessible toilets that anyone can use.
It was NEVER lawful for teenage boys to be in the girls toilets and changing rooms and it’s appalling that you thought it was. Building regulations have long required schools to provide accessible facilities so there’s always been an alternative option, but we really should be encouraging children to feel comfortable and included in their own sex changing rooms and addressing any bullying issues.
Uncertainty about how we will be treated when we need to access vital emergency services.
I’m pretty sure emergency services will be concentrating on saving your life, the same as they would do for anyone.
Some have said that the ruling brought ‘clarity’. It has done anything but.
Instead, years of understanding of how the law worked has been turned on its head, and trans people face the prospect of navigating a world that just doesn’t work for us.
Years of your organisation misunderstanding and misrepresenting the law is the more accurate statement.
And we’ve been telling you for all that time that your way made women feel uncomfortable and distressed in their own spaces. It’s very telling that you consider that as ‘working’ for you.
Decades ago, the law, services, workplaces and society insisted on treating us as our “biological sex at birth”, with no respect for or recognition of who we truly are.
Sex is immutable, it is who you truly are. Gender Recognition Certificates are a work of legal fiction.
It didn’t work. It meant we faced discrimination, inequality and breaches of our human rights. That’s why Courts decided it should change, and why the law was changed to provide us with recognition and protection from discrimination.
And you are still quite rightly fully protected with the same human rights as everyone else and specific protection under the characteristic of gender reassignment in the Equality Act. Nothing about the Supreme Court judgment impacted on this, or indeed your ability to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate.
And it’s why international human rights actors like the Council of Europe (new tab) and UN Experts (new tab) have sounded the alarm about the UK’s direction of travel.
Yes well, unfortunately some organisations are still captured by gender ideology. But thankfully, not all the UN Experts. Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls welcomed the Supreme Court judgment: “The judgment does not change the law but brings much-needed clarity, it also represents the triumph of reason and science in policy making and a return to basic truth and common sense.”
Has the Supreme Court ruling really turned the clock all the way back?
All the way back to when? The law is the same now as when it was introduced in 2010. It has however, put a stop to organisations such as yourself misrepresenting the law and encouraging employers and schools to breach it.
Noone seems to know for sure.
We do. And you do too, you’re not stupid.
But what we do know is that trans people need to be able to access safe, appropriate and inclusive services like everyone else. We need to be able to go to work with privacy and dignity.
And you can. You are included in the correct sex service. Other options are generally available. If you don’t like either of those then feel free to campaign for additional options. But the days of men coming in the ladies are over.
We need to be recognised as who we truly are. Excluding and segregating us from others and never treating us in line with our gender identities can never achieve that.
It’s lawful sex segregation and you are included in your biological category, same as everyone else. Whatever you think gender identity is, it does not change your sex. We have never had self-declaration of sex in this country. You cannot compel people to see you as the opposite sex.
So, what do we need to put this right? As far as we can tell there are two options, depending on what the law means now (which is still unclear.)
No, it really is very clear. Perhaps read the judgment again.
If the law still allows for us to be properly included and recognised as who we truly are, then we need strong leadership from the UK Government that is clear that this is the case.
The Gender Recognition Act still exists. If you obtain one your acquired gender will still be recognised for the purposes where it applies. Your sex will otherwise take priority.
Services and workplaces need to know they have that option, so that the huge number that want to include and support us can do so confidently.
They do not have the option to include you in a single-sex service for the opposite-sex. Read that judgment again. Pay particular attention to paragraph 171 which says:
“..provisions that refer to protection for women necessarily exclude men. Although the word “biological” does not appear in this definition, the ordinary meaning of those plain and unambiguous words corresponds with the biological characteristics that make an individual a man or a woman.”
None of this is a surprise to you as this is remarkably similar to the Court of Session judgment from over four years ago that said: “Provisions in favour of women…by definition exclude those who are biologically male.” (FWS1 paragraph 36).
If the law doesn’t, we need Governments to take decisive action and change the law to make sure that Scotland and the UK return to being places where trans people can have our human rights protected and can live our lives with the same dignity as anyone else.
If this is code for amending or removing the category of sex from the Equality Act you are going to have to convince Parliament and the general public why you think it’s a good idea to remove anti-discrimination rights from women. And why you know better than the five Supreme Court judges who unanimously concluded the Act could not work properly with any other definition of sex than its biological meaning. We’ll be watching.
In the meantime, we’re glad you agree the Equality Act is fantastic.
Vic Valentine (Scottish Trans) in the Scottish Parliament, 11 March 2025
Scottish Trans is part of Equality Network which received Scottish Government funding of £558,711 in the year ending March 2025, which amounted to 91% of its total income. According to their Offer of Grant, this funding is conditional on complying with the law, so we are sure they will be diligent when it comes to carrying out their funded activities of giving guidance to public sector bodies and to LGB and T people on their rights.
