Trans women are now banned from women's toilets, says minister

A government minister has said that trans people are now banned from using toilets of the gender they identify as, amid warnings about the "incredibly dangerous" consequences of such a blanket prohibition.

- Libby Brooks Peter Walker

The supreme court ruled earlier this month that the terms "woman" and "sex" in the Equality Act refer only to a "biological woman" and to "biological sex".

In an "interim update" on how the ruling should be interpreted, the Equality and Human Rights Commission said on Friday that in workplaces and services open to the public "trans women (biological men) should not be permitted to use the women's facilities and trans men (biological women) should not be permitted to use the men's facilities".

Asked if the latest update meant transgender people would be banned from using the toilets of the gender they identify as, the Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: "There isn't going to be toilet police. But that is the logical consequence of the court ruling."

The commission's update stated that if a trans individual used a facility that aligned with their chosen gender, "this will mean that they are no longer single-sex facilities and must be open to all users of the opposite sex".