‘Finally, there are no more excuses’...trans women are blocked from female spaces

TRANS women are barred from female single-sex spaces, long-awaited guidance states.

- BY KATIE HARRIS Senior Political Correspondent

Bethany Hutchison (in blue) and her fellow Darlington nurses and supporters who won a tribunal victory

The code by the Equality and Human Rights Commission was published yesterday more than a year after a landmark Supreme Court ruling that the definition of a woman in equality law is based on biological sex.

The updated guidance confirms services such as toilets and changing rooms must be used on the basis of biological sex in order to be classed as single-sex.

Women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson said the ruling had “made it clear that sex means biological sex” under the Equality Act, “and that trans people are still protected by the Act”.

The government said the new code “gives organisations clear, workable guidance which will enable them to take a pragmatic approach to protecting and serving the needs of our society” and supports service providers such as hospitals, cafes and leisure centres.

It says it will “ensure they can make practical, and ultimately sensible, decisions for everyday scenarios, such as toilet provision”.

Women’s rights campaigners said there are now “no more excuses” and hit out at the delay in the code’s publication for providing “cover” for organisations to break the law.