Real Issues Now Start New Battle Lines Formed As Judgment Sinks In

For gender-critical campaigners, the supreme court's ruling on the definition of a woman in the Equality Act was a "huge reset" that left them feeling "vindicated and relieved".

- Jessica Murray

For transgender rights campaigners, it was a "damaging attack on their rights", signalling the start of "real issues" in their fight for legal recognition.

"I think this will be the kicking-off point for a very enhanced push for overt restrictions on the rights of trans people," said Victoria McCloud, Britain's first transgender judge.

She applied as an intervener in the supreme court appeal but was refused. Last year, she quit her job as a judge, saying her position had become "untenable" because her trans identity was viewed as a "lifestyle choice or an ideology". She now lives in Ireland.

McCloud said the supreme court ruling came during "a scary time" for transgender people in Britain, and would mark the start of a more intense fight for rights. "The rest has been phoney war. The real issues now start," she said.

"If I was a trans person in the UK today, I would steer clear of using any loo in a public space unless it was a single-sex or combined-sex loo, because I personally cannot, as of this moment, judge whether I should use the male loo or the female loo," she said.

"I haven't got my head around the complexities of the judgment, and its repercussions will be ongoing for some time. But I'm happy I live in the Republic of Ireland where this is not an issue. They know where I'm allowed to pee here."