Disability activists 'horrified' by trans toilet exclusions

Disabled rights campaigners say they are "watching in horror" as the trans community faces the same toilet segregation and exclusion from public spaces that has affected them for years.

- Libby Brooks Frances Ryan

The aftermath of a supreme court ruling on biological sex has led to organisations barring trans people from using the toilets of the gender they live as, with accessible facilities often promoted as a solution.

Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative party leader, has suggested that trans people could use disabled loos, while employment lawyers said this could be a workaround for businesses lacking gender-neutral facilities.

Kishwer Faulkner, the chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission EHRC, said trans people should campaign for "third spaces".

The Guardian has heard from disabled people's organisations (DPOs) alarmed by the proposals.

"I have watched in horror as the supreme court ruling has unfolded," said Michaela Hollywood, who has campaigned on the scarcity of Changing Places - toilets for disabled people who need hoists or other equipment.

With a third of LGBT+ people disabled, she said there was "a strong sense of allyship within the disabled community and long-standing mutual support between us and the LGBT+ community".