Equalities boss outlines change after court ruling

TRANSGENDER women cannot use single-sex female toilets, changing rooms or compete in women's sports, in light of a Supreme Court ruling, the head of Britain's equalities watchdog said.

- PRESS ASSOCIATION REPORTERS

Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) chairwoman Baroness Kishwer Falkner yesterday said that Wednesday's ruling was "enormously consequential" and brought clarity, as she vowed to pursue organisations which do not update their policies.

The ruling that the terms woman and sex in the 2010 Equality Act "refer to a biological woman and biological sex" means transgender women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) can be excluded from single-sex spaces, if "proportionate", the Supreme Court said.

Baroness Falkner said organisations should be "taking care" to look at the "very readable judgment" to "understand that it does bring clarity, helps them decide what they should do".

Asked if it was now simple that trans women cannot take part in women's sport, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Yes, it is."

On changing rooms and toilets, Baroness Falkner said: "Single-sex services like changing rooms must be based on biological sex.