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dentity in reaching its decision the court also held that the gender recognition act 2004 was not generally applicable to all statutes such that trans people were always legally recognised as having the gender they identify with the judges did not rule more broadly on when trans women would be considered women in contexts outside the equality act the court believed that the decision would not deprive trans people of their legal rights in part because of the discrimination protections offered to transgender people under the equality act 2010 the ruling was welcomed by gender critical groups cabinet ministers and members of parliament across both the conservative and labour parties as a result of the decision the ehrc issued new guidance on transgender issues restricting the ability of trans people to access single sex spaces such as toilets the decision and subsequent ehrc guidance has been widely criticised by academics and pro lgbtq activists for being medically and legally flawed with potentially severe implications for transgender rights in the uk background edit in 2002 the european court of human rights in goodwin v united kingdom found that the uk was breaching the european convention on human rights by failing to legally recognise the acquired gender of trans people this led to the passage of the gender recognition act 2004 gra 2004 which allowed trans people to legally change their gender through a gender recognition certificate grc with support of two doctors and evidence of living in their acquired gender for 2 years 2 a from 2018 to 2023 the gender critical advocacy group for women scotland fws raised a series of judicial review challenges against trans inclusive policies of the scottish government before the court of session in scotland the final decision in 2023 saw the inner house rule that the definition of woman under the equality act 2010 included trans women who had a grc 3 4 fws appealed the decision to the supreme court engaging king s counsel aidan o neill after a crowdfunding campaign of the approximately 300 000 raised 70 000 was donated by author j k rowling 5 6 judicial review of devolved legislation edit in 2018 scotland passed the gender representation on public boards act scotland 2018 a law that requires public authorities with boards to encourage participation by women the legislation as assented contained a definition of woman that 7 includes a person who has the protected characteristic of gender reassignment within the meaning of section 7 of the equality act 2010 if and only if the person is living as a woman and is proposing to undergo is undergoing or has undergone a process or part of a process for the purpose of becoming female in 2021 the outer house of the court of session of scotland heard a judicial review application brought by the gender critical advocacy group for women scotland fws 8 9 the decision was in favour of the scottish ministers 10 in february 2022 following an appeal by fws the ruling was overturned by the inner house of the court of session 11 12 as a result of this ruling the statutory guidance to the gender representation on public boards scotland act 2018 was published on 19 april 2022 that stated that woman was simply to be defined as per the equality act 2010 however the guidance also stated that per the gender recognition act 2004 people in possession of a full grc were to be recognised by their acquired gender 3 13 subsequent judicial review of statutory guidance edit in july 2022 fws petitioned for judicial review of the statutory guidance in december 2022 lady haldane ruled in favour of the scottish ministers stating that the updated statutory guidance was lawful the definition of sex per the equality act 2010 was not limited to biological or birth sex and the definition includes those in possession of a grc obtained in accordance with the 2004 act stating their acquired gender and thus their sex 14 15 in october 2023 fws appealed the decision arguing that the ruling conflated sex and gender in a manner that was unworkable and impractical on 1 november 2023 the inner house dismissed the appeal 3 4 lady dorrian held that the legal definition of a person s sex was that of their acquired gender if they received a grc 16 hearing edit oral arguments were heard at the supreme court from 26 to 27 november 2024 the supreme court allowed two intervenors to make written and oral submissions sex matters and the equality and human rights commission ehrc and another two intervenors to make written submissions only amnesty international and a group of three campaigning organisations comprising the lgb alliance the lesbian project and scottish lesbians 17 18 an application for intervention by two transgender legal experts victoria mccloud and stephen whittle made with the support of the good law project was rejected which resulted in no trans parties being permitted to intervene 19 20 for women scotland argued that sex in the equality act always referenced biological sex sex matters intervention largely agreed noting that the equality act s gender reassignment definition did not relate to biological sex but was sui generis b the campaigning group submitted on the potential effects of a trans inclusive definition on the rights of lesbians under the equality act also making arguments under the european convention of human rights 17 c the scottish government argued that woman in the equality act includes a person with a gender recognition certificate in the acquired gender of female as defined under the gra 2004 the ehrc agreed with this position and argued that although this interpretation would result in practical issues under the ea 2010 these issues were for parliament to resolve d amnesty international made submissions on human rights principles 17 e judgment edit english wikisource has original text related to this article for women scotland ltd v the scottish ministers 2025 uksc on 16 april 2025 the lord hodge on behalf of the supreme court delivered the judgment finding that the terms man woman and sex in the equality act 2010 ea 2010 were always intended to refer to biological sex and not certificated sex under the gender recognition act 2004 gra 2004 and concluded that any other interpretation would cause the act to be incoherent and impracticable to operate 21 22 23 24 more specifically the court considered the interaction between section 9 1 of the gra 2004 a deeming provision which allowed trans people with grcs to be recognised in law as having the sex of their acquired gender f and sections 11 and 212 1 of the ea 2010 section 9 3 of the gra 2004 provided for an carve out to the rule in section 9 1 g and it was held to be operative upon the interpretation of man and woman under the ea 2010 h for section 9 1 to apply to any given piece of legislation it was held that a court had to carefully consider the wording context and policy of an act i where the court finds that the definition of sex or gender under section 9 1 resulted in a clear incompatibility or an act being rendered incoherent or unworkable it must disapply the section which the supreme court did for the ea 2010 j the court summarised eighteen reasons to support the finding that the ea 2010 would be rendered incoherent or unworkable if the s 9 1 definition was used including the predecessor to the ea 2010 the sex discrimination act 1975 referred to biological sex as a matter of parliamentary intention the gra 2004 did not have retrospective effect on the 1975 act trans people already enjoy the protected characteristic of gender reassignment under the ea 2010 which provides different rights than those arising from sex and definitions under the ea 2010 ought to be interpreted consistently throughout the act and a variable definition would be inappropriate given the provisions on pregnancy and women s rights k nonetheless the court did not clarify the definition of biological sex or man or woman in law stating that they were self explanatory and require no further explanation l despite finding for for women scotland the supreme court also stated that the decision would not disadvantage trans persons in law noting also that trans persons retain rights against discrimination harassment and unequal pay on the basis of gender reassignment m lord hodge in an interview with the times later clarified that the judgement had nothing to do with how or where single sex spaces should be created before adding trans people had been led to believe for the last 15 years that they had rights which they didn t have 25 the court found that under the biological sex definition trans women could be excluded from female only spaces including changing rooms and homeless shelters further trans men could now also be excluded from female spaces in the same manner as trans women if they had a masculine appearance n 26 27 as such it allowed the appeal invalidating the scottish government s guidance 28 reception edit immediate aftermath edit after the decision was issued by the supreme court gender critical activists celebrated with champagne outside the court building susan smith co director of for women scotland celebrated the decision as affirming common sense and that women are protected by their biological sex 29 30 the scottish government speaking with bbc news responded to its loss by saying that it had acted in good faith in interpreting the acts following the guidance that had previously been issued by the ehrc 31 32 sex matters stated that the decision meant that gender self identification was dead and argued for the exclusion of trans persons who present as their identified gender from both male and female bathrooms 30 33 the lgb alliance regarded the decision as protecting gay and lesbian rights by allowing gay and lesbian associations to exclude trans persons 34 35 amnesty international uk stated that the decision implied potentially concerning consequences for trans people although it was at the time too early to determine what those effects were the ngo also emphasised the supreme court s affirmation that trans people should not be harassed or discriminated against per the equality act 22 advocacy and community groups edit protest against the ruling at marischal college in aberdeen on 20 april 2025 the decision was widely condemned by numerous lgbtq organisations and activists including stonewall 32 transactual 36 victoria mccloud 37 38 and the lgbt consortium 39 the decision was also criticised by human rights watch and performing arts union equity 40 41 over the easter long weekend of 18 20 april protests against the ruling were held in towns and cities throughout the uk 42 thousands gathered for a rally at london s parliament square on 19 april organised by a group of 24 pro lgbtq groups 43 seven statues were vandalised during the london protests including the statue of former union of south africa prime minister jan smuts which was spray painted with the message trans rights are human rights and the statue of women s suffrage activist millicent fawcett which had fag rights written onto the banner it was holding 44 45 birmingham pride brighton pride london pride manchester pride and pride glasgow subsequently announced that they would prohibit political parties from sending official representatives to their events in unequivocal solidarity with the trans community 46 47 politicians and officials edit labour prime minister keir starmer welcomed the judgement for bringing clarity interpreting the decision as making absolutely clear that a woman is an adult female 48 49 labour party leaders including minister for women and equalities bridget phillipson interpreted the decision as providing support for the rule that trans people should not be allowed to use single sex spaces for their identified gender including toilets hospitals shelters and rape crisis centers as examples 50 51 52 at the same time lgbt labour stated they were deeply disappointed by the judgement and its potential harmful effects on trans persons and transphobia 53 conservative party leader kemi badenoch considered it a victory for women who had been targeted for stating the obvious and that the era of keir starmer telling us women can have penises has come to an end 21 54 in scotland maggie chapman scottish greens member of the scottish parliament and deputy convenor of the parliamentary equalities human rights and civil justice committee condemned the judgement stating that the supreme court had engaged in bigotry prejudice and hatred her comments were condemned by akua reindorf kc a commissioner at the equality and human rights commission 55 the faculty of advocates which described them as failing to respect the rule of law and a number of senior lawyers including king s counsel 56 joanna cherry called for chapman to resign 55 whilst a motion brought by conservative msp tess white to have chapman removed from her committee position over the issue was unsuccessful 57 the welsh government released a statement accepting the decision of the supreme court noting that the judgement did not remove protection from trans people and reaffirming an ongoing commitment to equality and inclusion 58 following the ruling a spokesperson for the republic of ireland s equality minister norma foley stated that the ruling would not impact trans people in ireland 59 celebrities edit j k rowling who had donated 70 000 to for women scotland in support of the case made a series of posts on twitter celebrating 16 april as terf ve day 60 many other celebrities however publicly displayed the slogan protect the dolls in the immediate aftermath of the decision the slogan being worn on clothing by a wide array of actors models musicians and artists in support of the rights of trans women 61 62 63 64 on 23 april 2025 an open letter was addressed to the uk arts and culture sector calling for it to meet this moment with bravery and solidarity amid the ruling and the growing number of hate crimes targeting the trans community the letter was signed by over 1 300 writers across the british literature and screenwriting industries including michaela coel russell t davies and alice oseman 65 international edit ilga europe which ranks countries based on their lgbtq rights protections dropped the united kingdom to 22nd in europe the lowest position for the uk since the rankings started in 2009 between 2011 and 2015 it had been ranked at the top of the list all points related to legal gender recognition were removed in response to the ruling and ehrc guidance ilga stated it is in fact impossible for a trans person to be fully legally recognised in their gender identity within the legal framework created by the judgment and interim update 66 australia s sex discrimination commissioner anna cody condemned the ruling 67 subsequent ehrc guidance edit main article code of practice for services public functions and associations following the decision kishwer falkner 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