Hi Carl
Imagine a world where you have to plan your daily activities around safe access to toilets. Imagine worrying about being told you can’t use the changing rooms at the gym.
These are all very real worries for trans and gender non-conforming people in the UK today. And if we don’t stand up now, it could become more difficult for everyone if the UK Government acts on recent correspondence with the Equality and Human Rights Commission about the Equality Act.
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Recent correspondence between the EHRC and Minster for Equalities Kemi Badenoch shows the UK Government is considering amending the definition of sex in the Equality Act 2010 from ‘legal sex’ to ‘biological sex’. Making a change like this would make it easier to exclude trans women in particular from everyday spaces.
A change like this would also open the door to all individuals’ appearances being judged at every turn, whether they are trans or not. There is no way that these recommendations would be enforceable, or fair.
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The Equality Act 2010 has been working for over a decade. It already allows single-sex spaces to be provided. The above changes would be unnecessary, unworkable, and unfair. No government committed to LGBTQ+ equality should aim to exclude trans people from everyday life.
If they did, this would represent an appalling rollback in LGBTQ+ rights and make it impossible for trans people and gender non-conforming people to exist without fear.
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These recommendations by the EHRC have drawn widespread criticism already, including from the UN.
Thanks to the 138,000+ of you who recently signed a parliamentary petition in support of the Equality Act, we now have a chance to ask our MPs to stand up for what is right.
Email your MP and ask that they attend the parliamentary debate on 12 June, and speak up for our world-class Equality Act.
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Join us in standing against potential rollbacks on trans people’s rights. Your voice matters.
- Team Stonewall
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