Supreme Court's Ruling On Gender Will Not Result In 'Toilet Police', Minister Says
There will be no need for “toilet police” after the Supreme Court’s ruling on gender, according to senior minister Pat McFadden.
The top five British judges decided the words “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act refer to biological women and biological sex earlier this month, in a major blow to the trans community.
The controversial judgement sparked a major protest in London and questions about just what facilities the trans community can use when in public.
The ruling has been interpreted as instructing everyone to use toilets according to their biological sex – meaning trans women would have to use the men’s, and trans men would have to use the women’s.
The Equality and Humans Right Commission (EHRC) issued new guidance on Friday suggesting trans women “should not be permitted to use the women’s facilities” in workplaces or public places – and the same goes for transgender men.
But, it stated that trans people “should not be put in a position where there are no facilities for them to use”.
Cabinet Office minister McFadden told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that the government needed to “react to the court judgement and the guidance from the EHRC”.
While noting that the “logical consequence of the judgement” was that people will have to use public spaces according to their biological sex, the senior minister said that does not mean there will be “toilet police”.
He said: “Look, in reality, when you say ban, am I going to be standing outside toilets? I’m probably not. There isn’t going to be toilet police. But that is the logical consequence of the court ruling and the EHRC guidance.”
His remarks follow equalities minister Bridget Phillipson’s response to a similar question last week, when she was unable to offer a clear answer on the topic last week.
She just suggested that “in most cases” businesses have unisex toilets or separate cubicles now.
Trans campaigners also wrote to the government last week warning that the judgement has caused “widespread confusion and fear”.
TransActual asked the prime minister exactly how access to single-sex spaces will be policed, and exactly which toilets trans people are supposed to use.
Meanwhile, the EHRC watchdog is also looking at a more details code of practice after the Supreme Court ruling, and hoping to present it to the government by June.