Happy Halloween! Please enjoy this spooky collage I made a while ago which is inspired by Sidney Paget’s illustration of the hound in The Hound of the Baskervilles 🧪🐾
'I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE' transgender cross stitch pattern 🏳️⚧️
Trans people have always been here and always will be. Our lives are just as important and valid as anyone else’s and we deserve the same equal rights as everyone else. Trans rights are human rights.
this pattern can be purchased from my etsy store here > (any purchases will go towards my transition fund. support a cute trans girl today!)
The Supreme Court did not say the legal definitions of 'woman'/'man' are based on your 'biological sex' for all legal purposes -
it is for the Equality Act only.
Which is fucking terrible on its own (prevents trans-people from claiming discrimination as their true gender & gives credence to the legal/social idea that trans people are not their true identities/are dangerous in single-sex spaces)
But please don't let the inaccurate article titles convince you that all is lost.
This does not change:
the GRA's legal pathway to getting a GRC (including issuance of new birth certificates - which ensures the appropriate gender identity for marriage/civil partnership, and pension rights provision)
or your gender identity's validity in law other than the Equality Act
or the the EA's protection of trans people from discrimination on the basis of gender reassigment (this is ALL trans people, certificated or not. And includes NBs even though they're not covered by the GRA)
or access to changing your gender in administrative areas - like the marker on passports (though - NBs still don't have an X marker option as per the Elan-Cane case)
TERFs may be celebrating this as resulting in total exclusion of all trans people, both with or without GRCs, from 'single-sex' spaces.
This is not true. Today's decision did not allow that - sex based exceptions for 'proportionate' reasons was and still is the rule.
For e.g if a trans woman is excluded from a single-sex space -
Today's ruling means she cannot claim sex-based discrimination as a woman.
But, she can still claim she was discriminated against based on gender-reassignment.
However, like I said, the Government has already said this sort of sex-based exception would be legal under the EA if it's for 'proportionate' reasons.
It's still unclear if today's judgement will have an effect on this - other than groups feeling emboldened by it to exclude trans people - using the existing 'proportionate' exception.
Or law/policy-makers being encouraged to amend other legislation/ policies. (Which are both definitely significant consequences)
Please note I used a trans woman as an example here, but this applies to trans men and their access to single-sex spaces
The ruling is still horrifying, and all outrage is totally justified.
But I want to make clear that what TERFs are claiming about the immediate, practical legal impact of this judgement on single-sex spaces is not true.
Neither is the claim that the legal definition of 'woman' no longer includes trans-women in any law other than the EA. The same applies for the definition of 'man' and trans-men.
Do not let them convince you that you have lost more rights than you actually have.
Know your rights under the GRA, and EA protection from discrimination.
source 1, source 2, the judgement
UPDATE (17/04): "An NHS spokesperson told the BBC the service was "reviewing guidance on same sex accommodation" and as part of this process "will consider and take into account all relevant legislation and the Supreme Court ruling"."
The chairwoman of the EHRC (the watchdog for the Equality Act) has said they will issue new guidance to public bodies (including the NHS and prisons) on single-sex spaces -
"The NHS will be pursued if it does not follow new guidance on single-sex spaces, the chairwoman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has said."
Current NHS guidance says trans people should be "accommodated according to their presentation: the way they dress, and the name and pronouns they currently use".
The new guidance will likely ask the NHS to scrap this, or be pursued by the EHRC.
When will the EHRC be releasing this guidance?
"An updated code of practice is expected to be laid before Parliament before the summer recess."
note: this post was edited to include newer information and highlight points.
UPDATE 2: Changed to include the impact on trans men, and add info about non-binary rights.
In today’s newsletter: Both jubilation and trepidation followed a judgment on trans rights – here’s how to understand the ruling really mea
This more measured article addresses -
What the judgment says
What it doesn’t say
Limits on the ruling’s impact
What is likely to change
What happens next
"What is likely to change" Section Quote:
"It is also clear that the decision will ultimately have significant consequences. It offers clearer legal protection to any service for women wishing to exclude trans women, provided that it meets that test of proportionality – although, as the barrister Sam Fowles points out in this piece, such exclusions were already permitted. The Equality and Human Rights Commission is expected to issue new guidance before the summer. NHS England said that the judgment would affect its guidance on same-sex hospital wards; similar impacts are likely in some social groups, sport, and prisons. In each case, the same principle will govern the treatment of trans men.
Another practical consequence of the ruling: the judgment said that a problem with using the GRC as a way to define trans women covered by the Equality Act was that it would “give trans persons who possess a GRC greater rights than those who do not”. But in practice, what that meant was many trans women without a GRC were protected anyway, and it is still likely to be viewed as potentially discriminatory to ask for one. In some situations, the distinction now will be whether a trans woman can “pass” or not.
The court was also explicit about a further striking anomaly. Using the example of group counselling for female victims of sexual assault, it said that trans women can reasonably be excluded; but it also said that trans men can be excluded “because the gender reassignment process has given them a masculine appearance”."
There's Mermaids which is always a great option, and then Scotland-specific there's LGBT Youth Scotland, to give you just a couple. There will absolutely be more that other people can suggest though!
cannot recommend LGBT Youth Scotland enough, they are sound as hell and seriously leading the way on a lot of trans support in the 3rd sector
also, sticking with Scottish orgs, LGBT Health & Wellbeing have trans-specific support for people of all ages, including over 60s, and took over the Lothian Gay and Lesbian Switchboard which was the first LGBTQ+ helpline in the UK. they are solid.
Scottish Trans have a list of trans support organisations here but some of them (like ERCC) have lost some ground in the last few years. still, most of them are sound.
And this one isn't specifically trans but the Good Law Project has been involved in defending teams rights in court in several recent cases, notably appealing the puberty blocker ban following the Cass Review.
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