Category Archives: Equality Act 2010

Impasse over EHRC single-sex spaces guidance ‘distracting from other issues’

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Staff at human rights body said to be ‘desperate for regime change’ over inertia after court’s legal definition of a woman

The ongoing impasse over guidance from the UK’s human rights watchdog on access to single-sex spaces is distracting from other pressing issues, including the rise of the far right, insiders have told the Guardian.

Some members of staff at the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) are described as “desperate for regime change” ahead of the new chair, Mary-Ann Stephenson, taking up her post in December.

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Transgender campaigners call for European rights body to report on UK

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Alliance of groups wants Council of Europe to investigate implementation of supreme court ruling on biological sex

A collection of groups campaigning on transgender issues have urged Europe’s main human rights body to investigate the UK over the implementation of the supreme court’s ruling on gender.

In a joint letter to the Council of Europe, the organisations said the situation in which transgender people were likely to be barred from using toilets of their acquired sex or joining single-sex organisations placed them in an “intermediate zone” of gender, saying this was a violation of the European convention on human rights (ECHR).

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MPs fear UK equality watchdog may take months to sign off gender guidance

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Exclusive: EHRC insiders believe process could drag on until after its chair is replaced in November

Formal guidance on how organisations should implement the supreme court ruling on gender may not be fully signed off for months, officials and MPs have warned, amid increasing worries about the capability of the government’s equalities watchdog.

While the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has promised to complete the process by the end of July, a series of insiders have told the Guardian they believe this may not happen until after the watchdog’s controversial chair, Kishwer Falkner, is replaced in November.

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Trans people banned from toilets of gender they identify with, says UK minister

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Pat McFadden says ‘there isn’t going to be toilet police’ amid warnings about ‘incredibly dangerous’ consequences

A UK government minister has said trans people are now banned from using toilets of the gender they identify as, amid warnings about the “incredibly dangerous” consequences of such a blanket prohibition.

The UK supreme court ruled earlier this month that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act referred only to a biological woman and to biological sex.

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UK ministers face questions over supreme court gender ruling repercussions

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Labour backbenchers demand clarity on practical impact of transgender people’s use of toilets and hospital wards

Ministers have come under pressure to provide answers on how last week’s supreme court ruling on gender identity will affect the daily lives of transgender people, amid confusion over issues such as toilet provision and hospital wards.

Keir Starmer said he welcomed what he called “real clarity” and “a welcome step forward” in his first response to the court decision, which ruled that “woman” in the Equality Act refers only to a biological woman.

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Badenoch says Labour’s claims to have always defended single-sex spaces are a ‘shameless work of fiction’ – UK politics live

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Minister for women and equality makes statement after supreme court ruling on gender recognition

Some MPs and peers are calling for President Trump not to be invited to address parliament when he visits the UK. In 2017, during Trump’s first presidency, the then Speaker, John Bercow, vetoed a proposal for Trump to address parliamentarians in Westminster Hall.

In an interview with Times Radio this morning, Stephen Morgan, an education minister, said Trump should be allowed to give a speech in parliament. Asked if Trump should be allowed to address MPs and peers, Morgan said:

I look forward to the US president addressing parliament in due course.

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‘One hell of a turnout’: trans activists rally in London against gender ruling

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Thousands gather in Parliament Square in a show of unity after supreme court judgment

After last week’s supreme court decision, activists had been worried that trans people might become fearful of going out in public in case they were abused.

They weren’t afraid in London on Saturday. Thousands of trans and non-binary people thronged Parliament Square, alongside families and supporters waving baby blue, white and pink flags to demonstrate their anger at the judges’ ruling.

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Gender critical campaigners win at UK supreme court over definition of woman

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Judges rule that Equality Act definition excludes transgender women holding gender recognition certificates

Gender critical rights campaigners have won their supreme court challenge over the definition of a woman.

Five judges from the UK supreme court ruled unanimously that the legal definition of a woman in the Equality Act 2010 did not include transgender women who hold gender recognition certificates (GRCs).

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Pro-foxhunting group says UK hunters should be protected ethnic minority

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Chair of Hunting Kind says he has built legal case to obtain same protection as Roma and LGBTQ+ people

A pro-foxhunting group says it has prepared a legal case to try to prove that hunters are an ethnic minority whose hunts should be protected under equality laws.

Ed Swales, the chair of Hunting Kind, claims he has been advised by a leading human rights lawyer that hunters unequivocally qualify for legal protection under the UK Equality Act 2010.

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Tories will allow bars on trans women, says Kemi Badenoch

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Conservatives would change law so trans people could be excluded from single-sex spaces, if party wins election

Kemi Badenoch has said the Conservatives will change the Equality Act to rewrite the definition of sex and allow organisations to bar transgender women from single-sex spaces, including hospital wards and sports events.

The party will make clear that the protected characteristic of sex means biological sex, enabling those who wish to bar male-bodied people from organisations or activities to do so.

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York’s anti-terror measures make centre a ‘no go zone’ for disabled people

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Campaigners say removal of blue badge parking to make way for new defences is in breach of Equality Act

Disability rights campaigners are planning a legal challenge against York council after it voted to ban blue badge parking on key streets in the city centre.

York Accessibility Action (YAA), an organisation founded by disabled York residents and carers, said the city has become a “no go zone” for many disabled people and there was now no suitable parking within 150 metres of the city centre.

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Home Office sued by asylum seeker over baby’s death

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Woman claims asylum housing staff ignored pleas for help when she was in pain while 35 weeks pregnant

A woman whose baby died is suing the Home Office for negligence over claims that staff at her asylum accommodation refused to call an ambulance when she was pregnant and bleeding.

The woman, who has asked to be named Adna, sought asylum in the UK in January 2020 after fleeing Angola. She was seven months pregnant when she was brought by police to Brigstock House asylum-support accommodation in Croydon.

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Failure to enact public duty law ‘has worsened England inequality in pandemic’

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Exclusive: government urged to activate part of Equality Act that would impose duty on public bodies to tackle inequality

The failure of successive governments to enact part of the Equality Act, which would have imposed a duty to address socio-economic disadvantage, has exacerbated inequalities in England during the coronavirus pandemic, a thinktank has claimed.

The Runnymede Trust’s report, Facts Don’t Lie, says that the public sector duty provision would have imposed a legal obligation on education authorities in England to ensure working class children on free school meals were fed properly while schools were shut and had access to laptops for remote learning.

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Should men-only private members’ clubs still exist?

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The Garrick Club was founded in 1831 – a place where ‘actors and men of refinement and education might meet on equal terms’. Women were not allowed to be members and, almost 200 years on, that is still the case. Emily Bendell on why she is taking legal action against the Garrick and Amy Milne-Smith on the history of London’s clubland

Last year, businesswoman Emily Bendell was looking for a private members’ club where she could meet people after work and was surprised to discover that a number of clubs in central London still exclude women. She tells Mythili Rao why she has launched legal action against one of London’s last remaining gentlemen’s clubs, the Garrick, arguing that its men-only membership rules are a breach of equality legislation.

Mythili also talks to historian Amy Milne-Smith, author of London Clubland: A Cultural History of Gender and Class in late-Victorian Britain, about how these clubs first came into existence. She looks at the type of men who wanted to be members and why there has been a resurgence in popularity of these clubs. Is it escapism and nostalgia that is driving this?

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