Single-sex spaces are to be protected, with facilities and services restricted to those of the appropriate biological sex, finalised Government guidance says.
After lengthy delays, an amended version of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) Code of Practice for England, Scotland and Wales has been finally approved by the Government.
The new statutory guidance has been updated to ensure compliance with the Supreme Court’s ruling that ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refers to biological sex and not gender identity. It confirms that people should not be allowed to use facilities designated for the opposite sex, regardless of how they identify.
Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson, who received the draft Code from the EHRC in September last year, has now laid it before Parliament for a 40-day period. If unopposed, it will be enacted at the end of that period.
Single-sex spaces
The guidance states that if “a service provider (or a person providing a service in the exercise of public functions) admits trans people to a service intended for the opposite sex” then it can no longer rely on single and separate sex exceptions.
“This means that if a service is provided only to women and trans women or only to men and trans men, it is not a separate-sex or single-sex service under the Equality Act 2010.”
In relation to the Act, it specifies that “a person’s sex remains their biological sex”, whether they have a Gender Recognition Certificate or not.
Phillipson said the guidance marked “an important step in ensuring that organisations across Great Britain have clear guidance regarding its implementation, protecting people’s rights across our country”.
‘A simple principle’
Women’s rights campaigner Maya Forstater, Chief Executive of Sex Matters, cautiously welcomed the new Code.
She observed: “at its heart is a simple principle: ‘sex’ means what it says – male and female. What people call themselves and how they dress doesn’t change their sex. Neither does getting updated paperwork”.
And she said any “business, charity or public service provider that took a wrong turn and started letting men who identify as women use women’s spaces or vice versa must now urgently fix its policies”.
Enforcement
However, Forstater added: “The guidance could be clearer that service providers are entitled to ask people to state their sex, and to require an honest answer.
“It’s absurd to say that it is ‘unlikely to be either practical or appropriate’ to ask an individual what sex they are in relation to facilities such as toilets: on the contrary, if a man walks into a women’s space it will be not just appropriate to challenge him, but essential.
“Otherwise women’s rights to single-sex spaces cannot be enforced.”
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