Take action now for trans rights.
Some practical ways you can show your support for trans people in the wake of the 16th April Supreme Court ruling.
Dear subscribers,
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A core value of UCU Commons is equality and dignity for everyone; but particularly for transgender and nonbinary people whose rights and wellbeing have faced increasing attacks over the last few years. This has culminated in a supreme court case, brought by For Women Scotland and backed financially by the author JK Rowling, which ruled that the definition of ‘woman’ was based on ‘biological sex’. We were alarmed to hear that transgender people, whose lives are most impacted by this ruling, were not allowed to give evidence at the hearing, and deeply concerned to see compliance in advance from London Transport Police, who stated that transgender women in their custody would be strip searched by male officers. Statements from the Prime Minister and Minister for Equalities (who also serves as Education Minister) stating that the definition of woman is based on ‘biological sex’ are alarming, and we welcome the Good Law Project’s announcement of a crowdfunded case to challenge the ruling (see our list of actions).
We were horrified at the EHRC’s release of interim guidance on single-sex spaces in the wake of this ruling, despite the fact that the ruling does not mandate the exclusion of trans men or women from any space, or that organisations should act in a prejudiced way towards trans and gender diverse people. The interim guidance states that in workplaces and services open to the public, trans men and women, as well as young trans people, should not be permitted to use ‘single-sex’ facilities in their affirmed gender, and that under some circumstances they should be legally prohibited from using facilities corresponding to the sex they were assigned at birth. As well as being an attack on the rights and dignity of all LGBTQIA+ people, we believe that the interim guidance represents a massive overreach that will inevitably face many legal challenges.
We believe the most important thing at this point for our trans siblings is urgent action, so see here for a list of concrete steps that everyone can take, today, to fight back against this ruling. We urge you to share this with all your contacts, asking them to act and share with their contacts.
This is not yet law, and not yet a hopeless situation. There is a lot you can easily do, right now, to help trans and nonbinary people, but time is of the essence.
In solidarity,
UCU Commons