2 weeks Ago By Josh Milton
At the crux of the case is the Equality Act (Picture: EPA)The UK Supreme Court will hand down a landmark ruling on the definition of a ‘woman’ today.Five judges will decide whether the legal understanding includes trans women with gender recognition certificates (GRC).The Scottish government says this definition includes trans women with a GRC, a paper that shows a person’s affirmed gender is legally recognised.
While For Women Scotland (FWS), which campaigns against trans rights, say this should only be for ‘biological women’.What are the judges ruling on?The ruling – which will drop at 9.45am – relates to two different aspects of how people think of gender.
Sex – something assigned at birth based on external anatomy – and gender identity, the internal, deeply held sense of one’s gender.To be legally recognised, trans people need to obtain a special document called a GRC (Picture: Sinai Noor/Shutterstock)Which way the five top judges go will have huge implications on gender-based rights.Join Metro's LGBTQ+ community on WhatsAppWith thousands of members from all over the world, our vibrant LGBTQ+ WhatsApp channel is a hub for all the latest news and important issues that face the LGBTQ+ community.
Simply click on this link, select ‘Join Chat’ and you’re in! Don't forget to turn on notifications!At the core of the court case is the Equality Act 2010, the bedrock of equalities law that covers Britain. The act protects characteristics including sex, gender and gender reassignment against discrimination. The act defines a woman as a ‘female of any age’.
But the judges are deciding exactly what the act means by ‘sex’.What is a gender recognition certificate (GRC)?With a GRC, a trans adult can update their birth certificate, marriage certificate and HMRC records to reflect their identity as well as their death certificate.The paperwork is not needed for trans people to change their legal names or update the sex marker on IDs like passports or driving licences.
In 2018, only about 1% of trans people had a GRC, according to official figures. There are 262,000 openly trans people in England and Wales – or 0.5% of the population.
The gender recognition system requires trans people to receive a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, which can take years due to the years-long waiting times at NHS gender clinics.Non-binary people cannot be legally recognised in the UK. FWS took legal action after the Scottish Parliament passed a bill to ensure gender balance on public sector boards in 2018.
The case is a response to a 2022 ruling that said sex is ‘not limited’ to biological sex and the ability of a GRC to change a person’s legal sex ‘does not offend against, or give rise to any conflict with, legislation where it is clear that ‘sex’ means biological sex’.FWS say that trans women should not be allowed to access most single-sex spaces and services that match their identity – think public toilets, changing rooms or domestic abuse refuges.Protesters say that gender is determined at birth (Picture: Martin Pope/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock)Trans women can legally use these services without a GRC.
They can only be excluded from single-sex spaces to achieve a ‘legitimate aim’.Barrister Aidan O’Neill, who is representing the group, says that calling a trans woman with a GRC a woman is a ‘legal fiction’.Sex, he added, is an ‘immutable biological state’.
Trans rights campaigners and people say otherwise. ‘No matter the outcome today at the Supreme Court, trans and non-binary people will never be erased,’ Sophie Molly, a Scottish trans rights campaigner, told Metro. ‘We have been around forever.
We are strong and proud. We are invincible!’Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
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