Legal definition of ‘woman’ not applicable to transgenders, rules UK Supreme Court | World News
The Supreme Court in Britain ruled on Wednesday that transgender women do not fall within the legal definition of women under the country’s equality legislation and is only based on biological sex.
The judgment follows a years-long legal battle over whether trans women can be regarded as female under Britain’s 2010 Equality Act, which aims to prevent discrimination.
Announcing the decision on Wednesday, the deputy president of the court, Lord Hodge, said: “The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological women and biological sex.”
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The ruling means that a transgender person with a certificate that recognises them as female should not be considered a woman for equality purposes.
But the court added that its ruling, “does not cause disadvantage to trans people” because they have protections under anti-discrimination and equality laws.
“We counsel against reading this judgment as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not,” Hodge said.
Lord Hodge began his remarks acknowledging the national conversation about transgender rights and protections, and described trans people as a “vulnerable and often harassed minority,” while noting that women had fought for centuries for equal rights.Story continues below this ad
He added: “It is not the task of this court to make policy on how the interests of these groups should be protected” but “to ascertain the meaning of the legislation which Parliament has enacted.”
The decision comes as a blow to campaigners for transgender rights, and could have far-reaching consequences for how the law is applied in Britain to single-sex spaces, equal pay claims and maternity policies.
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