The main court of the United Kingdom on Wednesday confirmed an appeal of the campaign group for Scotland women about whether transgender women are legally women under equal legislation, but said that trans people would not be disadvantaged due to their historical decision.
The unanimous judgment of five judges of the Supreme Court related to whether a trans woman with a gender recognition certificate (GRC), a formal document that grants the legal recognition of someone’s new genre, is protected from discrimination as a woman under the Law of Equality of Great Britain.
For women, Scotland had argued that rights under the Equality Law should only be applied based on the assigned sex of a person at birth. He had challenged the orientation issued by the Delegate Scottish government that accompanied a 2018 law designed to increase the proportion of women in the public sector boards.
The guide of the Scottish ministers on that law declared that a trans woman with a complete GRC was legally a woman.
“The terms ‘women’ and ‘sex’ in the Law of Equality of 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex, but we advise to read this judgment as a triumph for one or more groups in our society at the expense of another. It is not,” said Patrick Hodge, vice president of the Supreme Court.
Critics of the Scottish law had said that their definition could affect the services of a single sex for women such as shelters, hospitals and sports rooms.
But transgender activists had said that if the court ruled in favor of Scotland women, it could lead to discrimination against those with gender recognition certificates, especially on employment issues.
Hodge said that the interpretation of the Equality Law “does not cause transades to trans people, whether or not they have a gender recognition certificate.”
“Trans people have the rights that adhere to the protected characteristic of gender reallocation,” he said.
The opponents, including Amnesty International, said excluding transgender people from the protections of sexual discrimination in conflict with human rights laws.
Amnesty presented a report in court saying that he was concerned about the deterioration of rights for trans people in the United Kingdom and abroad.
“A general policy of prohibiting trans women of single -sex services is not a proportional means to achieve a legitimate objective,” said the human rights group.
Read the ruling of the United Kingdom Supreme Court:
