On the 16th of April this year, the Supreme Court handed down a ruling that the terms ‘sex’, ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in the Equalities Act refer to ‘biological sex’ only.
On the 20th of May the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) launched a consultation in response to this ruling. The consultation is about the proposed changes to its Equalities Act 2010 Code of Practice for services, public functions and associations. Courts and tribunals must take the code of practice into account in cases involving discrimination in services, public authorities carrying out public functions, and membership associations.
We believe that the proposed changes will have a significant and unacceptable negative impact on our trans and gender-diverse communities, so we are working with partner organisations to look at how we can strategically respond together to the EHRC. We also encourage you to consider how you might want to respond, sharing your concerns and experiences. Below are some links to useful resources to support you through consultation process.
- Stonewall: How to respond effectively to the Equality and Human Rights Commission's public consultation
- TransActual: Responding to the EHRC public consultation on the updated Code of Practice
- TransActual: Responding to the EHRC consultation: What do I say?
- LGBT Foundation: EHRC Consultation Guide
- Equality and Human Rights Commission: Code of practice for services, public functions and associations: consultation 2025