Thread by @MForstater

Whenever we talk on here about whether males can be excluded from female changing rooms, showers, toilets etc.. it quickly disintegrates into "are you going to check genitals, birth certificates, chromosomes etc..... "

Like this is the ultimate gotcha.

The thing is the single sex exceptions are not the only ones in the Equality Act.

There are also exceptions which allow service providers to discriminate on the grounds of age, pregnancy & other protected characteristics, if there is a good reason for the policy.

This is what this looks like

Lawful pregnancy discrimination

(the Equality Act says this applies to women btw)

Lawful age discrimination

No one is standing by the roller coaster making all the women pee on a stick, or at the gates of the playground checking birth certificates.

These policies rely on people being sensible, reading the sign and complying (and it they don't it might be pointed out to them)

Similarly, it is perfectly possible to expect adult males to read and comply with a sign like this (even if they have gender dysphoria and have a desire to be seen as a woman)

The women-only policy was put in place for a good reason (that meets the Equality Act test)

Expecting males to stay out of female-only facilities which are provided for good reason (like bodily privacy) is not unreasonable or impossible, and it does not require genital inspections.

It does require clear guidance for frontline staff & customers

When Amelia Pereira (pictured here on a 'girl day') demanded to use the ladies at the Rockhouse pub & was declined (the accessible toilet was offered) it made the papers & the pub apologised mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/t…

This is what Pereira thinks the law says.

Pereira is wrong. The fact that single sex facilities exist in the first place reflects that you can have policies which tell individuals 'if you are not female you can't come in here'.

(the manager shouldn't have asked about 'sex change' though)

The Equality Act does not work by requiring ad hoc exceptions to policies.

If a policy is illegitimately discriminatory then it should be removed.

The @EHRC has not provided clear guidance and have encouraged the idea that some males (left ambiguously undefined as to which) have the right to push their way past this sign and through women's boundaries.