Thread by @EngenderScot

Our response to the #EHRC letter:

Engender remain supportive of the introduction of a Bill to reform the Gender Recognition Act.
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Nothing that has been proposed to date for the Bill would change the operation of the Equality Act as it relates to data, sports,& single-sex spaces; but in light of the recent letter sent to the Scottish Government by @EHRC, we feel it's important to reiterate our position.
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On specific points within the letter, the EHRC calls for more detailed consideration on the basis of concerns relating to “collection and use of data, participation and drug testing in competitive sport, measures to address barriers facing women...
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...and practices within the criminal justice system, inter alia.” These concerns have been discussed and answered at length during more than five years of debate on the proposals.
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The EHRC has engaged in two consultation processes, and directly with the women’s sector, confirming on numerous occasions its previous position. Namely, that the proposed changes to the GRA would have no impact on the existing exemptions in the Equality Act 2010.
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The authoritative interpretation of the law on single-sex spaces is set out in the EHRC’s own guidance and the Code of Practice on the provision of single (or separate) sex services.
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This has most recently been robustly reinforced in May 2021, in R (on the application of Authentic Equality Alliance) v Commission for Equality and Human Rights, available here: bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/…
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The EHRC’s letter provides absolutely no legal reasoning for such an abrupt change in their own position, and we ask them to urgently set out the legal basis underpinning this change, if this exists.
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We agree with the EHRC’s original assessment that the Equality Act 2010 creates the right balance in managing trans women’s inclusion and exclusion in provision of single-sex services.
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We are concerned at the repeated attempts to derail the process of making minor reforms to the Gender Recognition Act, which will improve the lives of trans people in Scotland.
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This only serves as a distraction to the urgency of achieving women’s equality in Scotland and will lead to a regression in human rights for all.
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More information on our work to assess the legal impacts of proposed reforms can be found in a legal analysis independently commissioned and peer-reviewed, written for Engender by Professor Nicole Busby. Access this paper here: engender.org.uk/content/public…
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You can also watch the webinar we held on Understanding the Equality Act in November 2020 with Lynne Welsh, Head of Legal in Scotland at the EHRC:

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