BREAKING: The High Court has dismissed the Good Law Project’s challenge to the EHRC interim guidance on single and separate-sex facilities.
Mr Justice Swift endorsed the EHRC update as an accurate statement of the law for employers & service providers.
The update says service providers and employers can only provide lawful separate sex facilities based on sex, and suggested where possible they offer a unisex alternative.
GLP was judged not to have standing as it lacked “sufficient interest”. The anonymous claimants did have standing, and so their substantive arguments were considered.
The court dismissed their claims in their entirety. It found nothing wrong in law about either version of the EHRC’s statement, and the claimant’s human rights had not been breached.
It dismissed the Secretary of State's argument that cleaners, children using toilets w parents, or “emergencies” (like the pregnant woman allowed to use the men's to avoid a queue 🙄) might mean that transsexuals get a free pass.
This judgment makes clear that it is lawful for employers and service providers to provide straightforward separate-sex facilities, and that it may be unlawful indirect discrimination against women not to.
The government says it has “always been clear” that employers should not wait for the services code of practice and should get on with updating their policies.
But in December, the head of the civil service told us that the Cabinet Office will not withdraw its own workplace policy for the whole of the civil service… until the EHRC’s services code of practice is published.
So across government departments, unlawful policies remain and everyone is “waiting for the EHRC”.
The NHS Confederation (the employers’ organisation for the NHS in England) is also refusing to update its workplace guidance… until the services code comes out.
The judgment in Sandie Peggie vs NHS Fife and Dr Upton has been published.
We are pleased that Sandie Peggie has won her claim of harassment against NHS Fife, and that the hospital trust was criticised for its terrible handling of the complaint against her.
This is a long judgment and it will take time to analyse it fully.
We are disappointed the tribunal sought to reach a spurious “balance” between a woman’s right to undress with privacy & dignity, and the right of an employee w the PC of gender reassignment not to be discriminated against in employment.
Treating "gender incongruence" by stunting children's physical, mental and reproductive development - so they can look better if they transition: its not ethical @wesstreeting
Sex and gender reporting at the BBC is neither accurate nor impartial.
We have been tracking and complaining about this for some time!
There is the endless coverage of drag...
And the Pride boosterism
Meanwhile the Cass Review which reported on the weak evidence for puberty blockers and misguided “diagnostic overshadowing” was largely reported as a problem of under-capacity in NHS gender clinics
It’s been a busy week for media coverage of gender critical legal cases in addition to the Darlington Nurses, with Maria Kelly, Allison Bailey and Sandie Peggie all in the news this week 🧵
UPDATE: @scotgov has dropped its unlawful toilets policy, and we can now confirm that we have withdrawn our application for judicial review 🧵 sex-matters.org/posts/updates/…
In September, we lodged a petition for judicial review of the failure by the Scottish Government to restore and protect the provision of single-sex toilet facilities in its building: sex-matters.org/posts/publicat…
Our legal challenge was against paragraph 4.6 of the Government’s Trans and Non Binary Equality and Inclusion Policy.
This meant allowing male staff into women’s toilets and changing facilities. We said that this was authorising harassment related to sex, and was unlawful.