On "safe spaces"

In all the political word salad over the past week women's "safe spaces" keeps coming up

The Equality Act does not talk about "safe spaces"

It is about "single & separate sex services" (and sports, associations etc...)

[from 18:50]

channel4.com/programmes/liv… Framing this as an issue of "women's safe spaces" is a misdirection which suggests:

- It is something specialised & unusual
- It is only for women who have *already* experienced domestic or sexual violence
- It is about risk assessment
- It is about weeding out 'bad apples'

What does "sex" mean in the Equality Act?

This paper by Julius Komorowski @podslaw in the @Lawscot Journal is really very useful.

lawscot.org.uk/members/journa… In common law, sex was defined in Corbett v Corbett (the case of April Ashley) in 1971 on the basis of biology: chromosomes, internal and external sex organs (i.e. natural sex)

"sex change" was not seen as possible

[Thread] Good morning. Let's take a look at the new guidance for employers published by @GIRESUK recently gires.org.uk/transgender-po… It does contain some helpful, EqA compliant advice. Don't discriminate against people at work because they are trans or are taking time off for treatment.

You remember last year the @cityoflondon launched a consultation on “gender identity” to help decide who should be able to use single-sex facilities (including Hampstead Ponds, toilets and changing rooms at running track, facilities at the Barbican etc... ) You remember the leading questions, all focused on gender "assigned at birth", not sex. The survey was initially circulated by being tweeted out by @edwardlord who subscribes to 'terf' block lists camdennewjournal.com/article/heath-…

Lets take a look at the "Trans Toolkit for Schools." It was developed by several local councils with input from Allsorts and Gendered Intelligence. It is now under review is Oxfordshire, Warwickshire & Merseyside after groups of parents complained. Is this just parents being Conservative (or transphobic?) or are there real problems with this widely used resource?

The big packet of emails released under FOI -- covering correspondence between @fairplaywomen and @fawcettsociety and @EHRC relating to changes to the guidance on 'gender reassignment' discrimination made in October is really interesting These were the changes:

https://twitter.com/OnlyObjectivity/status/1049340702507913216?fbclid=IwAR36j73lGC2u__T3BXaKMqmhvUJ63Sr1rcAHT4gzTtplJbdk14wz2SIempo

The FOI'ed emails (much redacted) are here whatdotheyknow.com/request/525230… I have put the text into readable order here docs.google.com/document/d/1Pg…

. @EHRC 's sex discrimination page is back up. The section on single and separate sex services is very sparse. There are many more everyday examples than this in the Equality Act - why not list them? equalityhumanrights.com/en/advice-and-… But at least it does list sports

This is a thread about @Mermaids_Gender & @TNLComFund looking at (1) the National Lottery Fund’s recent Review, (2) the Proposal from Mermaids, (3) and the Fund’s original Assessment of it (obtained via FOI request) All documents are here: drive.google.com/drive/u/2/fold… The NLF’s original assessment in order to award funding was very slight – it is about a page long and basically repeats assertions from Mermaid’s proposal. Whereas the review is 20 pages long, w an extensive bibliography and draws on discussions with @TaviAndPort and others.

Powerful declaration from @WomensLibFront calling out LGB Movement orgs& funders @HRC @stonewalluk @thinkprogress @splcenter @ACLU @amnesty @hrw @OSFGrants @FordFoundation in statement of no confidence womensliberationfront.org/declaration-of… [Thread: my twitter summary] "To the political, civil society, foundation funding, and media leadership of the former gay liberation movement"please stop this or resign your claims to speak on behalf of the rights of lesbians, or any other women and girls:

This account is mainly to tweet about the Equality Act, but that interacts with the Gender Recognition Act, so I am going to tweet here about a recent case: Jay v Secretary of State for Justice 2018 - suggests the GRA panel's ability to turn down applications will be more limited It is this case from October 2018 independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n….

Lets talk about the “West Yorkshire” case. It is one of the few pieces of case law relevant to the question of how 'gender reassignment' interacts with single sex services & exemptions, and so it has carried a lot of weight. It is well worth reading. publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200304/ld… The circumstances of the case happened in 1997 and the final appeal was in 2004 – so this was under the old sex discrimination and just prior to the Gender Recognition Act.

This @thesundaytimes correction and the @IpsoNews decision that goes with it are confused and confusing ipso.co.uk/rulings-and-re…. Why is the Press Standards Association trying to make up interpretation of the Equality Act? @EHRC should be doing this to provide clear guidance The Times says service providers "can allow transgender people to use single sex spaces such as toilets, but can exclude them if this can be justified as a proportionate means to a legitimate end"

This is a thread on what the Equality Act says about when it is legitimate to treat women and men differently in order to promote equality. There are eight areas, all based on the protected characteristic of sex - - not gender identity 1)Separate & single sex services (Schedule 3, Part 7):where only one sex needs the service (smear tests.. ), hospital or care settings, where a person of one sex might reasonably object to the presence or body contact of a person of opposite sex @DHSCgovuk @NHSuk @EastSussexCC

This account is to tweet about the Equality Act 2010 legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/… and what the law says about single sex services, spaces and other provisions (from changing rooms, prisons, dormitories, charities, womens' sports etc...) Many women are concerned about losing single sex spaces to 'gender self ID- @SusanBaroness says “The government absolutely agrees that maintaining access to single sex spaces in some circumstances is important, and helps to keep vulnerable women in particular safe.”