The UK Government has officially adopted a Supreme Court ruling that a person’s sex is based on biology, rather than gender identity [1].
This preserves single-sex spaces for women and excludes biological males, even if they identify as women.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) updated code of practice confirms that public toilets, changing facilities and sports teams must be segregated based on biological sex.
However, the guidance also warns that it would not be “practical or appropriate” for staff to challenge individuals they suspected were using the wrong lavatory or changing room.
Maya Forstater, the chief executive of women’s rights charity Sex Matters, said: “The guidance could be clearer that service providers are entitled to ask people to state their sex, and to require an honest answer.
“It’s absurd to say that it is ‘unlikely to be either practical or appropriate’ to ask an individual what sex they are in relation to facilities such as toilets: on the contrary, if a man walks into a women’s space it will be not just appropriate to challenge him, but essential.
“Otherwise women’s rights to single-sex spaces cannot be enforced.”