UK equalities minister says trans people must not be used as a political punchbag

UK equalities minister Bridget Phillipson has said trans people should not be “used as a political punchbag”, while also reaffirming her support for trans people being excluded from single-sex spaces.

Phillipson, who is also the government’s education secretary and in the autumn sought to be Labour’s deputy leader, made the comments on the Political Currency podcast, which is hosted by former Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls and ex-Conservative chancellor George Osborne.

During the interview, which dropped on Wednesday (31 December), Phillipson discussed various key issues including Labour scrapping the two-child benefit cap, the state of education and the rise of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party.

Phillipson was also asked about trans rights and women’s rights, in her portfolio as equalities minister, and the controversial, forthcoming guidance on single-sex spaces created in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling in April on the definition of ‘sex’.

“I used to run a women’s refuge and I know how important it is that women have spaces that are women-only spaces,” Phillipson said.

“Feminists and campaigners fought for a very, very long time to establish that principle and it is an important principle, but it’s there for a good reason because it’s about safety for women and about having the space and the time to really heal after trauma.

“But I don’t see that as being in conflict with making sure you can treat trans people with dignity and respect as well.

“We have had the Supreme Court ruling which I welcome. I’ve now received the Code of Practice from the EHRC, we’ve got to go through that properly and thoroughly.”

She went on to add: “But in recent times trans people have been used as a political punchbag in order to make an argument. We’ve got to kind of take a step back from this and do it responsibly.”

The Supreme Court ruling was delivered in the case of For Women Scotland vs Scottish Ministers, which decided the definition of ‘sex’ for the purposes of the 2010 Equality Act refers to biological sex only.

In response to the legal judgement, the UK’s human rights watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) swiftly published widely-criticised interim guidance that recommended organisations, businesses and service providers essentially bar trans men and women from single-sex services and spaces, such as changing rooms and toilets, which align with their gender.

However, the EHRC added added in “some circumstances” trans people could also be barred from spaces based on their “biological sex”. It was later clarified these “circumstances” related to where “reasonable objection” could be taken to a trans person’s presence, such as in female spaces, when “the gender reassignment process has given [a trans man] a masculine appearance or attributes”.

In early September the EHRC announced it had sent a finished version of the Code to Phillipson and a leak published in The Times suggested the finalised guidance closely resembles its interim version.

However, nearly six months on, the final version has not been made public and the interim guidance has now been removed from the EHRC website.

The guidance has been criticised by trans, wider LGBTQ+ and human rights organisations both within the UK and outside of it, with the commissioner for human rights for the Council of Europe, Michael O’Flaherty, outlining in a letter that the UK’s “zero-sum approach” to trans rights would lead to a “widespread exclusion of trans people from many public spaces”. In October, dozens of MPs also signed a letter expressing deep concern about the impact of the guidance on business up and down the country.

During her appearance on the podcast, Phillipson claimed the “majority” of the British public want single-sex spaces to exclude trans people.

“I think that’s where the majority of the British people are on this topic is that they accept there are times when you do need women-only provision,” she said.

“But at the same time we’re a compassionate nation, common sense in their approach. We don’t abuse or target trans people because of who they are, that’s not … in keeping with what people would believe.

“But you do need to make sure you’ve got kind of fairness in areas like sport and good access for services for women.”

This is not the first time Phillipson has criticised the rhetoric impacting trans people in the UK, which her party has been accused of contributing to.

Back in November, she told the EHRC to stop focusing on “public debate” in regards to its trans guidance.

“We’ll get this right but we also require the regulator to provide us with the information we need as a government to consider all that together: the code of practice, together with other material,” she said, according to The Guardian.

“A bit more focus on that and a little less focus on public debate would be helpful.”