Advocates and MPs urge government to scrap trans ‘segregation’ EHRC code
A protest outside the EHRC in 2025 (Getty Images)
Trans advocates and MPs alike are calling on the UK government to scrap the EHRC’s code of practice that will “segregate” trans people.
The 40-day scrutiny period for the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) code of practice is set to expire on 9 July, and more than 160 MPs have signed an early day motion calling for the code not to be brought in.
The code will request businesses and public bodies to enforce bathroom and changing room rules on the basis of biological sex.
The guidance says: “In separate or single-sex services, a trans man will be excluded from the men-only service because his sex is female, and a trans woman will be excluded from the women-only service because her sex is male.”
It also states that people can be asked to disclose their sex if “there is clear evidence of an issue with members of the opposite sex accessing or seeking to access the single or separate-sex service or association”.
‘It will cause real harm to trans people’
The Scottish Greens are urging the UK government to scrap the code, calling it “authoritarian and cruel and cements exclusion and segregation”.
“It will cause real harm to trans people who have accessed these spaces and services for years without incident. With only days to go before it comes into force, the UK Government still has time to change course,” said the party’s equalities spokesperson, Kate Nevens.
“Trans people want the same thing as everyone else, to live their lives free from prejudice, discrimination and violence. Instead, this guidance will legitimise intrusive questioning, encourage suspicion and make everyday life less safe,” Nevens told the National.
“And it won’t just affect trans people. Anyone who doesn’t conform to gender stereotypes risks being challenged or harassed, while workplaces, businesses and public services will be left to enforce guidance that is confusing, divisive and unworkable.
“The government should scrap this guidance and work with those affected to create a system that protects everyone’s safety, dignity and rights.”
‘Women’s rights are best advanced when we stand in solidarity with our trans siblings’
Similarly, NION Women said in a statement shared with PinkNews: “These changes are being presented as necessary to protect the safety, rights and dignity of women. In reality, as women’s organisations, we believe these changes do nothing to address the actual causes of violence and inequality that women face every day. Rather, they are another example of our voices and experiences being exploited to justify the introduction of policies that promote restriction and exclusion.”
The organisation added: “We reject the false choice between protecting women and treating trans people with dignity, and believe women’s rights are best advanced when we stand in solidarity with our trans siblings.”
The statement has been co-signed by a number of organisations, including Amnesty Feminist Network, Girls Friendly Society, Global Women’s Strike, Intersectional Feminists, Level Up and Women Against Rape, as well as many others.
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