Six London councils pledge to keep trans-inclusive services despite new EHRC guidance
New trans-exclusionary EHRC guidance on single-sex spaces was officially introduced this week. (Getty)
Six London councils have pledged to maintain trans-inclusive services despite new guidance on single-sex spaces from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) coming into force.
The leaders of Lambeth, Hackney, Haringey, Lewisham, Southwark and Waltham Forest boroughs issued a joint letter yesterday (5 August) – the day that EHRC’s single-sex spaces guidance officially came into force in England, Scotland and Wales.
Because of this guidance, access to public single-sex spaces such as toilets, changing rooms and rape crisis centres should now be determined by person’s sex as it was assigned at birth.
The Labour, Green and Liberal Democrat-led boroughs said they would not require staff to “police” access to public spaces, arguing the guidance would make transgender and non-binary residents feel under attack.
While some councils say they will continue operating inclusive services, legal challenges have already begun, with Hackney being served a formal legal challenge due to failure to provide services exclusively for cis women, as reported by The Times.
EHRC chair Mary-Ann Stephenson warned in a statement to Times Radio that public bodies remain legally “obliged to follow the law”.
At the same time, campaigners on both sides continue to dispute how the guidance should be applied in practice.
