The Supreme Court of the U.K. ruled earlier today that the legal definition of a woman under the country’s 2010 Equality Act is based on “biological sex.” However, the court said that trans people still have protections against discrimination under the law.
The ruling could affect trans people in the U.S. Anti-transgender advocates in the U.S. often cite U.K. laws and the work of anti-transgender activists in the U.K.
“The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex,” Judge Patrick Hodge said for the five judges on the court. “But we counsel against reading this judgment as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not.”
“The Equality Act 2010 gives transgender people protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, and harassment in substance in their acquired gender.”
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The case was a challenge brought by the anti-trans group For Women Scotland against the Scottish government, where the Scottish government argued that trans women who have obtained a gender recognition certificate (GRC) should be treated like women and have access to services and protections set aside for women. The case was a challenge to a 2018 bill passed by the Scottish Parliament that required gender balance on public sector boards. It said that trans women could be counted as part of the quotas for women imposed by the law.
For Women Scotland argued that the 2010 Equality Act’s definition of “sex” and “women” are based on sex assigned at birth, arguing that sex is an “immutable biological state.” The Scottish government said that the 2004 Gender Recognition Act made it so that getting a GRC changes one’s sex “for all purposes.”
“The ruling gives clarity between two relevant pieces of legislation passed at Westminster,” Scottish First Minister John Swinney said after the ruling. “We will now engage on the implications of the ruling.” Swinney, who leads the center-left Scottish National Party, has previously said that he believes trans women are women.
Trans rights advocates denounced the ruling. Scottish Trans leader Vic Valentine said that it “reverses twenty years of understanding on how the law recognizes trans men and women with Gender Recognition Certificates.”
“The judgment seems to have totally missed what matters to trans people – that we are able to live our lives and be recognized in line with who we truly are.”
“This judgment seems to suggest that there will be times where trans people can be excluded from both men’s and women’s spaces and services. It is hard to understand where we would then be expected to go – or how this decision is compatible with a society that is fair and equal for everybody.”
On social media, Scottish Trans urged people “not to panic.”
“There will be lots of commentary coming out quickly that is likely to deliberately overstate the impact that this decision is going to have on all trans people’s lives. We’ll say more as soon as we’re able to. Please look out for yourselves and each other today.”
The ruling could have effects on trans people in the U.S. British TERFism (anti-trans hate) has often seeped into American culture through figures like Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and American anti-trans forces often cite British actions like the much-maligned Cass Review and rulings against gender-affirming care to push anti-trans policies in the U.S.
“Extremely devastating news for transgender people in the United Kingdom,” trans independent journalist Erin Reed posted to Bluesky. “So much of what we face in the United States has shared roots in that country, and this Supreme Court decision there will make people far less free.”
“Crackdowns on trans people are international, not limited to borders.”
Extremely devastating news for transgender people in the United Kingdom. So much of what we face in the United States has shared roots in that country, and this Supreme Court decision there will make people far less free. Crackdowns on trans people are international, not limited to borders.
— Erin Reed (@erininthemorning.com) April 16, 2025 at 1:26 PM
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