A group of trans women have staged a topless protest outside Scottish parliament to condemn the UK Supreme Court’s ruling on the definition of “sex”, and the Scottish government’s response to it.

On Saturday (17 May) the women stood outside the Scottish parliament building with their shirts off and their arms painted red, which they said was a mark of solidarity with anti-fascist feminists across Europe. Each protester held a white rose to represent the “death of transgender rights in the UK”, and wore tape across their mouths to symbolise the “censorship of trans voices” in the court ruling.

Last month, the UK’s top judges issued their ruling in the case of For Women Scotland Ltd v Scottish Ministers about how the protected characteristic of “sex” was defined and applied in the 2010 Equality Act. The court handed down an 88-page judgement stating the word referred to “biological sex”, thus excluding transgender people.

The decision is expected to have wide-ranging implications for the trans community, as well as organisations, public bodies and services, who will seemingly be forced to update policies on single-sex spaces, inclusion and discrimination.

In the wake of the ruling, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the UK’s equalities watchdog, issued interim guidance which called for access to single-sex spaces to be based on biology, whereby a trans woman must not be allowed to use a female toilet, and a trans man cannot enter a male one.

The guidance added that in “some circumstances” trans women should also be banned from the men’s facilities, and trans men from women’s.

Following this, the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, which oversees accommodation at Holyrood, decided that as of Monday (12 May) use of “all facilities designated as male or female” will be based on biological sex, “in line with the Supreme Court judgement”. The move was branded “rushed” and “unworkable” by Scottish Trans who also claimed it would “exclude trans people from participating in Scottish democracy, whether as staff or as visitors to the parliament”.

One protester at the topless demonstration, Sugar, said the court ruling was “not just a setback of humanitarian rights, it’s an act of erasure”, adding: “It sends a truly saddening message that trans people’s fears, dignity and lives do not matter in the eyes of the Supreme Court. Trans voices were ignored in that decision.

“This kind of judicial disregard sets a dangerous precedent for the erosion of democracy, and a descent into fascism.

“We ask Scottish ministers: why have you rolled over? Why are you no longer standing up for one of the most socially marginalised communities in the developed world? This is still a Scottish issue. We urge you to use every available avenue to stand up and fight for trans people.”

The protest was “a public act of grief, resistance and solidarity to highlight the hypocrisy of the ruling”, Sugar went on to say. “If the Supreme Court can see these woman legally as men, then they’ll have zero issue with them going tops off.”

During the demonstration, a monologue was read out which described the Supreme Court ruling as a “step on the slippery slope towards fascism”

“This ruling, and the subsequent EHRC guidance aims to segregate trans people from safe spaces that they have for used for decades without issue,” the monologue said. “We are demanding that the Scottish government stand up for its trans citizens by fighting this ruling and appealing to the European Court of Human Rights.”

The monologue continued: “Today’s action is a peaceful cry for fairness and dignity. We are scared, we are angry and we are grieving.

“This ruling represents the first nail in the coffin of not just trans rights, but the rights of all LGBTQ people across the UK. The Supreme Court has chosen to ignore the voices and rights of trans people.

“We need our leaders to speak up, stand with us, and protect each of us equally. Silence on this issue is capitulation to the bigotry and fear that have already captured the EHRC and our government.”

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