UK warned trans policies could breach European Convention on Human Rights

"In September, the UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) insisted that its 'single-sex' code of practice is "clear to those who rely on it" after hundreds of businesses described it as "unworkable". It has been suggested that planned changes to its guidance include clauses that would effectively exclude trans people from using public facilities, such as toilets, consistent with their gender identity."

"A consultation on updating the code of practice launched in April shortly following the FWS v Scottish Ministers Supreme Court ruling, which determined that the 2010 Equality Act's definition of 'women' refers to 'biological women.' O'Flaherty's letter, addressed to Sarah Owen, chair of parliament's women and equalities committee, and David Alton, chair of the joint committee on human rights, states that the guidance must avoid "the unsatisfactory situation in which trans people live in an intermediate zone [as] not quite one gender or the other"."

""I observe a tendency to see the human rights of different groups as a zero-sum game. This has contributed to narratives which build on prejudice against trans people and portray upholding their human rights as a de facto threat to the rights of others. Such a zero-sum approach risks certain inferences being drawn from the UK Supreme Court judgment that could lead to widespread exclusion of trans people from many public spaces.""

Michael O'Flaherty, commissioner for human rights for the Council of Europe, warned that anticipated UK guidance following the Supreme Court gender ruling risks breaching the European Convention on Human Rights. The UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission maintained that its 'single-sex' code is clear despite hundreds of businesses calling it unworkable. Planned guidance changes have been suggested to include clauses that would exclude trans people from public facilities, such as toilets, consistent with their gender identity. A consultation to update the code launched in April after the FWS v Scottish Ministers ruling that the 2010 Equality Act's definition of 'women' refers to 'biological women.' O'Flaherty warned against a zero-sum framing and creation of an intermediate legal status for trans people.

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