In response to the UK Supreme Court ruling in For Women Scotland LTD v the Scottish Ministers the Trans Legal Clinic has launched the Trans Legal Fund to build the legal infrastructure we need to bring a human tights challenge against the ruling and protect and defend Trans* lives, dignity, and rights in the UK.The UK Supreme Court has ruled that, for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, the term “woman” as referred, in that specific context alone, to a person’s sex as it is assigned at birth. We want to clarify that the decision did not, as is widely being widely and irresponsibly reported, redefine the wider legal or ordinary meaning of the term “woman” to exclude trans women and this was clearly written in Paragraph 2 of the judgement. The ruling also does not exclude all trans women from the sex-based protections in the Equality Act 2010, we assert that it does something even more sinister. If a trans woman is "perceived" by others to have been assigned female at birth (that is to say, if she is ‘passable’) she will still be eligible for sex-based protection. This ruling creates a standard of "perceived" femininity in order to benefit from the Equality Act 2010’s sex-based protections; this is horrifying. This standard of "perceived" femininity will also apply to cisgender women who do not meet whatever it evolves to be. While the decision of the Supreme Court does not redefine for general purposes the term “woman” nor does it exclude all trans women from protection altogether; what it does do, is make a clear choice to attack the right of trans* people and non-binary people to dignity, liberty, safety and justice.

Though disguised as a push for ‘clarity’ on the law, this ruling already has begun to be used to remove from trans women the most basic levels of protection from harassment, abuse and violence. We condemn in particular the British Transport Police’s deeply concerning ‘interim policy’ of allowing male police officers to search female detainees. This is unconscionable. This serves as a prime example of the function of policing as an organ of state violence against Trans* and otherwise marginalised people. They are readily among the first to institutionalise these new violent powers. We know already that the trans community is ravaged by disproportionate experiences of hate crime, sexual violence, homelessness, domestic abuse, discrimination in the workplace and while accessing essential services such as healthcare. We know already that the trans community face a huge gap in access to justice. This is why the Trans Legal Clinic exists - this will undoubtedly deepen this void.

 

We have campaigned tirelessly around one core issue; that the fight for Trans* rights is one that will be fought not just in newspapers or online, but in legislature halls and court rooms across the globe. This is why the Trans Legal Clinic exists. We work to close the gap in access to justice and to give our community, which has always existed, a voice in the legal domain.

 

Trans* women are women. Trans* rights are human rights, This is a reality that should not be up for adjudication. No amount of repressive caselaw will change this.

 

To the wider Queer community, our friends and allies; we need you. The Trans Legal Clinic is a movement for the liberation of and a viable solution to the oppression of the Trans* Community as a people - but we are grassroots, unfunded and massively under-resourced. Now more than ever we need you to pool your resources behind the Trans Legal Clinic; whether it’s your time as volunteer, your personal expertise or a donation – we need you.

To our Trans* siblings: We know that you are tired, that your shoulders ache from the weight you were never meant to carry alone. We see the weariness in your stride, the quiet strength in ever step. But we cannot stop now. We must keep going.