Latest news with #LesbianVisibilityWeek
Telegraph
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Labour MPs sign pledge against ‘divisive' Supreme Court trans ruling
Four Labour MPs have signed a trans-rights pledge that appears to criticise the 'divisive' Supreme Court trans ruling. Charlotte Nichols, Kate Osborne, Olivia Blake and Nadia Whittome put their names to a statement that also said lesbian rights do not conflict with those of transgender people. It came after Supreme Court judges unanimously ruled that the terms 'woman' and 'sex' in the Equality Act referred to biological sex instead of acquired gender. The Left-wing backbenchers endorsing the pledge is the latest sign of ongoing tensions within the Labour Party over gender identity issues. The statement was drawn up for a Lesbian Visibility Week reception in Parliament last week, and reads: 'We, the undersigned, affirm our unwavering commitment to the dignity, safety and liberation of lesbian and trans people in all their diversity. 'In the wake of the UK Supreme Court ruling, we reaffirm that the rights of trans people do not conflict with the rights of lesbians. We reject attempts to divide our communities and stand united against all forms of transphobia, lesbophobia and misogyny. 'Our liberation is bound together. There is no pride in exclusion. No feminism without solidarity. We stand firm. We will not be divided.' 'Ruling does not provide clarity' Interim guidance issued by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) , published in the wake of the court judgement, said that trans women should not be allowed to use women's lavatories. It added that membership of an association with 25 members or more can be limited to gay men or lesbian women, saying a lesbian-only association should not admit trans women, and associations for gay men should not admit trans men. Ms Whittome said she was 'very concerned' in the wake of the judgement, warning that it 'does not provide clarity'. Ms Blake said she could 'understand that many people are anxious' about the potential consequences of the ruling, writing on Instagram: 'As an MP, I remain committed to campaigning for better, fairer services for everyone. We must tackle unequal access so as to ensure everyone, cis women and trans women, receive the support they need.' Days after the court ruling, Labour frontbenchers Dame Angela Eagle and Sir Chris Bryant were among Labour MPs who railed against remarks made by Baroness Falkner, who chairs the EHRC. She had said the ruling meant trans women would be banned from women's single-sex spaces. In a leaked WhatsApp message, Dame Angela warned that official guidance that would follow the ruling could be 'catastrophic' for transgender people. 'Let's meet about this when we get back from Easter recess to decide a way forwards,' she said. 'The ruling is not as catastrophic as it seems, but the EHRC guidance might be and there are already signs that some public bodies are overreacting.' Downing Street insisted it would not take any action because the Supreme Court judgement itself had not been criticised. Sir Keir Starmer said after the ruling that a woman 'is an adult female', but critics of the Prime Minister pointed out his past comments on the issue. In 2022, he had said trans women were women, declaring the following year that '99.9 per cent' of women did not have a penis. Sally Wainwright, from the campaign group Lesbian Persistence, said: 'Clarity is not division. It's the duty of elected parliamentarians, and especially of those in government, to uphold the rule of law, not to try to undermine the authority of the highest court in the land. 'MPs should be welcoming a ruling that makes crystal clear that lesbians, women and trans people all have our own, inalienable rights. Those rights are not in conflict, but are separately protected by the Equality Act. 'What is divisive is the trans lobby stirring up fear and alarm, particularly amongst vulnerable gender-questioning young people, by misrepresenting the meaning of the ruling. It is inappropriate for MPs to support such statements. They should be providing reassurance where it is needed instead.' A Government spokesman said: 'We have always supported the protection of single-sex spaces based on biological sex. 'This ruling brings clarity and confidence, for women and service providers such as hospitals, refuges, and sports clubs. 'Single-sex spaces are protected in law and will always be protected by this Government.'
The Independent
25-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Labour MP fears being challenged in toilets after Supreme Court woman definition ruling
An LGBTQ+ MP has shared her fears of the impact the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman will have on her when she accesses facilities such as toilets. Kate Osborne, Labour MP for Jarrow and Gateshead East, told a Lesbian Visibility Week debate in Westminster Hall on Thursday (24 April) that she is misgendered frequently and suspects she will be "challenged even more now" after judges ruled that the terms 'woman' and 'sex' in the Equality Act refer to a biological woman and biological sex. "Whilst the impact on my life will be problematic, the impact on my trans siblings' lives is going to be significantly worse," Ms Osborne added.
Daily Mail
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Transgender woman and activist boasts of using the Ladies toilets in Parliament after biological female Supreme Court ruling
A transgender woman has boasted about using the ladies toilets in Parliament just days after the Supreme Court ruling. The landmark hearing last Wednesday ruled that the definition of a woman is based on biological sex, and that trans women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) could potentially be excluded from single-sex spaces if 'proportionate'. In an 88-page ruling, the justices said: 'The definition of sex in the Equality Act 2010 makes clear that the concept of sex is binary, a person is either a woman or a man.' Despite this Marty Davies, a writer and campaigner, took to X to detail how she is protesting the change in the law from the heart of government. She arrived at Parliament for Lesbian Visibility Week to hear the Minister for Women and Equalities Bridget Phillipson speaking in the chamber. Which Davies described as her 'casually rubber stamping the stripping away for Trans+ rights'. She wrote on X: ' Following the speech I went to the women's toilets just outside the Churchill room. I went to the toilet. 'I washed my hands. And no one was hurt.' She joins a multitude of other activists who are defying the new rules, with one photographing themselves in a women-only space. Joss Prior took a selfie in what looks like a women's toilets yesterday, posting it on X alongside the caption: 'Using women's spaces as you do.' Meanwhile, Ashley Johnson threatened to 'p*** on the floor' if she is stopped from using the ladies toilets. 'Back to anxiety I had about using public toilets when I first transitioned. Thinking I'll still use the ladies and if any establishment stops me, I'll p*** on the floor in their public area,' she wrote on Facebook. The ruling has caused much controversy among various groups, with transgender activists left furious. Thousands of outraged campaigners took to the streets of London to protest - waving flags and chanting throughout the afternoon. Protestors targeted a number of statues in the capital. Notably, a statue of the suffragette Millicent Fawcett was defaced with a banner reading 'F** rights'. The Metropolitan Police said they were investigating the incidents as criminal damage after the statues were daubed with graffiti. This weekend, pro-trans groups are organising demonstrations in towns and cities including Coventry; Portsmouth; Liverpool; Leicester; Oxford; Birmingham; Cheltenham; Cambridge; Derby; Bristol; Newcastle and Aberystwyth. In Coventry, the group 'Coventry Trans Pride' has called an 'emergency protest for trans rights', meeting at the city's statue of Lady Godiva on Saturday afternoon. They call on people to 'come together to show that we won't take these attacks on our rights sitting down… we will not disappear and we will not be silenced.' In Darlington, a protest in the town's market square was called after the Supreme Court's decision was described as 'more than a simple clarification on wording, it's an attempt to push trans people out of public life completely. In his first comments since the Supreme Court's judgment, Sir Keir Starmer yesterday said he believed 'a woman is an adult female, and the court has made that absolutely clear.' He added: 'I actually welcome the judgment because I think it gives real clarity. It allows those that have got to draw up guidance to be really clear about what that guidance should say.'
The Independent
24-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
LGBT MP fears being ‘challenged' in toilets after Supreme Court ruling on gender
An LGBT MP has said she fears being confronted more often in women's spaces after the Supreme Court ruling on gender. During a Lesbian Visibility Week debate in Westminster Hall, Kate Osborne told MPs that she is 'misgendered frequently', including in the House of Commons and when she was buying jeans last week. 'I suspect I will get challenged even more now when accessing facilities,' she warned on Thursday, after the justices' ruling on April 16 that the terms 'woman' and 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010 'refer to a biological woman and biological sex'. Baroness Falkner of Margravine, the Equality and Human Rights Commission's chairwoman, said following the ruling that 'single-sex services like changing rooms must be based on biological sex'. Ms Osborne, the Labour MP for Jarrow and Gateshead East, said: 'Just last month as I got off the train at King's Cross, I was verbally abused by a man shouting at me that I'm obviously a lesbian, a sexual deviant, and I'm going to hell. 'I'm frequently misgendered and I do not mean occasionally – it's a weekly occurrence. 'In January, I was misgendered three times in one two-hour train journey. I've been misgendered by staff of this House, misgendered whilst buying some jeans last week. 'It's genuinely a frequent issue for me and a number of my lesbian friends.' Turning to plans for 'guidance regarding the Supreme Court verdict', Ms Osborne continued: 'Actually, that decision will have a huge impact on my life and many other cis lesbians and indeed heterosexual women. 'I suspect I will get challenged even more now when accessing facilities, and whilst the impact on my life will be problematic, the impact on my trans siblings' lives is going to be significantly worse.' Rachel Taylor, the Labour MP for North Warwickshire and Bedworth, had earlier intervened and said her 'first political activism' was campaigning against section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, which banned town halls from 'promoting homosexuality' or teaching 'the acceptability of homosexuality' in schools. She asked: 'It was that rhetoric and those comments that our relationships and our families were somehow pretend family relationships that were so hurtful, and does she agree with me that we need to safeguard now against the risks of the rhetoric about trans people, making the same sort of harm to them as it did to us in the 1980s?' Ms Osborne said in response: 'We will always have 'T' as part of the LGBT community.' On wider policies, Ms Osborne said she started the IVF process around 16 years ago but since then, the 'hurdles LGBT+ couples have to jump through have increased, with a fragmented NHS, meaning a postcode lottery in provision and the financial cost is significantly higher'. She also warned that crimes against victims based on their sexual orientation or gender identity cannot be considered 'aggravated offences', in the same way as discrimination based on race or religion. Labour MP Nadia Whittome described the Supreme Court's ruling as 'discriminatory' and said trans women face being 'at greater risk of violence' if they use facilities reserved for men. The MP for Nottingham East continued: 'The last Labour government is often remembered as as time for progress for LGBTQ+ people, rightly, but just as rights can be won, they can also be lost. 'And this Labour Government risks being remembered as a period when things went backwards for our community. 'We've only been in Government for less than a year. It's possible to turn this ship around, but we must recognise that actions like the blanket ban on puberty blockers and barring trans women from women's spaces are dangerous steps in the wrong direction and take action to remedy them.' Conservative shadow equalities minister Mims Davies said: 'For many women, a lesbian – of course, a same-sex attracted biological woman – should not feel the need for that identity to be subsumed amongst other identities. 'And I think all of us in this chamber today can be very clear that we support others and how they identify, and that is perfectly valid and it's important to not allow this to continue to be toxic or hateful, and for any lesbian to feel that they need to identify in any other way.' Ms Davies said that 'women's rights and freedoms cannot and must not be eroded, but celebrated and protected, particularly as we approach the 100th anniversary of universal suffrage' in 2028. Equalities minister Dame Nia Griffith said: 'To be seen, known and accepted for who we are truly is not just a privilege, it's a fundamental human need.' She described prejudice against trans women as 'absolutely horrific, uncalled for, unjustified' and added: 'This Government is clear – trans people deserve safety, they deserve opportunity, they deserve respect. 'There remain protections in place for trans people to live free from discrimination and harassment, and have their acquired gender recognised. Trans people will still be protected on the basis of gender reassignment, a protected characteristic.'
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
LGBT MP fears being ‘challenged' in toilets after Supreme Court ruling on gender
An LGBT MP has said she fears being confronted more often in women's spaces after the Supreme Court ruling on gender. During a Lesbian Visibility Week debate in Westminster Hall, Kate Osborne told MPs that she is 'misgendered frequently', including in the House of Commons and when she was buying jeans last week. 'I suspect I will get challenged even more now when accessing facilities,' she warned on Thursday, after the justices' ruling on April 16 that the terms 'woman' and 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010 'refer to a biological woman and biological sex'. Baroness Falkner of Margravine, the Equality and Human Rights Commission's chairwoman, said following the ruling that 'single-sex services like changing rooms must be based on biological sex'. Ms Osborne, the Labour MP for Jarrow and Gateshead East, said: 'Just last month as I got off the train at King's Cross, I was verbally abused by a man shouting at me that I'm obviously a lesbian, a sexual deviant, and I'm going to hell. 'I'm frequently misgendered and I do not mean occasionally – it's a weekly occurrence. 'In January, I was misgendered three times in one two-hour train journey. I've been misgendered by staff of this House, misgendered whilst buying some jeans last week. 'It's genuinely a frequent issue for me and a number of my lesbian friends.' Turning to plans for 'guidance regarding the Supreme Court verdict', Ms Osborne continued: 'Actually, that decision will have a huge impact on my life and many other cis lesbians and indeed heterosexual women. 'I suspect I will get challenged even more now when accessing facilities, and whilst the impact on my life will be problematic, the impact on my trans siblings' lives is going to be significantly worse.' Rachel Taylor, the Labour MP for North Warwickshire and Bedworth, had earlier intervened and said her 'first political activism' was campaigning against section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, which banned town halls from 'promoting homosexuality' or teaching 'the acceptability of homosexuality' in schools. She asked: 'It was that rhetoric and those comments that our relationships and our families were somehow pretend family relationships that were so hurtful, and does she agree with me that we need to safeguard now against the risks of the rhetoric about trans people, making the same sort of harm to them as it did to us in the 1980s?' Ms Osborne said in response: 'We will always have 'T' as part of the LGBT community.' On wider policies, Ms Osborne said she started the IVF process around 16 years ago but since then, the 'hurdles LGBT+ couples have to jump through have increased, with a fragmented NHS, meaning a postcode lottery in provision and the financial cost is significantly higher'. She also warned that crimes against victims based on their sexual orientation or gender identity cannot be considered 'aggravated offences', in the same way as discrimination based on race or religion. Labour MP Nadia Whittome described the Supreme Court's ruling as 'discriminatory' and said trans women face being 'at greater risk of violence' if they use facilities reserved for men. The MP for Nottingham East continued: 'The last Labour government is often remembered as as time for progress for LGBTQ+ people, rightly, but just as rights can be won, they can also be lost. 'And this Labour Government risks being remembered as a period when things went backwards for our community. 'We've only been in Government for less than a year. It's possible to turn this ship around, but we must recognise that actions like the blanket ban on puberty blockers and barring trans women from women's spaces are dangerous steps in the wrong direction and take action to remedy them.' Conservative shadow equalities minister Mims Davies said: 'For many women, a lesbian – of course, a same-sex attracted biological woman – should not feel the need for that identity to be subsumed amongst other identities. 'And I think all of us in this chamber today can be very clear that we support others and how they identify, and that is perfectly valid and it's important to not allow this to continue to be toxic or hateful, and for any lesbian to feel that they need to identify in any other way.' Ms Davies said that 'women's rights and freedoms cannot and must not be eroded, but celebrated and protected, particularly as we approach the 100th anniversary of universal suffrage' in 2028. Equalities minister Dame Nia Griffith said: 'To be seen, known and accepted for who we are truly is not just a privilege, it's a fundamental human need.' She described prejudice against trans women as 'absolutely horrific, uncalled for, unjustified' and added: 'This Government is clear – trans people deserve safety, they deserve opportunity, they deserve respect. 'There remain protections in place for trans people to live free from discrimination and harassment, and have their acquired gender recognised. Trans people will still be protected on the basis of gender reassignment, a protected characteristic.'
