We wrote this statement in collaboration with TransActual and Trans+ Solidarity Alliance. To see our full summary and analysis of the Code, visit our website here.

The UK Government’s Minister for Equalities laid the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) new Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations before the UK Parliament last week. 

The Code of Practice provides guidance on how service providers and groups should treat trans people following the Supreme Court ruling on the meaning of “sex” in the Equality Act. 

It sets out a system of segregation, with trans people excluded from services and spaces that reflect their gender, and in some cases also excluded from services and spaces that reflect their sex assigned at birth. We know that many trans people will simply stop using services rather than using those for their sex assigned at birth.

The Code fails all three tests we established to determine if it was fit for practice: it doesn’t protect our access to gendered spaces, it doesn’t protect trans inclusive organisations, and it fails to uphold the UK’s human rights commitments. 

This guidance is often contradictory and confusing, providing no clear advice for how services can include trans people, while also often acknowledging that providers risk discriminating against trans people. The Government’s own impact assessment reflects this, acknowledging that implementing it may have negative impacts on trans people and others caught up in the appearance-based policing required. 

Now that the Code has been approved by the Minister, after 40 days it can become statutory guidance that services, public functions and associations are encouraged to consider to ensure that they comply with the law. There is a chance that a motion could be passed to stop this, but there’s no guarantee that a vote on this will be given time in Parliament. 

If it becomes statutory, this Code will reduce trans people’s ability to live our everyday lives, but will also be a defining moment in this Government’s legacy, spoken about in the same breath as the introduction of Section 28. 

Undoing the mess that this Code makes will be the defining struggle of the UK LGBTQIA+ rights movement for years to come. 

The UK Government must legislate to fix trans equality. This is cruelty, not clarity.