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On April 16th 2025, the UK Supreme Court published their judgment in the case of For Women Scotland vs. Scottish Ministers. You can read the judgement in full here.
It dealt with the meaning of the words “sex”, “man” and “woman” for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010. The Supreme Court decided that in the Equality Act, all of those words have a “biological” meaning (although they did not really define what that means).
As far as we can tell, this ruling has had two main effects:
It is still too soon to know exactly what the full meaning and impact of this will be, but we do know that it has caused great anxiety and uncertainty for trans and non-binary people across the UK. We are doing all we can to try and understand what the ruling means and to minimise the impacts it will have on our community’s ability to use services and participate in public life.
We will update this page with any information we have about the ruling itself, what it means, and how you can help support trans and non-binary people at this difficult time.
Update 1st July 2025: The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) consultation on their draft Code of Practice (new tab) has now closed. You can read our full response to the consultation here (new tab).
Update 5th September 2025: The EHRC have completed their analysis of consultation responses and handed their amended Code of Practice to the UK Minister for Qualities.
While we know that tens of thousands of people responded to the consultation, the EHRC have not published these responses, nor their analysis or the version of the Code that they have submitted to the Ministers. The decision is now with the Minister to decide whether to approve the Code, or ask the EHRC to make changes.
If the Code is approved, there is no guarantee that it will receive a debate in the UK Parliament, and if it similar to the one draft Code that was consulted on, it will have a massive impact on how trans people go about our daily lives and use essential services. The process of producing and approving statutory guidance like this should be transparent and public, not happening behind closed doors.
TransActual and Trans+ Solidarity Alliance have developed a template email that you can send to your MP, encouraging them to tell the Minister to reject the exclusionary Code and demand that any new version ensures providers can lawfully include trans people in their services.
Sending an email only takes a few minutes: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/scrap-the-bathroom-ban
We’ve set up tools so that trans people and allies can email their MSPs and/or MPs to let them know how they feel about the Supreme Court ruling.
If you live in Scotland, you can use them to find and email your 8 MSPs and/or your MP. If you live in England and Wales, you can use them to find and email your MP.
We’ve provided a template for the kind of things you can say to your representatives, but the more personal you make it, the more likely it is to have an impact – just be considerate of what you feel comfortable sharing. Abusive messages will not be sent.
If you want to support our work in providing resources like this, you can donate to us here or purchase an ally pack here.
Below you can see all of our pages about the Supreme Court judgement. We’ll continue to update this page when we have new information or resources, but make sure you follow Scottish Trans on social media (Facebook / Instagram / Bluesky) to keep up to date with the latest developments.
Here is a list of some organisations also providing important coverage and information about the judgement:
This isn’t a complete list, and we’re incredibly grateful to everyone who’s given their time and energy responding to the ruling and helping others understand what it means.
TransActual and Trans+ Solidarity Alliance have developed a template email that you can send to your MP, encouraging them to tell the Minister for Equalities to reject the exclusionary Code and demand that any new version ensures providers can lawfully include trans people in their services. Email your MP here.
We’ve created tools for trans people and allies that helps you email your MSPs, MP and/or MSs and let them know your feelings about the Supreme Court ruling
The EHRC held a public consultation asking if changes to its Code of Practice made in light of the Supreme Court ruling were clear. You can find our full response here.
Some important updates that have occurred since April’s Supreme Court ruling on the meaning of ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010, and some ways that you can help. Written in November 2025
Read our letters to the Scottish Parliament’s Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice committee about our initial thoughts and concerns regarding the Supreme Court judgement
Updates, news and resources about responses to the Supreme Court ruling, published May 15th
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is consulting on a new draft Code of Practice for some sections of equality law. The consultation is open until Monday, 30th June at 11:59pm. Read this page to find out more about the consultation, and whether you might wish to respond.
Our statement on the impact the Supreme Court ruling has had on our community over the past year, and the uncertainty we still have to deal with in many aspects of our daily lives.
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+44 (0)131 467 6039 info@scottishtrans.org
Scottish Trans is part of the Equality Network
Scottish Trans is the Equality Network project to improve gender identity and gender reassignment equality, rights and inclusion in Scotland. The Equality Network is a leading Scottish lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) equality and human rights charity.
The Equality Network is a registered Scottish charity: SC037852, and a company limited by guarantee: SC220213.
We are grateful for funding from the Scottish Government
