Что нужно знать о решении Верховного суда Великобритании по вопросам пола и гендера

Authored by Guy Birchall via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Britain’s highest court has ruled that the words “woman” and “sex” refer to “a biological woman and biological sex,” in a landmark decision that follows years of confusion, anger, and campaigning.

Protesters gather outside the Supreme Court in London on Nov. 15, 2023. On April 15, Britain’s highest court ruled that the words „woman” and „sex” refer to „a biological woman and biological sex” in a landmark case. Leon Neal/Getty Images

The case sought to clarify the question of whether a person who holds an official certificate recognizing their gender as female is entitled to the same women’s rights protections under the law.

A commonly cited example was the question of whether women-only services—such as a rape crisis support group—were allowed to exclude men with a gender recognition certificate.

A gender recognition certificate means that a person’s chosen gender identity is legally recognized.

Obtaining the certificate requires a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, having lived as the identified gender for at least two years, and the intention to live as that self-identified gender until death.

More than 8,000 gender recognition certificates have been granted in the United Kingdom since their introduction under the Gender Recognition Act of 2005.

1. How Case Was Sparked

The case was instigated by campaign group For Women Scotland in 2022, who brought a series of legal challenges, beginning in Scotland and culminating in the UK Supreme Court, over the definition of the word “woman” in the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018.

This legislation was passed by the Scottish Parliament and mandated that 50 percent of individuals on public boards be female, including in its definition males who identify as women.

Lawyers for For Women Scotland argued that not tying the definition of sex to its “ordinary meaning” could have far-reaching consequences for sex-based rights, as well as “everyday single-sex services” such as bathrooms, changing rooms, hospital wards, and domestic violence and rape crisis centers.

Counsel for the Scottish government argued at the Supreme Court hearing in November 2024 that a person with a gender recognition certificate is “recognized in law” as having changed sex.

Celebrations outside the Supreme Court in London on April 16, 2025. The court ruled unanimously that “the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.” The decision allows men who identify as women, even with a gender recognition certificate, to be excluded from single-sex spaces. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

2. The Ruling

On April 15, the Supreme Court ruled that sex is rooted in biology, not whether a person has chosen to identify as a certain gender.

Delivering the judgment, Lord Patrick Hodge, deputy president of the UK Supreme Court, said the central question is how the words “woman” and “sex” are defined in the Equality Act of 2010.

“The terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex,” Hodge said.

This means that men who identify as women and who hold a gender recognition certificate may be excluded from single-sex spaces if “proportionate.”

The judges said that while the word “biological” does not appear in the definition of man or woman in the Equality Act, “the ordinary meaning of those plain and unambiguous words corresponds with the biological characteristics that make an individual a man or a woman.”

The decision stated that if the word “sex” did not mean biological sex in the 2010 legislation, providers of single-sex spaces—including changing rooms, homeless hostels, and medical services—would face “practical difficulties” and any other interpretation would render rules against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation meaningless.

The court said that this interpretation of the law does not disadvantage people who identify as transgender, who were described as a “potentially vulnerable group.”

They said the group is still protected from discrimination, and “would be able to invoke the provisions on direct discrimination and harassment, and indirect discrimination” if needed.

The justices also said that transgender-identifying people are protected from discrimination on the grounds of gender reassignment.

Campaigners who described themselves as women’s rights activists stand next to the suffrage activist Dame Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square in London on April 16, 2025. The Supreme Court ruled that sex is rooted in biology, not whether a person has chosen to identify as the opposite gender. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

3. Lawmakers Could Overturn Court

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is the final court of appeal for all civil cases in the UK and of all criminal cases originating in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

It also covers a limited number of criminal cases from Scotland, which technically has a separate legal system.

However, a Supreme Court judgment in the UK carries a lot less weight than it would in the United States.

Lawmakers in the UK are not bound by a codified constitution that can only be changed through a super majority and other hurdles to ratification.

Rather, parliament can effectively negate a supreme court ruling by voting in new legislation.

So a simple majority vote by lawmakers is all that would be required to repeal that legislation and pass a new law that requires males who identify as women to be treated exactly the same as women.

4. Unanswered Questions

Since the decision, many public bodies and institutions have updated their rules, while others are still waiting for clarity.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission, which has responsibility for the promotion and enforcement of equality and non-discrimination laws in Britain, is expected to put an updated statutory code of practice before Parliament by the summer, and said it is working “at pace to incorporate the implications of this judgment” into the code for public bodies setting out their duties under the Equality Act.

This means that, currently, despite the Supreme Court ruling, the situation is far from clear.

5. Police Strip Searches

The British Transport Police became the first public body to take action when it changed its strip search policy a day after the judgment, saying that it had adopted a new “interim position” that will see transgender-identifying people in custody strip searched by an officer in line with their biological sex.

This means males in custody will be searched by male officers, while male officers who identify as trans women will no longer be able to search female detainees.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council has said it will be reviewing its policies, but “will need time to consider the full implications of the court’s decision, as will many other public bodies.”

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