“This guidance is going to be a Section 28 moment for this Labour government”
BY DIVA STAFF, IMAGE BY GETTY IMAGES/CANVA
Yesterday (21 May), Bridget Phillipson, Minister for Women and Equalities, presented the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) updated guidance to Parliament. This new draft Code provides guidance for providing services, exercising public functions and running associations.
Why has this updated guidance been presented?
In 2025, the UK Supreme Court ruled that, for the purposes of the Equality Act, the legal definition of the term “woman” was based on biological sex.
What does this new guidance say?
The updated guidance states that singe-sex spaces, such as toilets and changing rooms, must be used on the basis of biological sex. According to the new Code, trans people must be offered a third or gender-neutral space.
The updated Code also provides guidance for associations and gender-based sports. This states that it would be lawful to refuse a trans person entry to a single-sex association or sporting organisations. However, the draft Code also states that it would be unlawful to exclude trans people from gender-related sporting opportunities based on biological sex if not for reasons of “safety or fair competition”.
What has been the response to this new guidance?
Trans+ Solidarity Alliance director, Alexandra Parmar-Yee, commented on the new guidance: “The law here is a mess, and clearly many businesses will just go gender neutral to avoid the headache, but the government risks pushing trans people yet further out of public life.”
“This guidance is going to be a Section 28 moment for this Labour government, defining their legacy on LGBTQ+ rights. It’s the sort of trans rights policy we would expect from Trump’s America, and is worryingly similar to a US bathroom ban condemned by the UK foreign office in 2016.”
The Good Law’s trans rights lead, Jess O’Thomson, also said: “It’s good to see clear guidance that associations can be for multiple protected characteristics – so you can have an organisation for both cis and trans women. And the suggestion of checking people’s birth certificates before they can use the toilet has been axed.”
“But it still treats trans people as a third sex, suggesting they should be made to use separate spaces – entirely ignoring the harm this causes, and human rights law. We will keep fighting this discriminatory approach.”
What happens next?
Now that the guidance has been presented to Parliament, MPs and peers have 40 days to raise any concerns. If there are no objections, this guidance will become statutory.
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