Update from Maya
After the judgment: Fiona, Helen, Marion Calder of FWS and Maya
This is the last Sex Matters Memo of 2025. And coincidentally, it falls on “Terfmas” – the anniversary of JK Rowling’s tweet supporting me the day after I lost my initial employment tribunal on 18th December 2019. On that day six years ago I tweeted: “Bad news (for now) Stonewall law won this round.”
It’s amazing how far we have come together since that awful judgment that gender-critical beliefs are “not worthy of respect in a democratic society”. I brought an appeal and won, co-founding Sex Matters along the way, and with your help we took our argument to the highest court in the land, in support of For Women Scotland. And reality won.
So thank you to all of those who have supported us along this journey! We couldn’t have got here without you. I hope you will continue to support us in 2026: to donate to Sex Matters, to share our materials and to spread the word.
Today we are launching a special appeal for our work in 2026. Donate to this appeal and we will send you our new “The law is clear” campaign pack in the new year. It includes our new Sex and the law booklet, a set of our brand-new postcards and a covetable Sex Matters “X” pin. (Already have a pin? This one will make a perfect gift for someone else!)
You can start 2026 by sharing our cards and materials with people you talk to, and we will also be sending Sex and the law directly to politicians, officials and employers.
Our booklet explains the implications of the Supreme Court ruling that sex means sex in ordinary language. But employers, politicians, officials, activists and even some judges are trying to reject or work around the law.
This month Sandie Peggie, the nurse whose battle for justice against NHS Fife has shone so much light on the harassment and bullying experienced by ordinary women who speak up against the erosion of single-sex spaces, received the judgment on her case. Although the tribunal ruled that NHS Fife had harassed her after she complained about a male doctor in the women’s changing rooms, it also ruled that the hospital had not acted unlawfully by allowing him in in the first place. Even more shockingly, it said that Peggie’s actions in expressing her discomfort were harassment.
When courts get it wrong, individuals like Peggie – and Maria Kelly and the Darlington nurses – sometimes find the tenacity, persistence and bravery to appeal. But that is not the only way we can win. Sex Matters’ work complements what happens in individual legal cases:
We take our own legal actions, such as judicial-review cases challenging public bodies like the City of London, British Transport Police, National Police Chiefs’ Council and Crown Prosecution Service.
We publish guidance and model policies and engage with employers, sports governing bodies, charities, regulators and public bodies to encourage them to do the right thing.
We are pressing the government and regulators to publish short, clear, workable guidance that is in line with the law.
We are working on challenging the use of puberty-blockers and paediatric transition.
And we are engaging more than ever with the media. Sex and gender made front-page news well over 100 times this year!
Thank you for standing with us in 2025, and we hope we can count on your continued support in 2026. Our work would not be possible without you.
Maya Forstater
Our podcast on Substack features Sex Matters in conversation about the biggest topics of the week.
High Court hearing on Kenwood Ladies’ Pond
We shared our statements and arguments alongside the many statements from swimmers who use Kenwood Ladies’ Pond, in advance of the “permissions hearing” to see if we could take our case further on 19th December. We should hear in January if our application for a full hearing was successful. Is the City of London’s policy of allowing trans-identifying men to swim in Kenwood Ladies’ Pond (and use the communal changing rooms and showers) lawful?
Girlguiding: not for boys
Girlguiding was always an organisation for girls, as its charity charter states. When the board decided to let boys and men join as if they were girls or women, it did this without consultation or an application to the Charity Commission. Now that the law is clear, it has grudgingly recanted. But why did it flout the law in the first place?
The Levy Review of adult gender services
NHS England has published a review of adult gender dysphoria clinics in England. But although Levy lists the many ways the clinics have failed to give effective treatment to their patients, the review’s only recommendations are to standardise the process by which they are moved through the system.
Sex and the City of London
At the one-day hearing, the City of London said that men are excluded from the women’s pond on the basis of their gender identity not their sex, and the same for women excluded from the men’s pond – which it then claimed did not constitute sex discrimination. We explain the contradictions, and how the corporation has misunderstood the law.
In the news
Sanchez Manning for The Times broke the news that Sex Matters was appearing in the High Court this week for permission to take legal action against the City of London Corporation over its policy allowing men to access the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond on Hampstead Heath. The hearing was also covered by Amelia Gentleman for The Guardian, Gabriella Swerling for The Telegraph, Holly Brencher and Robert Collins for Ham & High, Danny Halpin and Ben Lynch for MyLondon, Tristan Kirk for The Standard and Court News UK. Fiona was interviewed by Julia Hartley-Brewer for Talk TV on the story.
Calls for Health Secretary Wes Streeting to halt the planned NHS trial of puberty blockers were covered widely by the media last week. Jason Groves and Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail reported Streeting’s admission that he is “deeply uncomfortable” with the trial, with Helen quoted as saying that Streeting was rattled by the degree of resistance. Helen and Fiona were interviewed by Spiked at a rally in London protesting against the trial.
The publication of the Levy Review of adult gender clinics was widely reported as a story about unacceptably long waiting times. Maya’s comments that the review was a wasted opportunity to rethink a failed treatment model were reported by Alison Holt and James Melley for BBC News, Aine Fox for PA Media – in a story that was published widely by media including The Standard – and Michael Searles for The Telegraph.
The Telegraph’s front-page report that Women and Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson has blocked the EHRC draft code of practice was picked up widely by the media. Helen appeared on GB News to discuss the story.
Finally, the Sunday Telegraph reported that men who identify as women have been banned from women’s fencing in Britain. Fiona said that this is another victory for fairness for women and girls in sport, and that there are serious safety issues in fencing to consider, too.
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