Update from Maya
We have been hearing rumblings for a while of the government getting cold feet over laying the new Equality and Human Rights Commission code of practice for service providers before Parliament, despite the Prime Minister saying back in June: “All guidance of whatever kind needs to be consistent with the ruling and we need to get to that position as soon as possible.”
The law is the law, and the guidance won’t change that. But many organisations have been hiding behind the lack of updated guidance as a reason for not being clear about single-sex services.
On Wednesday we launched a new action to write to your MP and tell them it is time to act. MPs have been hearing a lot from the transactivist minority, and it is crucial that they hear from the common-sense majority. Nearly 1,000 people have already used our email tool in the first 24 hours, and today we have updated the letter to take recent news into account.
If you haven’t emailed yet, PLEASE DO IT THIS WEEKEND.
On Thursday we got confirmation that the Minister for Women and Equalities was insisting that the EHRC undertake a “regulatory impact assessment” on the new guidance.
This is a complete red herring. Such assessments are undertaken for new laws and policies, not to decide whether it would be a good idea for guidance about the law to be accurate or not.
There was a regulatory impact assessment undertaken before the Equality Act was introduced. It considered the costs of all the changes being made to underlying laws concerning discrimination in relation to sex, gender reassignment and other protected characteristics.
What happened then was that after the act became law, bad guidance and misleading training by organisations such as Stonewall corrupted understanding.
The Supreme Court has already spelled out clearly that man and woman in the Equality Act are words that relate to the ordinary meaning that everyone understands, and that single-sex services are lawful.
Sex Matters has produced guidance which shows how simple and straightforward the law is to understand if you don’t get confused about basic concepts.
There are no major costs in complying with the law, but politicians, officials and senior managers have to be brave and say No to aggressive transactivists.
What the government is doing now is shirking its duty, placing risk on the shoulders of the lowest-paid workers and most vulnerable women, and undermining the law by allowing people to continue to point to the outdated and legally wrong code of practice as an excuse for their cowardice.
The government has no excuse for not revoking the old code of practice for service providers, and ending this shameful period in which women’s rights have been denied.
Maya Forstater
The law is clear – providing single-sex services with confidence
Service providers and public bodies can’t pretend not to know that the Equality Act is the law, whatever happens to the Equality and Human Rights Commission guidance. The principles are so simple that we can explain them in a few pictures. Read our guidance, then share our graphics and edit our signs to use in your own organisation.
Graphics to share and use
A series of five downloadable graphics explains how to provide single-sex services with confidence.
Editable health and safety signs for women’s, men’s, and mixed-sex facilities.
Write to your MP: the government must stand up for women’s rights
Our campaign kicked off on Wednesday evening, and nearly a thousand people have already emailed their MPs. After news yesterday that the government is delaying publication of the EHRC guidance by asking for an impact assessment, we have updated the letter we want you to send – please email your MP today!
In the news
Geraldine Scott for The Times broke the news that the government is planning to undertake a regulatory impact assessment (RIA) on the burden to businesses of the EHRC’s proposed statutory guidance on single-sex spaces, which could delay its introduction by more than a year. Maya said that RIAs are undertaken where there is a choice of options, and that it is a complete red herring for the government to suggest that there is any choice about complying with the Equality Act 2010 right now.
Other news coverage this week began with Aaron Newbury’s story for the Daily Express that London City Hall prioritised the inclusion of trans-identifying staff in an announcement about its menopause programme. Fiona McAnena said it was a complete let-down for female employees that just as City Hall is finally recognising and addressing an important women’s health matter, its women’s network is prioritising scoring “ally” points with the transactivist movement.
Justin Bowie for The Courier broke the news that the manager of Hobbycraft Dundee asked designer Rebekah Chapman to leave after she challenged a staff member’s “no terfs, no Tories” badge. Maya Forstater was quoted as saying that even if they aren’t aware of the law, staff and managers should have the common sense to understand that such a badge would discriminate against customers with those beliefs or political views. The story was also covered by David Leask for The Times, Sam Lawley for the Daily Mail and Simon Johnson for The Telegraph.
Maya Forstater responded to the news that For Women Scotland’s Susan Smith faces charges for “breaking” transactivist Tom Harlow’s umbrella in the course of his disruption of the group’s rally outside Holyrood. As quoted by Dan Barker for the Daily Mail, David Walker for the Scottish Daily Express and Simon Johnson for The Telegraph, Maya said that Sex Matters stands with Susan, and that the police should do their job of protecting freedom of expression and public order, without fear or favour.
Also in Scotland, Mary Wright and Jennifer Hyland for the Daily Record reported that Police Scotland are under fire for failing to disclose how many non-crime hate incidents they have logged. Fiona said that NCHIs have long been weaponised by activists against people who hold mainstream views about biological sex, and that this does nothing to rebuild trust in the police.
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