JK Rowling celebrated today after the Supreme Court ruled trans women are not legally women in a landmark judgment that could have momentous implications
Britain’s top judges unanimously found that the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the 2010 Equality Act referred to biological sex, not acquired gender.
The decision is being hailed by gender-critical campaigners as a major victory, with the Harry Potter author saying it would protect ‘the rights of women and girls across the UK’.
The court’s decision will have huge consequences for how single-sex spaces and services operate across the UK, experts said today.
The written Supreme Court judgment gives examples including rape or domestic violence counselling, refuges, rape crisis centres, female-only hospital wards and changing rooms.
The court ruled that trans women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) can be excluded from single-sex spaces if ‘proportionate’.
It marks the culmination of a long-running legal battle between the Scottish government and women’s group For Women Scotland over the definition of a ‘woman’ in Scottish law.
The case centred on whether somebody with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) recognising their gender as female should be protected from discrimination as a woman under the Equality Act.
The Scottish government had argued that such people were entitled to sex-based protections, meaning a transgender person with a GRC certificate identifying them as female would count towards women’s quota.
But campaign group For Women Scotland claimed they only applied to people born female.
The Supreme Court has now ruled that the words ‘s3x’, ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in the Equality Act must mean ‘biological sex’, rejecting any alternative interpretations as ‘incoherence and impracticable’.
The ruling comes after years of campaigning by gender-critical figures including Harry Potter author Rowling, who reacted today by posting on X: ‘It took three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them to get this case heard by the Supreme Court and, in winning, they’ve protected the rights of women and girls across the UK. @ForWomenScot, I’m so proud to know you.’
She later added: ‘Trans people have lost zero rights today, although I don’t doubt some (not all) will be furious that the Supreme Court upheld women’s sex-based rights.’
Follow Us on Facebook – @LadunLiadi; Instagram – @LadunLiadi; Twitter – @LadunLiadi; Youtube – @LadunLiadiTV for updates
