Understand the LGBTQIA+ news: How we can flip the Supreme Court ruling on its head, and make toilets better for everyone

Last week, we brought you the 11th-hour release of an update by the so-called equalities watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

It set out advice that, based on the Supreme Court ruling that altered the legal definition of a woman in the Equality Act 2010, organisations should ban Trans+ people from single-sex spaces, and segregate them to dedicated 'unisex' loos.

So we worked with Trans+ journalist and legal expert Jess O'Thomson to unpack that news. The reality is of course much more complicated. If organisations follow this advice, as Barclays announced they have this week, they could actually land themselves in all kinds of legal bother.

In their explainer on what the update means for workplaces and service providers, O'Thomson's academic analysis suggests that the EHRC's advice may contravene other laws which set out workplace provisions.

My read of O’Thomson’s FAQs - which she worked on with some of the UK's leading Trans+ legal experts - is that the way the ruling is being interpreted leaves an opportunity for organisations to flip it on its head and make facilities better for everyone.

I've spent the last week sending this explainer to my colleagues in the media sector, and asking them to use O'Thomson's key recommendation: service providers should be clear that their facilities are not operated on a single-sex basis.

If spaces are operated on a single-sex basis, then parents will not be allowed to take their young, opposite-sex children to the toilet, as is now common practice. This would mean a mother would not be able to bring her young son into the female toilet with her. This could harm consumers and staff.

It may be possible to do this whilst still having toilets broadly for ‘men’ and ‘women’ - but a disclaimer might need to be added saying that anyone can use the facilities when necessary. Instead  of making Trans+ people use a third space, why not make it the norm for all loos to be gender neutral? And instead, for the mandatory individual single-sex offering the one that's out of the ordinary.

The queer hot take here is: We don't have to comply word for word. We can resist and flip this ruling on its head. With an inclusive attitude and the proper legal advice, we can make facilities better for everyone.

Right now, we’re preparing to send many of you a new history lesson every day next week for Trans+ History Week (if you want in on that, you can manage your subscription here).

Many of those insights from this year’s creatives into our history share a common message. It’s the same message that we’ve heard from many activists since the ruling - and in our queer-media-exclusive interview with the judge who is taking the UK to the European Court of Human Rights over the ruling. 

That message is simple: Refuse to comply. Don't stand for it. Find another way forward.

This moment will be looked back on as a pivotal one in LGBTQIA+ history. How will you want to remember what you did?

Understand the LGBTQIA+ headlines and keep track of the latest queer content and perspectives. The QueerAF newsletter is written by Jamie Wareham and a different queer creative each week.

💬 This week:

• Dr Victoria McCloud: That's a name you should learn, and expect to hear a lot more from. In an exclusive to QueerAF, she gives her first queer media interview in a video address for Trans+ History Week.
• Barclays: The bank became the first major organisation to adopt the equality watchdog's interpretation of the Supreme Court ruling, we look at the response to the bank that cashed in on our community as a Pride in London sponsor for many year.
• We're not going anywhere: Trans+ History Week (5-11 May) starts on Monday, founder of the QueerAF launchpad project Marty Davies writes about how you can show up and learn our past - so we can march for our future.

Skip the doomscrolling and support queer creatives instead. We are QueerAF – and so are you.

The trans judge who will be heard, even if she has to take the UK to the European Court of Human Rights

TL;DR: Exclusive: In a video address released for Trans+ History Week shared exclusively with QueerAF, the Trans+ judge who is set to make history with plans to challenge the UK's Supreme Court ruling on the legal definition of a woman in the Equality Act 2010 at the European Court of Human Rights sets out the fight ahead, amid an "epidemic" of misogynistic violence in the UK.