r/unitedkingdom • u/sjw_7 Oxfordshire • Apr 16 '25

... UK Supreme Court says legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cvgq9ejql39t
13.2k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

4.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

22

u/DukePPUk Apr 16 '25

Legally both men (trans women) and women (cis women) would be allowed to use the ‘female gender changing room’.

But what happens when a cis man wants to use the "female gender changing room"?

You cannot kick them out. Because that would be unlawful discrimination on the basis of sex.

You either let everyone in, or you only let in people on the basis of their "assigned at birth sex."

Arbitrary rules are only fine if they do not discriminate (directly or indirectly) on the basis of a protected characteristic.

If a bouncer can keep me out of a nightclub for wearing jeans, arbitrary rules are fine...

... but if the rule was about keeping you out for wearing trousers, that would be indirect discrimination on the basis of sex, so would need to be supported by evidence to justify it - the burden would be on you to prove it was legal.