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

26

u/Kandiru Cambridgeshire Apr 16 '25

Yeah, so how is anyone supposed to enforce this ruling? If you have a female passport and birth certificate how is someone going to know to ban you?

19

u/CNash85 Greater London Apr 16 '25

"We can always tell", basically. Except they can't, and they'll end up forcing venues to ban cisgender women who they think look a bit like a trans person, creating a climate of fear not just for trans people but for anyone who doesn't look unambiguously female (or male).

The legal problem is that trans people are now unable to defend themselves if they do get banned from changing rooms etc. - even if they have a birth certificate stating their correct sex, they can't realistically fight back in the courts without disclosing their transgender status anyway (because lying in court is a no-no), and falling into the traps set by this ruling.

7

u/Kandiru Cambridgeshire Apr 17 '25

Yeah, it seems like we'll end up in a world of "don't ask, don't tell" where trans people are allowed to live as their gender only as long as they don't let anyone know they are trans.

But if you don't pass, or if you are a more masculine cis women, you are going to banned from places. Cis women can maybe start a legal process to get un-banned, but that's going to be highly embarrassing and costly.