Finally heard back from my MP. Am feeling very angry and let down. I know I'm not the only one here who feels politically homeless.
This is an extract from the response:
"I am very clear that single-sex safe spaces for women are essential and must be protected. I also recognise that trans women have the right to dignity and safety too and will need to be able to access toilets, changing rooms and other single-sex facilities when going about their daily life.
The Equality Act 2010 already entitled trans women to use women’s facilities and this happens all the time, without many of us being aware. Indeed, predatory men wishing to access a ladies’ loo or shop changing room do not need to go through any process to do so – these spaces are not policed and nor could they practically be, without checking inside women’s underwear, which would be a gross violation of all women’s rights.
We cannot exclude trans people from society or force trans women to use single-sex facilities for men because of our concerns about predatory men. The law in our country has respected people’s right to self-identify for twenty years now, with safeguards to avoid abuse.
The Equality Act protects both hard-won women’s rights and trans rights, and shows that the two are not in conflict. In the case of prisons, hospitals and refuges, entry for all people – regardless of gender – is based on a risk assessment. It is proper that individual institutions and organisations implement their own policies according to the needs and wellbeing of their service users."