Can we stop a man coming to our women's group?

Please don’t take my word for it as I don’t know the legal side but there was a similar thread a few months ago.

I saw posts that said you can choose who you want in the group.

I don’t think you can say it’s because of sex, unless your group is covered by certain acts but you can refuse to have someone join for other reasons e.g. too ‘many members’ (just be careful when adding new members).

But once they’re in then it’s very difficult to get rid of them.

If possible, I would say you are not accepting new members right now but you’ll take their name and contact details for when you are.
To give you time to clarify the legal rules.

I feel that it's a deliberate targeting.

You would be right. It is a man objecting to women having women own spaces and being a (creepy) man feels he should invade it. I cannot image 'Mens Sheds' having this issue abut women identifying as men and wanting to join (although some do admit women).

I image if you suddenly became a mixed group with an interest in setting up a 'shed' group the issue would be gone.

'Taking one for the team'😉

My attitude is : What's your ultimate objective? What is the line of least resistance to achieve that objective? How can you snooker the opponent - with unctuous niceness if necessary - so their best option is to concede?

But I accept that others may feel that making a valid point about single sex spaces is as important as achieving the ultimate objective, and I accept that I dislike conflict😐

Just arrange meetups elsewhere without the idiot.

Is this doable OP? Hoping he will get bored and dind some other women to bully

A sexual assault survivor's group had to do that. Be warned, the trans identifying male turned up at the lady's house and called the police when she wouldn't let him in. The police turned up! She explained what was going on and then the officers told him there was no law that said he was entitled to enter her house.

That's fucking appalling. Not surprising, but appalling.

I would tell the trans identifying man that you are all identifying as men on the particular Tuesday afternoon that you meet and so it wouldn't be appropriate for him to join
Or just keep it as a closed invitation only group?

Genius. Please do this.
I am in a lesbian craft group that had to move from Meet Up to an invitation-only WhatsApp group for arrangements, because of a sexually aggressive trans-identified male who insisted he be allowed to come and leer at people. It's ridiculous. We should have all identified as gay men.

If it's your group you get to decide who attends.

You can easily just say 'You're not to attend in future' or even 'I think you're a prick so you're not welcome'. You don't need to explain why. You don't need to justify. It's your group.

If its joint run and everyone then same thing goes. But someone has to be the spokesperson.

Absolutely this. Don't get embroiled in the whole trans debate, just tell him he's not welcome on grounds of his behaviour.

If he's being creepy and acting out, I'd ask him to leave on the grounds of his behaviour. Then you can honestly say it is nothing to do with his gender, it's the inappropriate behaviour.

Tell him you now all identify as men so it's now an all male group and it's only for men so unfortunately he won't be welcome seeing as he is obviously a woman. I'm only half joking btw lol but I would love to see his face if that was said to him because what can he say to that lol. It's getting bloody ridiculous

My understanding (and IANAL) is that single-sex associations are treated differently in law to single-sex services. It might be that the result of the SC FWS case brings clarity to this question but at the moment it is not entirely clear in law whether or not a man with a GRC would count as a woman for the purpose of women's associations. In Australia the courts have just ruled that lesbians are not allowed to organise meet-ups without including men. Presumably that could happen here if the SC decision rules against women.

This is so sad. Why would a reasonable person want to join a group when others don't want them there?

Is your group an easy sell on 'proportionate means to meet a legitimate aim' eg anything to do with male violence or women's biological issues? You can still exclude him from a book club but those type of issues are a lot clearer when you try to explain why.

If you can't get rid of him immediately make sure he knows you don't subscribe to his reality, no law against using his correct pronouns or kicking up a fuss if he follows you into the ladies.

Change locations? New date and time?

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/what-equality-law-means-for-your-association-club-or-society.docx

This maybe worth a read. As it says groups with under 25 people are not covered by equality law so no one can claim discrimination. Over 25 you can form an association based on one protected characteristic eg sex, religion, etc. The Supreme Court case last year is questioning whether the sex in this context means legal sex as in someone with a GRC or biological sex.

Yes you can.

Single sex provision is specifically allowed by the Equalities Act and specifically may exclude trans women if it is a proportionate means to achieve a legitimate aim. It's therefore perfectly legal to define anything where women benefit from it being single-sex as being for female people only regardless of gender identity.

You and the other women in this group have no obligation to provide a group that this person can join.

If you don't already have a written constitution for the group which sets out its structure, governance and purposes then sort one out quickly. It's fine to disband the unofficial unconstituted version and for the same people to re-form as an entity that has a defined purpose which doesn't include being an emotional prop from someone who wants to coopt you into their fantasies.

I'm cringing for you.

And on a practical level, I think I'd be getting contact details for regular attendees and telling them you're holding the meeting somewhere else.

Yes, you are allowed to have a group that is just for women. This is covered by the Equality Act. There is no self-ID in the UK so you can just tell him that it doesn't matter how he "identifies": he's a man and the group is for women.

Yes, there's 'your rights' and 'asserting your rights', two very different things!
What about the direct and very friendly approach -

'Look [insert lady-name - in this case it may be worth the tooth-grinding] we set up this group for women who have always been women - we all went through girlhood and adolescence and all that kind of thing, and we want to keep this particular group where we can talk about our shared life experiences.
Your life experiences are different [insert placating remark about 'but very interesting' or something like that]

So could we please ask you to find a different group where you can share your special experiences, and we'll just continue as we were, a group for women who have only ever been girls or women ?
It would be really super if you could do that for us. Is that OK?'
[lie back and cringe for England🙄]

So he's being asked to leave for reasons of compatibility with the nature and aims of the group, he's been asked nicely, nobody has raised their voice or said anything nasty to him... fingers crossed he gets the message and doesn't make a fuss, but if he does, maybe you need to make it more of a social get together in each other's homes than A Group.

I can suggest that because I'm not a member of your group and therefore cannot be asked to be the one to actually say all that to Himself

How many of you are in the group? There's different routes open to you if under 25.

Is it an option to hold it at a member's house for a few weeks?

A sexual assault survivor's group had to do that. Be warned, the trans identifying male turned up at the lady's house and called the police when she wouldn't let him in. The police turned up! She explained what was going on and then the officers told him there was no law that said he was entitled to enter her house.

Yes, you are allowed single sex exemptions re sex discrimination.

I don't know how you would enforce it though in practice, if he keeps on turning up and trying to enter.