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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Trans in the City EHRC Guidance

27 replies

ItsCoolForCats · 14/09/2026 12:35

I heard this discussed on the Sex Matters podcast.

Their guidance basically says that the trans person should be allowed to use whichever facilities they want, otherwise it could amount to harassment. And as was pointed out on the podcast, they say the guidance has been developed with help from legal and discrimination experts (including Robin Moira White 🙄) so it sounds authoritative, especially to orgs who don't have knowledge of what the law actually says in this area.

Sex Matters have reported them to the EHRC. It's pretty outrageous that trans lobby groups are continuing to misrepresent the law in this way.

www.transinthecity.co.uk/ehrc-guidance

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Ereshkigalangcleg · 15/09/2026 00:44

AimsAndObjectives · 14/09/2026 19:17

The sort of man who is not used to being told 'no', especially not by women.

Yes that’s exactly how he comes across in that video and in the anecdote about Mary Ann Stephenson.

MrsOvertonsWindow · 14/09/2026 21:57

ItsCoolForCats · 14/09/2026 19:59

Pretty much.

Letting the trans person use whichever facilities they want is the lowest risk option, apparently.

After trumpeting that the guidance has been developed with a number of leading employment law experts to "to provide organisations with clear, accurate and pragmatic methods for supporting trans and non-binary employees, colleagues and customers, it does, however, print the following caveat:

"This document has been created in conjunction and with discussion with several experts
in discrimination and employment law and is combination of their opinions and
interpretations as the law stands to date. The situation currently is extremely fluid and
fast paced and likely to change, in addition individual circumstances in employment case
law can have wide impact to individual judgements. This document therefore should be
treated as informed opinion and not legal advice and we recommend all bodies refer to
their own legal experts should such advice be required".

So if anyone follows their guidance and then gets sued, I assume they will point to this to try to wriggle out of any accountability.

😂That's so funny. "The situation currently is extremely fluid and
fast paced and likely to change" (in their dreams)

Always love the Humpty Dumpty lawyers. "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."

ItsCoolForCats · 14/09/2026 19:59

TheywontletmehavethenameIwant · 14/09/2026 14:42

I'm not downloading it to read it, ugh🤢, but the OP says

Their guidance basically says that the trans person should be allowed to use
Does that mean their 'greatest legal, mind just came up with a wish list of what the 'trans' want the ECHR to say, because that's nothing new. They've been bellyaching on in that fashion since the SC clarification.

Pretty much.

Letting the trans person use whichever facilities they want is the lowest risk option, apparently.

After trumpeting that the guidance has been developed with a number of leading employment law experts to "to provide organisations with clear, accurate and pragmatic methods for supporting trans and non-binary employees, colleagues and customers, it does, however, print the following caveat:

"This document has been created in conjunction and with discussion with several experts
in discrimination and employment law and is combination of their opinions and
interpretations as the law stands to date. The situation currently is extremely fluid and
fast paced and likely to change, in addition individual circumstances in employment case
law can have wide impact to individual judgements. This document therefore should be
treated as informed opinion and not legal advice and we recommend all bodies refer to
their own legal experts should such advice be required".

So if anyone follows their guidance and then gets sued, I assume they will point to this to try to wriggle out of any accountability.

OP posts:
MrsOvertonsWindow · 14/09/2026 19:19

The Relationships board is full of stories of men like this who won't accept being told no.

Fortunately mumsnetters all know that "No is a complete sentence"

AimsAndObjectives · 14/09/2026 19:17

BernardBlacksMolluscs · 14/09/2026 19:07

wow. that is one angry man. he can be as softly spoken as he likes but he's still threatening to piss on the floor if he's not allowed in the ladies loos and bragging about making a woman cry at a professional event.

feels like trans in the city are not good people to partner up with

The sort of man who is not used to being told 'no', especially not by women.

BernardBlacksMolluscs · 14/09/2026 19:07

AimsAndObjectives · 14/09/2026 18:43

Watch from 34:55

wow. that is one angry man. he can be as softly spoken as he likes but he's still threatening to piss on the floor if he's not allowed in the ladies loos and bragging about making a woman cry at a professional event.

feels like trans in the city are not good people to partner up with

AimsAndObjectives · 14/09/2026 18:55

If you watch a bit more of the video you'll hear that Pickard goes on to boast about almost reducing Mary Ann Stevenson to tears over the EHRC guidance.

AimsAndObjectives · 14/09/2026 18:43

ItsCoolForCats · 14/09/2026 12:57

They are led by Bobbi Pickard, who Tanya de Grunwald from the "This isn't Working" podcast has spoken about quite a bit. He has posted videos on his social media saying he has used women's spaces for years and will be carrying on doing so.

Trans in the City seems to have a fair amount of influence in certain circles. I'm sure it was them that also did the photoshoot with Pips Bunce looking resplendent in a pleather skirt and fishnet tights 😬

Watch from 34:55

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The rainbows are coming down, the bunting's looking tired, and the UK's biggest brands are quietly stepping away from the 'Pridemania' we have seen in the la...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aweS_2qt7A

Igmum · 14/09/2026 18:36

For a recent GLP summary, 40 senior lawyers wrote a letter of protest condemning JM for misrepresenting the case he had actually lost so egregiously. I would welcome something similar condemning this. TiTC (tits???) used to make a mint offering training and advice to city firms by TW with lived experience and they clearly want to revisit the golden days. They need to be publicly shamed for this misrepresentation.

Whatchamacallitt · 14/09/2026 18:22

This is truly criminal. The EHRC should issue a statement against it. I appreciate they have limited time and funding though.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 14/09/2026 16:51

I agree @Justme56- people dismiss them because they can ridicule women for caring. It’s pure misogyny and I will never sanction the idea that it’s ok.

Pingponghavoc · 14/09/2026 16:49

TRA argue that single sex facilities dont matter and its dangerous for men with gender identities to be in the male facilities.

The only conclusion is they believe that female single sex spaces were design for men with gender identities.

But even that doesn't make sense, because they also say that everyone should use the facilities they are most comfortable with and no one should be challenged. Meaning that they are happy for other men to follow them into the female spaces?

All of this indicates that TRA actual want single sex spaces to be removed and are doing their best to make them unworkable.

Justme56 · 14/09/2026 16:40

I am not sure why toilets are dismissed so easily. It is the one place in public where women have nothing covering their genitals and often a flimsy door lock (frequently broken) protecting them from those outside. Try getting away from someone when you have your knickers around your ankles.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 14/09/2026 16:36

Exactly. Whether or not individual toilets can be successfully policed, men should not be using female toilets.

MarcTheGenderSkeptic · 14/09/2026 16:27

Spoke to a trans individual the other day who genuinely could not understand the furore around toilets.
The usual stuff put forward as non issues.
I told him that the "threshold" on toilets was effectively the gateway drug to men in women's spaces.
That the battles on men in refuges, women's sports and prisons, medicalization of teens, remained all hugely unpopular amongst the population, but that toilets are the intersection where if trans could have swung policy and the mood of the public in their direction, then it would be so much easier to knock down the walls to men in more directly damaging situations like sport and prisons.
Very much the Trojan Horse to further the aims of the ideology.
Look at the new thread on here re changing "villages" in Scottish swimming pools. When changing facilities were female and male, there were no reported sex crimes. Now they're basically unisex, complaints are in the hundreds, and you know the real figure is 10x that, at the very least, as so much voyeurism and filming goes unreported, and many women will know they've been observed changing by men, but won't report it.
So, allow men into women's toilets to replicate the experience of women in changing "villages" across the whole country, in shops, offices, factories etc etc?
Erm, no.
Look at those changing "villages" sex crimes numbers, and try and argue for men in women's toilets and these crimes not happening.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 14/09/2026 16:27

They either think there is a “legal grey area” because gender reassignment is a category in the EA and harassment against them is prohibited so it follows they can’t be “misgendered” or “othered” for being trans, or they know that single sex spaces trump that but it suits them to pretend otherwise. I think the second personally. It’s the GLP playbook but when the GLP tried it they got their arse handed to them.

BernardBlacksMolluscs · 14/09/2026 16:05

It’s pretty misleading isn’t it? This is actually terrible advice that is likely to wind up costing any company that follows it money (not to mention a huge amount of shit and aggravation)

Pingponghavoc · 14/09/2026 16:02

These men would be treating the SC ruling as part of the 10 commandment if it had gone their way. Now they are saying a 'pragmatic' approach is needed.

BernardBlacksMolluscs · 14/09/2026 16:01

Any company who follows this ‘guidance’ is asking for a resounding employment tribunal defeat with a side order of costs awarded, surely?

TheywontletmehavethenameIwant · 14/09/2026 15:57

In which case it is misinformation and legally illiterate because it's not harassment. Any 'trans' or company who follows their guidance is going to find themselves in hot water.

Justme56 · 14/09/2026 15:49

They are actually claiming it would be classed as harassment to not let a male use the female facilities - which I gather isn’t just toilets but changing rooms etc. If a woman complains apparently this does not meet the criteria for harassment. In the upside world of trans, a woman who doesn’t like it should be sent to the disabled toilet or maybe get changed in a cupboard somewhere.

TheywontletmehavethenameIwant · 14/09/2026 14:42

I'm not downloading it to read it, ugh🤢, but the OP says

Their guidance basically says that the trans person should be allowed to use
Does that mean their 'greatest legal, mind just came up with a wish list of what the 'trans' want the ECHR to say, because that's nothing new. They've been bellyaching on in that fashion since the SC clarification.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 14/09/2026 14:39

Oh yes, him. Thank you!

HermioneWeasley · 14/09/2026 14:12

Surely the EHRC need to write and reprimand them for this and say publicly that they have done so and their “advice” is not correct

ItsCoolForCats · 14/09/2026 12:57

Ereshkigalangcleg · 14/09/2026 12:49

Who is “Trans in the City”? Can’t remember which prominent TRA(s) are involved but ISTR they are.

They are led by Bobbi Pickard, who Tanya de Grunwald from the "This isn't Working" podcast has spoken about quite a bit. He has posted videos on his social media saying he has used women's spaces for years and will be carrying on doing so.

Trans in the City seems to have a fair amount of influence in certain circles. I'm sure it was them that also did the photoshoot with Pips Bunce looking resplendent in a pleather skirt and fishnet tights 😬

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