Transwomen are men. There is no value judgement in calling a man a man, it’s a simple biological fact. I don’t hate men (I’m married to a perfectly nice one), but I do recognise that as a sex class, men pose a threat to women. That’s the whole concept behind single-sex spaces in the first place.
The threat that men pose is based on the fact the average man is bigger and stronger than the average woman and, in the penis, has a built-in weapon. These are physical, biological factors. Sex is a physical, biological matter. Single-sex spaces are in existence because of these physical, biological differences between men and women.
If a man “identifies as a woman”, be that because of crippling dysphoria, an opportunity to act out a fetish, a response to internalised homophobia on realising they’re gay or just for shits and giggles, it doesn’t change the fact they’re a man. Male. Biologically different from women. Having SRS and taking hormones doesn’t change the fact they’re a man. Our sex is coded in every cell of our body.
“Gender identity” =/= sex, and attempts to conflate the two are unhelpful. The GRA itself recognises that any change is merely a legal fiction.
There is no inherent right for any man, however he identifies, to enter single-sex spaces designated as female in the UK. Being prevented from doing so does not mean he is banned from being able to participate in public life, as he can use the spaces designated for his sex (this also applies to sports etc). As soon as he does enter a space meant for women, that space becomes mixed sex.
When considering people who claim a gender identity which differs from their sex, service providers may choose not to enforce the “legitimate and proportionate” exclusion granted them under the EA2010, as is their right; however anyone who feels strongly that there is a valid reason for sex-segregated spaces may campaign for them to be reinstated / introduced, as is their right. The writer of the letter OP posted feels strongly that there should be SSS for JL staff and has raised awareness of their lack accordingly; many women here (myself included) agree with her.
Certain cohorts of women being excluded from taking a full part in society if they have nowhere free from the opposite sex to undertake activities where we are more vulnerable would certainly seem like a legitimate and proportionate aim, especially if the situation without the legal exclusion is that men have, ipso facto a choice of two spaces whereas women who want or need single-sex now have none. I appreciate though that there is a minority of posters here who think that women’s rights don’t matter compared to additional trans demands, so are quite happy with that state of affairs, regardless of whether that woman is, for example, from a minority faith. They are quick to shout “transphobia” while conveniently ignoring their own Islamophobia and antisemitism, quite apart from their misogyny (internalised or otherwise).