I have just sent the following email to my Conservative MP regarding the Equality Act debate on 12th June.
I'm hoping this OP will serve as inspiration for anyone else wishing to write to their MPs, and that maybe some other posters will contribute their own efforts.
Here's mine:
Dear X,
I am writing to you in your capacity as my MP (I am an overseas voter registered to vote in your constituency) regarding the upcoming parliamentary debate in relation to the below petition:
^petition.parliament.uk/petitions/623243^
The petition calls for the Equality Act to be amended to make it clear that the protected characteristic of sex refers to biological sex and not legal sex. This proposal, as well as the counter-proposal which is the subject of another petition, is due to be debated in parliament on 12th June.
I am asking you to pledge your support to the Equality Act being clarified in this way, and to do everything in your power to help bring about this amendment before the end of the current parliament.
As you are no doubt aware, there are nine protected characteristics in the Equality Act, of which sex is one and gender reassignment is another. I believe that transgender people have a right to live their lives in peace, free from harassment or discrimination due to being transgender. I do not, however, believe that transgender people should have an unfettered right to use single sex spaces or compete in sports for members of the opposite sex (i.e. the sex which they believe aligns with their gender identity), or that a person with a gender recognition certificate should be considered to be their legal sex for all purposes.
I believe it is clear that the Equality Act did not intend the above consequences either. This is why the sections relating to the protected characteristic of sex specifically allows organisations to provide single sex spaces and services to members of one sex only, to both sexes separately, or differently to people of each sex depending on the circumstances, and also to exclude even people with a gender recognition certificate from such spaces or services for members of the opposite sex where such exclusion is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. One example given is the provision of single sex rape crisis support to survivors of rape and sexual assault.
Unfortunately, I believe that the sex-based protection conferred by the Equality Act, to women in particular, is currently under threat.
Firstly, many organisations are currently declining to provide single sex spaces and services in favour of a "trans inclusive" approach, either because this is what they truly believe, or because they have been led to believe by organisations such as Stonewall that it is unlawful to do so, or because they do not wish to deal with the potential repercussions from the trans activist lobby. This means that, in practice, it is becoming impossible for women in many areas of the country to access single sex rape crisis support.
This is why Sarah Summers (not her real name) is suing the Survivors' Network in Sussex. (Story here: ^unherd.com/2022/07/why-im-suing-survivors-network/^^)^
It is also why JK Rowling has personally set up and funded a female only rape crisis centre in Scotland, Beira's Place, and deliberately not registered it as a charity in order to avoid political interference and pressure from outside sources to change its female-only policy. (Trans activist groups are already trying to have this service shut down, despite the fact that it does not take anything away from other services which are already available and fully inclusive of trans women.)
I am also deeply concerned about the impact of the Haldane judgment, handed down in the Scottish Court of Session in December, which concludes that the protected characteristic of "sex" in the Equality Act should be interpreted to mean legal sex, not biological sex. Although this judgment is not, I believe, legally binding on the rest of the UK, it shows that even at the level of the senior judiciary there is some confusion over the meaning and intentions behind the Equality Act.
To put it simply, if the protected characteristic of "sex" in the Equality Act does not mean biological sex, it means that women do not benefit from a protected characteristic on the basis that they are female, because they must now share this protected characteristic with some people who are male. It also means that any female person who identifies as a trans man and has obtained a gender recognition certificate will no longer benefit from any sex based protection.
This is important in the context of, for example, equal pay claims. If a woman discovers that she is being paid less than a male colleague doing the same job as her due to her sex, but that male colleague has recently obtained a gender recognition certificate and their legal sex is now female, that woman cannot make an equal pay claim using her male colleague as a comparator, because as far as the law is concerned, both employees are the same sex. Conversely, if a trans man with a gender recognition certificate discovers that they are being paid less than their male colleagues doing the same job, they cannot make an equal pay claim on the basis of sex discrimination, because as far as the law is concerned, the trans man and their male colleagues are the same sex.
At the moment there are only around 5,000 people with a gender recognition certificate, due to the fact that transgender people must obtain a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria and demonstrate that they have been living as their acquired gender for a sustained period of time before they are able to apply for one. If Labour wins the next election, as most current opinion polls suggest is likely to happen, they plan to bring in self ID. In other words, they plan to remove these administrative hurdles transgender people must overcome in order to get a gender recognition certificate, replacing them with a very simple self-declaration system instead. This means that the number of people with a gender recognition certificate is likely to increase substantially, making Lady Haldane's interpretation of the Equality Act a much bigger problem than it is now.
Transgender people already benefit from their own protected characteristic under the Equality Act: that of gender reassignment. Their rights are fully protected under the current law. But women's sex-based rights are at risk. This is why I am asking you to support this cause, and to help secure the necessary amendments to the Equality Act to ensure that women do, and can continue to, benefit from their own specific sex-based protected characteristic. If the Conservatives' time in power is indeed drawing to a close, this would be a really positive thing the current government could do before it finds itself in opposition again.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.
Kind regards,
X