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

[AuthenticVoice]

Does anyone know what the UK law states about this?
It's a tiny local women's group, barely even regularly attended.
He's a middle aged bloke saying he identifies as female and wants she / her pronouns. The usual. He's also exceptionally creepy and acts out a lot in other ways.

Is it even legally possible for any women's spaces to refuse or ask such men to go somewhere else these days?

Our area is exceptionally well served with things for either men and / or trans people to join up with. I feel that it's a deliberate targeting. Ideas?

Collect members' details
Set a new place and time, maybe private house
Invite personally, not via Facebook/WhatsAp
Hope there are no saboteuses who'll sneak him the details.

Tell him he can join but you hold the meetings in a different place each week. Each week give HIM the location of halfway up a mountain etc until he gets fed up and moves on.

Invite Kellie Jay Keen to come and do a talk on women’s rights 😆

If this happens to you GO BACK AND ASK THE COMMITTEE why they are denying you your right to a single sex group

women we must do better than this !!

one person on a committee finds a tweet from stonewall ( or similar such campaign group) and thinks they have to allow men into every space they want because of their “gender”..

but they’d shout up soon if the same 40yr old turned up to join kids in year 1 infants ( how ageists!)

we have to turn the tables … prove it prove it prove it must be the mantra .

Our rights matter … and if we don’t all stand up now it will be too late to complain later .

Where can I read about this?

@AuthenticVoice It's a hard task for one person (the group organiser) to confront but at the same time if a few us did, then it could be framed as outrageous bullying / harassment / intimidation. Of course it will be framed as that anyway.

It will and these men are fully aware of that too. It's basically blackmail in plain sight, if they don't get their own way then one social media post will round up all their useful idiots and unleash endless vitriol on women. Whilst not being able to see the irony as they bang on about kindness and inclusivity.

I think you should allow him to come, but you should all dress up as men for the meeting, complete with false beards.

Oh I agree, but it may take a while to fight your way past the bureaucrats when many public authorities are so captured, so always good to have a workaround in the meantime.

Some great responses here, including letting your husbands/men turn up like it’s no big deal and see how the Jessica Yaniv wanna be reacts.

And then watch him spam social media about now nasty and bitchy the little woman are being to him and all he wants to do is join in #everyonesequal. Unfortunately he would be short of mindless supporters who'd fall for it either.

It's in a local community space and somewhat supported by the local authority

In many ways that's a shame, OP; depending on your council, if you try to discourage his attendance there's every chance you'll get some idiot who's been on "the right courses" crawling all over you

As PPs have said, since there are only a very few of you I'd simply meet in a private house to avoid the whole thing

I would advise to 'grey rock', OP. Although this may not be down to you.

Any form of response, positive or negative, is likely to be gratifying.

Be as uninteresting and boring and low key as possible.

I'm afraid, though, that someone who is determined to wreck a small group like this will probably succeed unless the group is robustly prepared to defend itself.

What @ArabellaScott said.

Jessica Yaniv.

I did once go inside the Masonic Grand Central Lodge or whatever it’s called, on Great Queen Street. I was passing by and they had a sign outside inviting people in to tour an exhibition.

It was very ornate and eye opening to say the least, particularly the portraits of senior members of the Royal Family in full Masonic regalia!

You poor things, my relative had a women’s group for a particular sport she runs and is involved with, I was always worried about this possibility, especially as they camped, and had other stays which could be complicated by a male attending

Can you ask the biggest, scariest looking bloke you know to come along one week and introduce 'Jemima' as a new member of the group? Then have Jemima sitting legs akimbo, arms crossed and staring at the other bloke for the entirety of the session?

The Equality Act has exceptions in that allow associations to discriminate on a single protected characteristic (except race, where no exceptions are permitted). So yes, single sex associations are legal and can be enforced.

Can you put a sign up:

"If you've got a cock, you can't come in" with the caveat that the committee reserves the right to inspect to ensure that nobody with a cock can come in.

We welcome all of those ladies who don't have male genitals. So, you're not excluding trans people, only those who have yet to fully commit and transition.

Best to check this with the Equality Act which you should find on the Government website. Certain criteria applies to particularly same - sex groups based on attending numbers as well as other legislation.
Not something you really want to get wrong and put yourselves in a bad position.

SociopathicGorilla · Today 14:30
I would not risk saying anything to him at all.
Instead I would quietly temporarily change it to a mixed group. Ensure a male is temporarily appointed alongside the leader. Turn up with your husbands and male friends. He will not act out in front of other men. This is the only way to get rid of him.

That does rather support the narrative that women need men to look out for them though ?

Whose narrative?

The truth is this man is coming to dominate and control that space because there are no other men there. It’s an easy quick fix that avoids any potential for legal action and online hate campaigns. This man is looking for trouble and will have the support of other men like him. This will be a well thought out calculated plan. When his plan doesn't work he will escalate if he hasn’t already. His goal is to be told not to come.

Why allow it. Why let him control the narrative. Stamp it out now with the presence of other men. The ideal solution is that he decides himself not to come, and only the presence of other men will achieve that.

Don’t turn yourself inside out with the equality act or getting legal advice. No matter how you do it you’re risking legal action from him which is what he wants.

Mixed group. And he’ll go away.

Make a new group in a private home and so on

Or I suggest you try his womanhood by some of you ( the bravest ) to start coming with a very tight upper clothing and observe his reactions. If he is displaying unease, then he is not a woman

As others have said, the law seems to be on your side.

But also, it's worth noticing that switching your rules to define 'woman' by gender identity would be the option that involves discrimination on the basis of gender identity (or gender reassignment if you like).

Your current rules allow anyone of any gender identity or expression (so long as they are female).

I don't suggest you get into smart-alec arguments with this guy, but if you did want to you could say you feel that requiring your members to disclose their gender identity to qualify for membership, and potentially having to expel longstanding members who may not confirm to traditional modes of femininity, or who are gender questioning or agender would not be in line with your inclusive values.