Supreme court ruling

[mids2019]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/16/uk-supreme-court-rule-legal-definition-woman

How do we think this is going to pan out? My feeling reading the piece is that the court is going to side with GC women.....hope so but we will see.

I’m already shouting at R4 and that was just the intro to the Today Programme. It might be really significant for transwomen, apparently.

It’s funny how they never think of the confused teenage girls who decide they are men. Or biological females.

Hopefully Justin W has been properly briefed.

Ruling this morning.....

https://archive.ph/dt2Sw

Archive version for anyone who doesn't want to consent to all cookies.

Are we allowed to watch it live?

What time is judgment? Wonder if WH will cover (!🤣)

9.45, and yes you can watch it.

I am so nervous about this... really hoping for the right decision.

https://x.com/nickwallis/status/1912248182362325184?s=46&t=A2fpFNgDRyXF2d6ye97wEA

nick Wallis (who wrote the great post office scandal)

I feel nervous too, I can’t imagine how the FWS team feel after fighting for so long. Excellent summary by Nick Wallis there, thanks @WarriorN

Not to be the voice of doom but the way the world is I just can’t see things getting better for women anytime soon, including this. Everyday brings another WTF moment. I’m supposed to be packing to move but I’ll be watching nervously.

Another one watching nervously. And what a good post from Nick Wallis upthread.

I think (very very uninformed opinion, though) that it's going to go with the Scottish government and say "all legal purposes" includes the Equality Act, because, well, that is a legal purpose... Hopefully it will follow this by pointing out it's an absolute mess, legislatively (and indeed all other ways) and needs to be sorted out. But they don't rule on what the law should be, only what it says.

What happens to non-binaries and the multitude of genderfluids if a £5 GRC becomes “you become the new sex”?

They can’t get a non-binary marker on their passport (recent UK case) or presumably a GRC?

I don’t remember this being considered, but apologies if it was.

Also feeling very nervous about this. Hoping for a good outcome but even if it's a bad one, it's not the end of this fight

Exactly this. They are not there to say whether it’s good or sensible law (it’s clearly neither) and I fully expect them to say that fir all legal purposes includes the equality act but to also point out the implications of this. I don’t know if they can go so far as to recommend the government sorts this out but in any case it’s brought yet more sunlight into the almighty legal fuck up this all is

This article in the Times about it. I just realized I'll be in a meeting and one where I can't have a sneaky look to check the outcome either.
https://www.thetimes.com/article/3a76b0b7-016a-4bc5-8de2-ac1ccce25ad0?shareToken=299b4a90e956ade1b660c963ddc6fc78

Checking in. Definitely worried.. .

I'm pessimistic. Nobody in power is brave enough to sort out this ludicrous tangle.

Isaac Asimov's robot stories are logic puzzles based on his 3 unarguable laws of robotics. We have set ourselves logic puzzles, but don't have a solid foundation to work from.

I’m hoping I can sneak away at work. Will work on laptop and keep checking phone!

Just got everything crossed and hope for biological females somebody has common sense!!

I’m hopeful but I don’t want to jinx it. Will be there on YouTube at 9:45 with bated breath. Good luck FWS. And yes NW’s tweet absolutely captures it.

Guardian coverage not irredeemably dreadful shocker!

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/16/how-uk-court-definition-of-woman-could-affect-sex-based-rights

They said trans rights and women's rights are in conflict (wash out your mouths with soap, transphobes):

The issue has challenged politicians and policymakers in recent years as concerns about the clash between women’s rights and trans rights have grown...

They made one out and out error that I can see:

But FWS is concerned that, if it loses, using those exemptions would be made more complicated for women-only groups because a trans woman, deemed legally a woman, would therefore able to claim sex discrimination.

I think that should say gender reassignment discrimination. A minor point, though.

The Guardian seem to have been attempting the world's slowest reverse ferret recently.

I appreciate the UK Supreme court will be looking at the interpretation of legal sex in the EA but to the uninitiated, it may seem a direct choice between 51% of the population and a small handful of males pretending to be females

I remain unsure where I can watch it. Is it streamed on the supreme court website or YouTube or somewhere else? Thank you to anyone who knows.