"The House of Commons has been forced to apologise after allowing a transgender woman to use female-only lavatories on the parliamentary estate despite the recent Supreme Court ruling that protects single-sex spaces."
and then
"The barrister was questioned outside the lavatories by two women’s rights campaigners, Kate Harris and Heather Binning, who had attended the same hearing, and said White should not be using female-only loos."
and then
"White accused the two women of “embarrassing” behaviour and “shouting” during the confrontation, a claim Harris denied. There are gender-neutral toilets in the Commons."
and
“I have some health challenges and the [parliamentary] staff had kindly sat me at the back of the committee room, right by the door, so that I could pop along the corridor [to the ladies’ loo], which I had to do once earlier,” White said. “We got to the end of the select committee and they directed me [again] to the facilities I used.”
White, who specialises in discrimination cases at Old Square Chambers, then saw Harris and Binning. “They rather rudely started to cross-examine me about what my intentions were, and what I was going to do,” White alleged. “I had to go [to use the lavatory] so went to use the facilities and they continued shouting [while I was inside].”
"Harris disputed this account. “There was certainly no shouting and no questioning of what [White] might be about to do in the loo,” she said, adding that the pair were informing other women in the cubicles that there was a biological male in the lavatories and asking for security to attend. Harris said a member of Commons staff then told her “we don’t do that here” in reference to excluding trans women from the female loos."
and finally
“We acknowledge that it is likely the individual you complained about should have not been directed to the female facilities and we apologise for that.”
The staff member also drew attention to parliament’s code of conduct, which provides “clear guidelines as to how we expect all users of the parliamentary [estate] to interact with each other”.
Last month Nuala McGovern, the host of BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, asked whether White would abide by the Supreme Court ruling. “I will continue to live my life in the way that I have been living it for a long time,” White replied. “Service providers and those who provide workplaces don’t have a duty to police facilities, and I have never yet been challenged on my use of facilities.”
Well, that is interesting. I couldn't find the most relevant part. It was all very relevant. Let's see what the reaction will be.
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