Sarah Summers wins Single Sex provision for r*pe support in Brighton & Hove

[Lolapusht]

https://x.com/sarahsurviving/status/1949828457518473361?s=61&t=_cKTNp_TyAyzDViEOCJDFQ]]

https://sarahsurviving.substack.com/p/sarah-surviving-and-survivors-network sarahsurviving.substack.com/p/sarah-surviving-and-survivors-network]]]]

They should have caved when she first raised the problem. Awful that t Sarah has had to go through this process to get fair treatment. But very good news at last. Well done if you are reading this and a big thank you from women survivors of rape in your area.

Justice prevails

Well done Sarah.

Winning this case the first time it went to court wouldn't have set a legal precedent, that's not how it works.

No precedent would have been set unless Survivor's Network won the first round, Sarah appealed and then subsequently won in a higher court.

Given how retraumatising and stressful it would be to drag the case out even further, to endure a loss and then have to go through it all again with no certainlty of winning the appeal, this really isn't something I would wish on Sarah.

It will have cost Survivor's Network A LOT of money in legal fees to get this far, only to have to concede to what Sarah wanted all along.

It's defnitely a win, even if we don't get to enjoy the drama of a court case at Sarah's expense.

If the service was for 'biological women who identify as women and biological women who identify as men', then all biological women with no gender identity would be excluded. It is clumsy wording. Transmen absolutely should have provision, I agree.

I cant see how they can exclude women with a mans gender identity? I thought they may be able to exclude them if the individual by cause distress?

It does seem like a fairly shallow win.

I'm glad, of course, that Sarah and other women in Brighton will now have a single sex provision, but by settling rather than awaiting a court outcome - which whilst not precedent setting it would send out a warning shot to other providers - does this mean other women facing the same problem in their local survivor services will now need to initiate their own legal action? I worry they'll get less support as I do think most women who contribute to crowdfunders do so because they want those cases heard in court, and settling (especially when there's an NDA, obviously no idea if that's the case here) doesn't feel like justice done and doesn't have the same impact.

Brilliant news! Well done to Sarah and all who've supported her.

Amazing brilliant fantastic wonderful news!
well done Sarah and everyone involved!

There is (or was) a separate LGBT group. They say they are adding to the existing provision not taking anything away, so if the new women-only group doesn't include transmen then at least the mixed-sex LGBT group, and possibly also the men's group (depending on the law and as long as men don't complain...) will still be available.

So actually I am not sure what they mean(!)

We're in a very different landscape to when Sarah started this court case, given the SC ruling that women-only means biological women.

You would hope that any decent lawyer would advise a similar service pretty quickly that they can't provide a service they call "women only" if it includes transwomen.

And, where organisations are funded to provide services for women they have to actually do that.

Thank you so much for the warm wishes everyone. This feels like the best possible outcome. I felt like I had a good chance of winning the case but the judge could only have awarded me compensation, not ordered SN to run a single sex group.
I never wanted to bankrupt my local rape crisis centre and see them face down in the dirt. I doubt any feminist who donated towards my legal fees wanted that either.
SN wanted to find a way through. They are collaborating with local women and taking things forward in a positive and sensible way. Hopefully other rape crisis centres will follow suit.
I haven’t signed a NDA and have plenty more to say about it but I’m actually on holiday atm having a well deserved break!
Thanks again everyone I couldn’t have done it without the support of Mumsnet x

This is so incredibly important for women and I am SO relieved and happy to hear this news. Sarah, you are a courageous and wonderful woman. Thank you!

Their Twitter account seems to be down? Seems a bit coincidental if they are meant to be posting a statement?

Sarah I am delighted for you if you are happy with the result, but do you have any sense what will happen at the end of the 12 months?

Many well deserved congratulations, @iamsarah!

i think it’s a good result - hopefully other organisations (in particular rape survivors services and dv refuges) will realise they can reinstate single sex provision without needing to be dragged through the courts. I hope it results in more resources being spent on the women who need them not lawyers!

Thank you, for having the courage to bring the case forward. I hope you trying to relax and take the time to recover from your experience.

Excellent news!

and it’s good you didn’t have to sign an NDA!

Very pleased for you Sarah. Enjoy your well deserved holiday with your family now.xx 👏👍

I have been contributing to your crowdfunder and for me this outcome is better than a stand-up courtroom battle. I hope that the pilot is a "golden bridge" for Sussex and then for other support groups to show they can provide the services that women need and the sky doesn't fall!

Enjoy your holiday. You have more than earned it.

I'm suspicious of this pilot business. Really single sex in rape crisis should be the standard with mixed as an add on if people want it.

I feel like it needs keeping an eye on.

Will they be advertising this pilot single sex group widely? Will they do outreach to find the women who purposely stayed away before? Will women who do reach out to them be offered it as standard or will they only mention it if individual women speak up about being offered the mixed sex group (that they might not realise is mixed sex)?

Is there a target number of women who need to use it within the 12 months to justify it's existence and further funding.

Until we find out what happens after 12 months it's a temporary victory although I appreciate Sarah is no doubt very pleased with the outcome.

So many short term funded projects go nowhere after the initial period of funding. Evidencing and meeting unmet need in hard to reach populations (in this case traumatised women who lack trust in the previous system) is notoriously difficult in a short time frame.

If not done properly or if the initial funded period is just not long enough it could end up providing OSPCC with evidence that allows them to shut it down after 12 months in a way that can't easily be won going back through the judicial process because the pilot showed slow or low take up. Not necessarily because the need isn't there but due to successful projects needing longer lead times and a lot of skilful outreach.

Stepping outside of this particular battle for a moment social care/VCS has a graveyard of good projects that fell foul of the limited time and budgets they were allocated to prove their worth.

Congratulations Sarah

I hope you have a great holiday @IamSarah and I look forward to hearing more when you return.

I hope the concerns others express prove to be unfounded, but I do share them. From the outside, this looks like a group that has dragged their feet throughout has given way because they can see there were no other options. It sounds incredibly grudging, though I have seen your posts on Twitter, Sarah, and you seem optimistic and say you are now working with them. I hope they have truly had a change of heart and genuinely want to help women.

It will be interesting to see whether there is any backlash. This has been announced at a time when it is completely overshadowed by the Fife case, so it may not get the attention it would normally have done.

Sorry if others think this comment is another damp squib on a thread that ought to be all positivity, but this does not sound like the unequivocal win for women that I would like to have seen. I do know that you (Sarah) have always been a reluctant player in all this horror (understandably) though, so I am glad for you that you will finally get the help you need without going to court.