EHRC urge government to lay the updated statutory guidance before parliament

[IDareSay]

"Tomorrow marks 6 months since the Supreme Court FWS ruling. We’ve written to Bridget Phillipson asking govt to revoke the 2011 services code and lay our updated version to make it statutory. It accurately reflects the law and updated guidance is urgently needed"

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/media-centre/news/ehrc-urges-government-ensure-accurate-statutory-guidance-equality-act-available?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Orlo

Baroness Ludford is just about to ask a question in the Lords about this; live on Parliament TV.

I think she is countering the misinformation, happily shared by the Guardian the the guidance will damage busineses.

She article her letter refers to:

Nearly 50 backbenchers write to business secretary over potential costs and legal ‘minefield’ of upcoming guidance
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/oct/23/dozens-of-labour-mps-warn-of-chaos-for-firms-over-gender-recognition-advice

So terfs are not only unkind to trans but to businesses as well!

Holy cow, what a mess.

Well at least the UK can model this logistics nightmare as a heads up to the rest of the world…😱

The law says that everyone should use the correct toilet for their sex. Batshit MSPs aside, everyone knows their sex.

The fact that this might be difficult to enforce if large numbers of predatory males try to access women-only spaces shouldn't make this unnecessarily complicated.

Up until recently, single-sex facilities were the norm, and most people could be trusted not to abuse the social convention that everyone uses the correct facilities for their sex. But now it seems there are large numbers of antisocial genderists who want to dismantle this social convention by insisting that their antisocial behaviour needs to be properly 'policed' before they will stop.

You are right! Single sex toilets were the norm in work places. And the big issue then was not enough, or not enough properly thought out toilets for people with disabilities was the urgent campaign.

So this is again the power TRAs have been given. That because they threaten, agitate, get sympathetic coverage in the media, businesses etc., expect to be sued.

So one again it shows that this is as much about society as a whole thinking that women should just shut up and put up with whatever meets the demands of loud mouths.

We might face a large delay on guidance
https://www.thetimes.com/article/d7cd9e2f-2635-409d-a624-a833611a09fc?shareToken=9c12cabbd93f87c2acd66a0d21242f92

though guidance is not the law of course.

Gah- yes, awful reporting.
The law is already doing the 'forcing' (what a choice of words for respecting single sex entitlement). No rules are being delayed, it's just that the companion volume: 'obeying the law for dummies' hasn't come out yet.

What other laws designed to protect people has to go through these reviews?

This is an existing law. Not a new policy.

Does any extensive review happen on guidance that puts women and girls at risk through inclusion of male people?

Thanks for this. I've written to Kirsty Blackman so I know full well the sort of reply I'll get. But I've done it.

I've emailed my MP also, not sure how much difference it will make, as he's a new Labour MP and very much on the party line, but he's helped me before with a constituent issue, and in that he was very effective, so we will see.

How long does it take for a committee to write “Just obey the law”?

Thanks, I've written to mine. I have no idea what his views are. I got doorstepped before the General Election by one of his team, who agreed with me on women-only provision but didn't know what the candidate's views are. He took my email address for the candidate to get back to me, only he never did. Maybe that tells me everything.

I found the SexMatters template a bit confusing actually. I thought only the part I put in the box would be sent, and I'd need to copy the template in if I wanted that, but the whole lot got sent, so it's longer than it needs to be.

Actually I was googling for the SexMatters template earlier, and came across some Reddit threads about the 199 days protest. I avoid Reddit for obvious reasons, and this just confirmed why - they made me really grateful for the reasoned discussions we have on here (helped by moderation of course). No one is thrown out or has posts deleted for their opinions, just for abuse. The Reddit threads were the opposite - no discussions, no understanding, just hyperbole and insults.