EHRC Code of Practice on Services, Public Functions and Associations has been laid - here is the Code itself

[SingleSexSpacesInSchools]

Written Statement made by: Secretary of State for Education and Minister for
Women and Equalities (Bridget Phillipson) on 21 May 2026:

https://commonsbusiness.parliament.uk/Document/105423/Pdf?subType=Standard

I have approved the draft Code submitted on 4 September 2025 and as updated by the EHRC in April 2026 following engagement with government and their consideration of consultation responses and further legal analysis.
The current Code was produced in 2011 and there have been significant developments since then, including the Supreme Court ruling in For Women Scotland, resulting in the EHRC wanting to update the Code.
Following last year’s Supreme Court ruling, the draft Code’s content on sex and gender reassignment has changed substantially from the 2011 version. The ruling made it clear that sex means biological sex for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 and that trans people are still protected by the Act under the protected characteristic of ‘gender reassignment’.

The Code of Practice on Services, Public Functions and Associations itself:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/equality-act-2010-draft-code-of-practice-for-services-public-functions-and-associations-2026

What exactly is wrong with it? There are now a large group of people who feel less comfortable or unable to go out?

An interesting time to apply for this job - anyone fancy putting their CV in??

https://greenparty.org.uk/get-involved/work-for-us/equity-equality-diversity-inclusion-eedi-officer/

Yes I absolutely see what you’re saying. And I haven’t expressed myself well.

I have heard and read discussion from and with transmen thst they are no longer allowed to use the male toilets, as they probably have been without problem, and being told to use the female ones because they are female. And because transmen tend to pass so well, if they now DO use the female toilets, as they are entitled or supposed to do, some of them are bound to cause alarm. Whereas it is rare for a transwoman to pass, quite the opposite usually.

So, if we now have very convincing female transmen in single sex female facilities, how are we supposed to know which are female transmen and which could be just male men? They could just claim to be transmen and then where does that leave women? I can’t get my head around it.

If you had bothered to read my (quite short) post, you would have read this:

I would even say akin to "glorifying" depression and all the issues that arise from that and too much social media.

and

dangerous for teenagers especially, those who already have enough trouble getting out of bed in the morning and out of the house.

I've pretty much just reposted the entire thing again. Perhaps you'll read it this time? You can come back with more questions, but I really do think that if you engage your brain for the two minutes it will take you to read my comments, you should be able to understand what I have said.

Unless you don't want to.

I imagine the pose is deliberate because it’s the sort of hiding in plain sight the TRA lobby favours.

A passing transman can be barred from female toilets ( as long as there is an alternative for her to use) so not an issue.

The claim that men could claim to be transmen to use female toilets came up quote a lot after the SC judgment

It's not true though is it, it's just trying to whip up hysteria.

I would say most posters on mn are mothers. We have all been out and about doing our daily tasks with children in tow.

We have had to plan our shopping and socialising around suitable places to breastfeed, shop changing rooms large enough to permit a pram, toilets big enough to accommodate a buggy, a young child and a parent to assist them with their toileting, or even in some cases a double buggy, swimming pools with lockable family changing rooms, etc.

You just plan accordingly. As do people with disabilities who need to know what access is like and what facilities are available.

No one is drawing cartoons in the Guardian about these people who have had to plan their daily life for years.

They all just need to grow up and think of others.

TRAs are calling on transmen who they think pass to start using the female facilities. Apart from not understand that the code already covers this, they have also missed that actually the transmen themselves do not want to harass women.

It's blindingly obvious that the trans identifying males just want to scare and punish women, where as the trans identifying females don't.

And if men want to pretend to be trans to access female only spaces, then that just proves our point why we need the legal right to object to males in female spaces.

So our choices seem to be, men pretending to be TIF, or men pretending to be TIM. I’ll take the TIF ta. Never once met a TIF who was a “Totally convincing man”. And I have met many. even Buck Angel does not 100% pass in video. It’s the walk, the stance, the hand gestures, the brow ridge, the ear size and placement, the non prominent Adam’s apple, the hip profile.
Why do you think so many TIF grow beards and wear caps?

And you know who caused this…. The TRA.

They were also the ones protesting that no man would ever pretend to be trans in order to harass women and now they are advocating for it.

In itself though the rewriting must be equal in all areas

In a way I’m glad the focus hasn’t just been on trans issues. It just feeds into the me me me ideology

The document I think shows common sense and respect stands front and centre

Very good point! I'd forgotten about the "why would anybody go through all that just to pee" argument/gotcha. It reads as so 2017 now, doesn't it, and the TRAs probably think we've all forgotten that this used to be The Mantra.

But trans men are women

clearly they really still don’t get it do they

Thank you - I need to catch up!!!

Stephen Whittle is a transman and I would say he passes as a man at a glance. He has been using male facilities for years by stealth. This is what the code covered. Even if you are biologically female, if you pass as a man you should not use the female facilities.

TRAs are really struggling to get their heads around this because they have no nuance between a biological woman who looks like Stephen and a biological man who looks like Eddie Izzard. Eddie is never going to pass as a woman so he can't use the female facilities by stealth. Likewise India Willoughby.

Stephen himself gets this '70-year-old Whittle did not stray from habit. “Of course I used the male facilities, as I have done for the last 50 years. Can you imagine what the guy on security would have said if I’d gone to the ladies?”

Just a side note - the large majority of transmen do not 'pass well'. There are occasional transmen who can 'pass' when met briefly and casually, but they are not the majority. There are a very few exceptional individuals (though more than transwomen) who truly 'pass' - as in being undetectable to all but intimate friends.

And what's more, ability to pass has nothing to do with trans identity - one has the protected characteristic of gender reassignment the moment that you decide that you're transgender, irrespective of any outward appearances. And there are in fact women who identify as women (rather than trans) who take testosterone, (even developing facial hair) to alleviate dysphoria.

Not objecting to your overall argument, others have addressed it well. But we should keep the every day facts of the matter in mind.

Suddenly security know and care about sex and will prevent those of (apparently) the wrong sex from entering the women's single sex facilities?

Oh good.

The gender neutral ones will solve all the issues Steve, you'll be fine.

He's actually talking about security at the Chelsea Flower Show and they definitely will have accessible for all facilities so absolutely no need for him to use the women's anyway if he wanted to.

Just caught the end of Michael McIntyre on BBC and Ricky Wilson (Kaiser Chiefs) is wearing a ‘trans rights are human rights’ T-shirt. Under a cardi/jacket admittedly but yuk! Gone right off him . . .

Another misogynist shows his true colours - thanks for highlighting that, it's good to know who to avoid.

Thing is, TIFs don't have 160% the punch power of other women and don't commit 97% of sex crimes. So tbh I'm not bothered about masculine looking women in the toilets as long as I can be absolutely sure they're not of the sex that commit 97% of sex crimes and have 160% the punch power of females.

I particularly want to keep male people who don't give a shit about women's boundaries out as they're indicating they're probably even more likely to be in the minority of men who commit 97% of sex crimes. Not listening to women saying 'no' and all that.

Funnily enough I actually think that a lot of TIFs use the unisex spaces or the mens in part because they know what it's like to be a woman and actually have some empathy for other women (and see them as fully human and not resources to be used even when not consenting).

There are a lot of trans examples, just few that spell out the reality of sex based rights. When I responded to the consultation I made the point quite strongly that anything but complete clarity would leave it open to misinterpretation, both unintentional and deliberate.