Lambeth Council to challenge new “discriminatory” guidelines on single-sex spaces

[IwantToRetire]

Lambeth Council has signalled it will resist new guidance on access to single-sex spaces, over fears that it risked “leaving trans people open to discrimination”.

Councillors backed a call for the council to refuse to implement the “Draft Code of Practice on Services, public functions and associations”, if the council’s legal team confirms the move would be lawful.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published the updated code following a Supreme Court judgment last year, ruling that “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refers to sex assigned at birth.

The draft clarifies that service providers may legally restrict single-sex spaces, including changing rooms, to biological sex.

But a motion to a Full Council meeting condemned the draft code as “incoherent and self-contradictory, discriminatory, and impossible to implement in a reasonable and proportionate manner”. It called on the council to “protect LGBTQIA+ workers and service users” by refusing to implement the guidelines.

continues at https://love.lambeth.gov.uk/lambeth-to-challenge-new-discriminatory-guidelines-on-single-sex-spaces/

Ridiculous that they think they are above the law.

To counter this with some positive news, here's Charlotte Cadden doing sterling work at Bolton Council. I loved her speech, and the motion was passed with support from all parties.

https://nitter.net/i/status/2080437012809576578

It says "The motion asked council officers to advise on the legality of refusing to implement the guidelines – “and to proceed with non-implementation should officers advise that this is a lawful option”.

It will be interesting to see what advise their Legal Dept officers will give them.

I wonder if the councillors already realise that their motion is illegal but are just wanting to virtue signal to the *TQIA+ and say "it's not our fault, the law made us do it".

*note I left out the LGB as I suspect they don't have a problem with single sex facilities.

<< hovers finger over the Cancel Direct Debit button for gym and pool membership at a Lambeth run centre>>

Fucking fuckers. I want my pool and gym showers and changing rooms to be single sex.

I like the previous poster's idea that the council are just virtue signalling. Possibly.

They still have to abide by the law. But, if they are not implementing the guidance, then you'll have to take them to court. If they really are going to dig their heels in over the guidance, I doubt a Letter Before Action will budge them.

re Is it just virtue signalling?

I suppose it could be. It certainly isn't as assertively shouty as Green Councils.

And will certainly be interesting to see what advice Council Officers come up with. Because even if they are secret TWAW, they certainly cant undermine their credibility if they attempt to give the wrong legal advice to Councillors.

Apparently there is an agreed process for local councils (according to AI):

1. The In-House Legal Team
The council employs a team of qualified solicitors who specialize in public and local government law. They assess how a policy motion clashes with statutory duties, like the Equality Act 2010.

2. The Monitoring Officer
As the ultimate legal safeguard inside the town hall, the Monitoring Officer reviews the team's findings. If councillors try to force an illegal policy, the Monitoring Officer can block it to protect the council from being sued.

3. External KC Barristers
Because the Supreme Court has ruled on the definition of sex and the EHRC has laid out a statutory Code of Practice, internal lawyers will almost certainly commission external advice. They hire an independent barrister specializing in human rights and administrative law to provide an unbiased opinion.

4. Local Government Associations
Officers also look to collective bodies like London Councils or the Local Government Association (LGA). These groups publish shared legal briefings when multiple boroughs face the same "legal and operational uncertainty" over new national policies.

Again, if a council is willing to openly declare it is not going to follow the law on this, what other laws are they willing to disregard?

I don't know how it would work or if it could/would, but Government should withold Government grants to local councils unless and until they operate the law.

OK it's just a daft idea, but it would make the councillors listen and have to explain to people why this or that is no longer funded.

I suppose I can dream on, since it is unlikely that central government will intervene.

“Trans women are women, trans men are men, Trans rights are human rights. Let us work together to build a Lambeth that is fair, equitable, and just.”

So sick of the elected officials in this country spewing out this counterfactual bullshit. So sick of all the other elected officials not pulling them up on such bullshit.

It's like a programmed response, how anyone can doubt this is a cult is beyond me.

I wonder where the threshold is for misuse of public funds. Spending money on lawyers to clarify law that has already been clarified by the Supreme Court is surely either close to it or past it. It's unnecessarily wasteful at a time when public funds are stretched and councils are cutting back.

The guidance is simply that: guidance. The law is the law. We already know that the guidance is lawful because it's been accepted by parliament.

Absolute bunch of clowns. Wasting tax payers’ money on this ridiculous nonsense, makes my blood boil.

Well the first step is to consult the "in house" legal team at the Council.

You would like to think that each team at each council has kept up to date with changes in the law.

So it may come down to do in house legal advisors feel able to tell councillors the truth or will they hedge their bets (not wanting to upset their employer) and suggest maybe an outside legal team should be consulted.

Another bloody London council who think the law shouldn’t apply to them? Is there a list of councils in London who are following the law and not challenging it and generally supporting women? Moving to London next year and want a friendly TERF-y sort of place.

It's unnecessarily wasteful at a time when public funds are stretched and councils are cutting back.

OP, Andy is apparently all about saving the taxpayer money, so perhaps you could write to him about it. It might just start him thinking about the 51% of the population who really need the guidance to function properly and for the law to be followed NOW. He might need that extra reminder after his gaff yesterday at No. 10 North!

Well I dont live in Lambeth, but one of the reasons for posting this, and hope threads about other councils do the same, is to let whoever does have one of these councils as there local council would write it.

Not just to the local council but to the Burnham Government.

Should go to whoever is in charge of budgets
Whoever is in charge of legal issues
Whoever is in charge of supporting women's rights

Totally.

It’s also worth writing to the Mayor of London. Just address to him, the letters get triaged by subject.

Yes, that's why I suggested that the OP write to Burnham. Was that not clear?

I think there is a misunderstanding, or I should have spelt out that I think there is more impact if in relation to a council a complaint comes from some one lives in the area, rather than it appearing that a "campaigner" is making a complaint.

Maybe Lambeth Council could take a look at how another Council is responding to the new (or rather clarified) guidelines.

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/26402041.bolton-council-review-policies-ruling-single-sex-spaces/

For trans, intersex and gender non-conforming individuals, as well as those men and women who do not fit normative social representations of gender, these guidelines present the danger of discrimination and prejudice in the spaces where we should be prioritising care, support and service provision.
When residents access our public services, they should not be concerned about how their gender is perceived, but how we provide the very best service for them, every step of the way.

So presumably all services are going to be mixed sex, but you haven't made that clear in your announcement. If you have the courage of your convictions Why not remove all uncertainty? Have you checked the building code requirements for mixed sex facilities?

The recommendation is that in addition to male and female toilets there should be gender neutral ones. (Although many trans people complain this is very outing for them.)

But these gender neutral toilets should not mean taking over toilets designed for those with a disability.

I think, but dont know the wording and at which point this would apply, that smaller organisations would not be able to provide male, female, disabled and gender neutral.

This could probably be part of any number of threads on FWR!

How are newly elected councillors coping with life on the council?
https://www.channel4.com/news/how-are-newly-elected-councillors-coping-with-life-on-the-council

Sorry, I thought @CrypticClueless was the OP, that's why I suggested she write to Burnham. Definitely a misunderstanding, my apologies.

Good on them as the legal and political system is completely captured by transphobes.