JK Rowling has blasted Labour for blocking new transgender guidance which protects women’s rights to female-only spaces.
The Harry Potter author hit out at the Government for claiming it wants to ‘stamp out misogyny’ after Bridget Phillipson blocked the publication of new Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidance on women-only spaces.
The Labour Women and Equalities Secretary branded the proposals ‘trans-exclusive’, arguing it would unfairly discriminate transgender women.
Ms Phillipson has refused to sign off the draft guidance more than three months after receiving it, despite a landmark Supreme Court ruling that sex under equality law means biological sex.
She claimed the guidance could prevent women from taking their infant sons into swimming pool changing rooms and said there were ‘many entirely plausible exceptions’ to single-sex rules.
The Labour minister also argued that the Supreme Court ruling was primarily concerned with maternity protections rather than blanket restrictions on access to women-only spaces.
JK Rowling attacked Labour for claiming it was rooting out misogyny while ‘fighting to remove women’s and girls’ rights to single-sex spaces’.
In a post on X, the author said: ‘This government tells us in one breath that it wants to stamp out misogyny, and in the next that it will be fighting in the Supreme Court to remove women’s and girls’ rights to single-sex spaces.’
JK Rowling has blasted Labour for blocking new transgender guidance which protects women’s rights to female-only spaces
The Women and Equalities Secretary has refused to sign off the draft guidance more than three months after receiving it, despite a landmark Supreme Court ruling that sex under equality law means biological sex
She also condemned a Labour social media post which described how the party is aiming to protect children from misogyny.
The post said: ‘Every parent should be able to trust that their daughter is safe at school, online and in her relationships. With Labour, they will be.’
In response, Rowling said: ‘As you’re fighting to remove our daughters’ rights to the privacy and safety of single-sex bathrooms and changing rooms, while poised to allow the unethical puberty blockers trial, perhaps children should be protected from @UKLabour.’
In April, the Supreme Court ruled that only biological women are women under equality law.
Ms Phillipson had argued that the Supreme Court ruling was primarily concerned with maternity protections rather than blanket restrictions on access to women-only spaces.
Because the guidance has not been approved, hospitals, businesses and other public bodies remain without clear instructions on how to apply the ruling, with no requirement currently in force to exclude biological males from women’s spaces.
Sir Keir Starmer initially welcomed the Supreme Court judgment, saying it provided ‘clarity’ by confirming that ‘a woman is an adult human female’, but the EHRC’s code of practice has still not been laid before Parliament.
Ms Phillipson has been accused of insisting on additional bureaucratic steps that have delayed the process, effectively blocking the guidance from coming into force.
A Government spokesman denied she was obstructing the guidance, saying the document was legally complex and needed careful scrutiny to avoid placing service providers at risk of legal challenge.
Ms Phillipson is blocking the publication of new EHRC guidance on women-only spaces after branding the proposals ‘trans-exclusive’. Pictured: Women’s Rights supporters protest outside the What Is A Woman trial at the Supreme Court in London
However, Conservatives accused the minister of failing to uphold the court’s ruling. Shadow equalities minister Claire Coutinho said the Government was ‘doing everything it can to deny women the right to single-sex spaces’.
Ms Phillipson’s opposition to the guidance emerged in court papers filed as part of a legal challenge brought by the Good Law Project against an interim version of the EHRC’s recommendations.
In those papers, she argued that ‘common sense’ exceptions should apply, including allowing pregnant women to use men’s lavatories to avoid queues or permitting other case-by-case exemptions.
The EHRC submitted its full 300-page draft code to ministers in September and urged approval ‘at speed’, warning that organisations urgently need clarity following the Supreme Court ruling.
A ruling in the High Court case is expected soon, amid growing pressure on ministers to explain when – or whether – the guidance on women-only spaces will be approved.