One year since the UK Supreme Court’s biological sex ruling, a new report has revealed the profound impact on trans safety and thousands of women are now joining forces to reject this rising exclusion.
One year ago today (April 16), the UK Supreme Court ruled that the terms “woman” and “man” in the Equality Act should be defined in terms of “biological sex” alone, after the so-called ‘gender critical’ volunteer organisation For Women Scotland had appealed against the Scottish Government’s usage of the term ‘woman’.
Lord Hodge, Lady Rose and Lady Simler gave a joint judgment, with which the other Justices agree, passing down that a unanimous verdict that the term ‘woman’ used in the Equality Act 2010 refers to biological sex.
At the time, trans activists and charities shared their concerns that the UK Supreme Court ruling will open the doors on further harms on the trans community – and a new report has shown how trans people have since been excluded trans people from society.
READ MORE: ‘We won’t stop fighting for equal rights’: Trans charities respond to UK Supreme Court ruling
The 2025 Trans Segregation in Practice report includes testimonies from individuals, both cis and trans, who now find themselves being exiled from a life they knew and felt safe within just four short months ago.
Findings show that approximately 53% of trans respondents and 17% of cis respondents reported having ever been stopped, questioned or harassed (throughout their adult lives) while entering a gendered space in the UK.
On its anniversary, Helen Belcher, director at TransActual, reflected on the impact the ruling has had on the trans community. “The Supreme Court ruling last year turned tens of thousands of trans people’s lives upside down. There is no longer any clarity over where people can do basic things that enable them to participate in public life, such as use public toilets or changing rooms,” she said.
“This has led to trans and gender non-conforming people no longer feeling safe in British society or at work. One in four in trans adults are reportedly planning to leave the UK, which is a real indictment on this government and our media.”
In the weeks that followed the ruling, a collective called Not In Our Name (NION) was founded as a familiar story was being told: that this was a ‘win’ for cis* women. However, as women who believe in the acceptance and inclusion of our trans+ siblings, the women of Not In Our Name did not feel that way.
NION refused to stay silent while trans people were being scapegoated in our name, and a refused to accept narratives that pitch trans rights against women’s rights, while ignoring the real sources of gender-based oppression and violence.
“Women who had stayed out of this conversation – because it had become so toxic and polarised that engagement felt impossible – started signing,” they revealed. “Mothers, teachers, nurses, and friends, ordinary women who had watched the debate from a distance and who had felt increasingly uncomfortable with what was being said and done, but had nowhere to put that discomfort – until our open letter gave them an outlet.
“That is the story we want to tell on this anniversary: not one about a ruling, but the one about what happens when women whose voices have been co-opted and weaponised against the trans+ community finally get handed the microphone.”
The NION open letter – completely and categorically rejecting the active discrimination and exclusion of trans, non-binary and gender-diverse people in the name of cisgendered women – now has almost 100,000 signatures.
It has been met with and had support from a network of influential allies, from Carla Denyer MP, Kate Nash, Beverley Knight, Denise Welch, Kate Osborne MP, David Tennant, and Zack Polanski.
If you are a woman and you agree with this sentiment and wish to show your support for the trans+ community, please add your signature to the Not In Our Name letter here.