‘Kind of humiliating’: trans community responds to EHRC’s new code of practice | Gender
S.tephen Whittle was visiting the Chelsea flower show with his wife Thursday afternoon as a birthday treat. Around the same time, the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s updated code of practice was published. Alongside numerous updates, it has been confirmed that single-sex spaces such as restrooms and locker rooms must be used on the basis of biological sex, and that transgender people may not have access to those that match the gender they live in.
Between flower exhibitions, 70-year-old Whittle did not deviate from her habit. “Of course, I also took advantage of men’s opportunities, as I have done for the last 50 years. Can you imagine what the security man would say if I went near the women?”
Whittle, who spearheaded the campaign for gender recognition across the UK in the 1990s, has seen significant progress both legally and socially in the intervening years, and her focus on Friday was “on trying to calm people down and say, ‘Keep calm; we’ll get through this'”.
For the trans and wider LGBTQ+ community, as well as many of those running businesses and services, there has been a sense of uncertainty since the high court’s decision on biological sex in April 2025, as they have turned to the equalities watchdog for practical guidance on how to implement the decision.
For gender critical groups who have specifically campaigned to exclude trans women from women-only services, yesterday’s updated law was welcomed as a reinforcement of last year’s court victory.
But for others, this led to more questions, and for some, the guidance confirmed their worst fears.
“Even watching the evening news was a bit humiliating,” says Blake, a data analyst near Liverpool. “’Where are people going to pee?’ Having a frame in the form of. “This means fewer problems we experience in our lives, such as access to healthcare, as well as a real daily struggle.”
Still reviewing the 340-page law on Friday morning, Katie Russell, chief executive and co-founder of Support After Rape and Sexual Violence Leeds, says neither the law nor the court ruling are “super clear” on how to keep trans people inclusive. But since April last year, the service has been taking specific legal advice, consulting with service users and making changes to administrative documents.
“From a practical standpoint, we understand that we have lost the right to call ourselves simply women, and we are slowly changing our language to make it clear that for those of us who include trans women, we are still women-centered. We want to act within the law but continue to model our intersectional feminist values,” she said.
Russell highlights that trans women and non-binary clients make up a very small percentage of the 1,700 people supported by SARSVL last year; This mostly took place through one-on-one work, either in person, online, or via a helpline. “For us this is an absolutely proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, because where else should they go?”
Many businesses contacted by the Guardian said they wanted more time to review the details of the updates. But cosmetics brand Lush, which has consistently been pro-inclusivity, said the guidance was a “significant setback for human rights in the UK”.
Andrew Butler, the brand’s campaign leader, said: “This puts frontline service providers, retail workers and many others in the position of policing people’s gender based on perception, with their organizations being held accountable for their own decisions. Guidance is a mess because the legislation is a mess. The government needs to legislate to fix equality law and include trans voices to do it fairly.”
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality and representing a sector that has raised concerns about the logistics of toilet provision and its ability to remain trans-inclusive, was cautiously optimistic. “The change to make clear that gender-neutral toilets and facilities are acceptable is a particularly positive step,” he said.
Alice, an anesthetist working in the UK, says she has been coordinating with similarly affected colleagues since April last year to ensure the hospital where she works has gender-neutral facilities at “strategic intervals”.
“But the building I work in is very old and the facilities it can offer are limited,” he said. Alice, who also needs to change clothes at work, may find herself some distance from the toilet she is allowed to use and must choose between leaving her patient alone for a long time (which she would never do) or dehydrating herself.
Like many transgender people interviewed by the Guardian in recent years, Alice is making plans to leave the UK. “It has become very clear that I am not welcome. I love my job and my family has a happy life here, but I will not be a second-class citizen in my own country.”
