How life has changed for trans Brits in year since Supreme Court ruling on sex
A year ago today, the UK’s Supreme Court made one of the biggest and most controversial decisions in its history.
In a televised announcement, Lord Hodge said the justices had concluded that the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the 2010 Equality Act should be defined biologically.
The ruling effectively meant trans women were not legally considered women, and they could be barred from accessing single-sex spaces.
As the anniversary of that momentous decision arrives, many questions are yet to be answered.
The government has still not published its official guidance on how single-sex spaces in public spaces and services should be enforced, after months of discussions with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).
In a written statement published on Tuesday, women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson said the document would be laid in Parliament ‘as soon as practicable’ after the elections on May 7.
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But while some places are waiting for those guidelines before making any major changes to their approach, other companies and organisations have taken pre-emptive action.
It means the Supreme Court ruling has already had a direct impact on trans people in the UK in the past year.
Girlguiding
Last December, Girlguiding UK announced trans girls would no longer be welcome in their units, while trans women could not volunteer in women-only roles.
This ‘difficult decision’ came after ‘detailed considerations, expert legal advice and input from senior members, young members’, the organisation said.
Then, last month, a date was set: any trans members would have to leave by September.
The mother of a 10-year-old trans girl guide told Metro her daughter cannot understand why she is being excluded from a group that made her feel accepted.
The Women’s Institute
One day after the announcement from Girlguiding, the Women’s Institute also said it could no longer allow trans women to join.
Melissa Green, the chief executive of the WI, said the decision was taken ‘with the utmost regret and sadness’.
She added: ‘To be able to continue operating as the Women’s Institute, a legally recognised women’s organisation and charity, we must act in accordance with the Supreme Court’s judgment and restrict formal membership to biological women only.
‘However, this change is only in respect to our membership policy and does not change our firm belief that transgender women are women.’
British Transport Police
Soon after the Supreme Court ruling, the British Transport Police announced an ‘interim’ change in its guidance.
It meant male police officers would carry out searches of trans women, in a shift from previous guidelines which assigned officers based on the person’s Gender Recognition Certificate.
The FA
Until the start of June last year, the FA allowed trans women to play women’s football in England.
The change was announced on May 1, two weeks after the Supreme Court’s decision, as a direct result of the ‘material change in the law’.
Those affected would be contacted ‘to explain the changes and how they can continue to stay involved in the game’, the FA said.
England and Wales Cricket Board
On May 2 last year, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced that only biologically female players could take part in women’s and girls’ cricket matches.
Transgender cricketers would still be able to participate in open and mixed cricket, the governing body said.
In a statement, it said: ‘We will work with Recreational Cricket Boards to support people impacted by this change in our regulations.’
Virgin Active
In February 2025, Virgin Active was the subject of a complaint by GB News presenter Michelle Dewberry after she felt uncomfortable sharing a changing room in her gym with a trans woman.
The health club provider updated its rules in August to say: ‘By law, our members and visitors who use a changing room marked as “male” or “female” must select the one that matches their biological sex.’
The Good Law Project announced in January it was suing Virgin Active over what it called a ‘transphobic bathroom ban’.
Barclays
In a call with the media at the end of April 2025, Barclays boss CS Venkatakrishnan confirmed a new bathroom policy in the bank’s buildings.
He said the move had to be made to ensure the company complies with the law, but they would ‘strive in every way to make the appropriate facilities available in a comfortable way for people to use’.
Everyday life
According to advocacy group TransActual, the impact of last April’s ruling was not limited to policy changes from major firms and organisations.
Chay Brown, the director of healthcare at the organisation, said: ‘Within a week of the ruling, trans people were reporting that they’d been approached at work and asked to stop using toilets they’d been using for years, sometimes decades, without issue.’
Some face having to work from home ‘simply because their workplace doesn’t know what to do with them’ , Chay said.
He added: ‘Suddenly, trans people were living with anxiety about doing the sorts of things many people would take for granted.
‘Trips to the cinema or to the pub had to be risk assessed for the likelihood that the venue or a member of the public would object to a trans person’s presence, and for how violently they might object.
‘Put simply, trans people already faced a huge amount of discrimination at work and in the community and the ruling made things far worse.’
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