Gender and space: on trans people's basic rights
The ruling made the point that the Gender Recognition Act 2004 gives legal recognition to the rights of transgender people on marriage, pensions, retirement and social security, and that the equality law protects them against discrimination. Kishwer Falkner, the chair of the U.K.'s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), said the court's 'clarity' means only 'biological women could use single-sex changing rooms and women's toilets, or participate in women-only sporting events and teams, or be placed in women's wards in hospitals'. But as the judges counselled against reading the judgment as a triumph for one or more groups in society at the expense of another, the EHRC should also ensure that unisex or neutral spaces are earmarked for trans people when it issues new guidelines. That holds true for all institutions, offices, hospitals and schools, planning restrictions. The ruling will have an impact on the sporting arena where athletics, cycling and aquatics have already banned transgender women from participating in women's events. As the experience with India's Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2019 shows, any changes in the legal framework must factor in the trans people's basic rights or else they will face more strictures.
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