Now judges rule ALL schools in Scotland must provide single sex toilets

Daily Mail​

23-04-2025

A judge has ordered all Scottish state schools to provide single-sex toilets after parents won a landmark legal fight against gender-neutral lavatories.
Bosses at Scottish Borders Council (SBC) admitted they had been wrong not to install sex-segregated bathrooms at the new Earlston Primary School, in Berwickshire.
The case follows a Supreme Court ruling last week which said biological sex - not gender choices - is decisive in defining a woman.
A leading lawyer warned last night that SBC's decision will have major implications for other schools across Scotland which have gender-neutral facilities.
Scottish Tory equalities spokesman Tess White said: 'This case highlights the SNP government's failure to provide adequate guidance to Scotland's public sector over single-sex spaces.
'The Nationalists' gender self-ID policy has become embedded in our institutions and that has to change immediately, in light of the Supreme Court ruling that it is unlawful.'
At the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Lady Ross KC said she would issue a 'declarator' - a court order – to make legal obligations on Scottish state schools clear after Sean Stratford and Leigh Hurley brought a judicial review over their concerns about transgender policies at Earlston, where their son Ethan, eight, was a pupil.
They had complained about the lack of separate-sex facilities at the replacement school, which recently opened and cost taxpayers £16.6million, as well as trans inclusion policies around sports days, and potential punishment that their son would face if he 'misgendered' other pupils.
Their concerns were dismissed by Kevin Wilson, the headteacher, and later SBC, which claimed it did not have to consult with parents about the lavatory policy.
The parents went to court with the support of For Women Scotland (FWS), the campaign group which last week won the landmark Supreme Court ruling declaring that for the purposes of UK equalities law, biological men could not become legally female.
In court yesterday, Ruth Crawford KC, representing the council, accepted the terms of the declarator making clear that the bathroom policy had been unlawful.
Ms Hurley, 39, who still works at Earlston Primary as a pupil support worker, first raised concerns in November 2023 about the school supporting the 'social transition' of another pupil, which included allowing them to participate in sports day races in the category of their gender identity.
She told The Times she later discovered that her son would face punishment if he 'misgendered' trans pupils and that the new-build school was planning to have no separate-sex lavatories.
Ms Hurley, of Earlston, said: 'We just want all children to be safeguarded.
'We have great empathy for any child, but we just wanted our rights respected at the same time, and that wasn't happening.
'In the end we felt we had no choice but to pull our child out of the school, which left him devastated.'
Mr Stratford, a 42-year-old firefighter, claimed that when he complained the headteacher criticised his parenting methods, questioning how he was preparing his son for 'the diverse world we live in'.
The couple had particular concerns about their daughter Ivie, three, who would be starting at a school where she would have to share communal lavatories with boys.
Mr Stratford said: 'You're talking about children who still believe in Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy.'
According to FWS, schools across Scotland have installed gender-neutral lavatories despite regulations passed in 1967 mandating that separate-sex facilities must be provided, including urinals for boys.
Its research suggests five per cent of secondary schools provide mixed-sex toilets only, while 16 per cent of secondary schools provide a combination of single-sex and mixed-sex toilets.
Controversial Scottish government guidance for schools issued in 2021 states it is a 'social convention' that people use lavatories in line with their biological sex.
After the hearing, Rosie Walker, head of litigation at Gilson Gray, representing the parents in the SBC row, said the council had 'thrown in the towel' - and the ruling would have 'far-reaching implications' for other councils.
She said: 'While the Supreme Court ruling did not affect the law in this case, it has brought focus on to the fact that single-sex spaces have to be respected.
'It has changed the climate and the debate about these issues.
'This is undoubtedly the first of many cases, following the Supreme Court ruling, in which we will see the rights of women and girls upheld by the courts.'
As well as the declarator on single-sex spaces in schools, the council will now have to reconsider the other aspects of wider complaints made by the parents and issue a new response within 20 days.
An SBC spokesman said: 'Prior to the hearing, SBC had accepted and acknowledged the decision that was being sought was correct and therefore did not seek to defend this in court.
'Moving forward, SBC will revisit and reconsider the complaint and respond in due course.'
A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'Ministers are aware of reports of a ruling in the Court of Session case involving Scottish Borders Council in relation to Earlston school.
'We will carefully consider the implications of that ruling.'