Major update amid Scotland's gender ID row as ALL schools ordered to provide single-sex toilets
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SCHOOLS must provide single-sex toilets for pupils after a judge ruled against a council's decision to build a new school with only gender neutral loos.
Lady Ross KC told the Court of Session she would issue a court order making it a legal requirement for Scottish state schools to provide toilets according to biological sex, The Times reported.
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The case had been brought by parents following concerns about pro-trans policies
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The Supreme Court found 'sex' under the Equality Act referred to 'biological sex'
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John Swinney admitted girls are scared of using mixed-sex toilets in schools
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The case had been brought by parents Sean Stratford and Leigh Hurley following concerns about pro-trans policies at Earlston Primary, where their son Ethan, eight, was a pupil and their daughter Ivie, 3, was due to start.
The council had built a new school for £16.6million but had not included single-sex toilets - with the head teacher, Kevin Wilson, dismissing their concerns.
Ruth Crawford KC, representing the council, accepted the terms of the court order at the Court of Session in Edinburgh this morning, accepting that the policy had been unlawful.
Mum Leigh Hurley, who works at the school as a pupil support worker, claimed Scottish Borders Council had 'ignored sex-based rights in attempts to deal sympathetically with trans children'.
She 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. As a parent, you have a right to choose where you send your children to school and ultimately we were forced out, because they were breaking the law.
'We're hoping that following this ruling, this nonsense will stop, adults pay attention and properly safeguard all children within a school setting.'
The parent's solicitor, Rosie Walker, added: '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.'
A briefing by For Women Scotland - who helped support the court case - found one in 20 secondary schools offered exclusively gender-neutral facilities.
And they found only 13 of 243 secondary schools in Scotland complied with the law on the number of single-sex toilets.
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Controversial guidance from the Scottish Government from 2021 states it is 'social convention' for people to use toilets in line with their biological sex.
A spokeswoman for Scottish Borders council told The Times: 'We can confirm the matter relates to Earlston Primary School, recently opened, but are unable to give any further comment beyond that at this stage.'
In February, Nats ministers said they would 'refresh and modernise' laws from the 1960s which demands school toilets and divided equally between the two genders.
They said there was broad support for more gender neutral toilets as more children continued to identify as different to their biological sex.
It added: 'All respondents agreed that the proposals would have no detrimental effect on those with protected characteristics, and indeed went some way in supporting greater equality and inclusion.'
The ruling comes after the Supreme Court last week unanimously found 'sex' under the Equality Act referred to 'biological sex'.
It means guidance around toilets, changing rooms and other facilities will have to be changed to exclude trans people where single-sex services are provided.
Nats ministers said they would wait for equalities watchdogs to issue fresh guidance before updating their own for public sector bodies across Scotland.
In December, John Swinney admitted girls are scared of using mixed-sex toilets in schools because they fear being photographed.
He told MSPs he knew the 'intolerable' practice of boys taking snaps under stall doors was taking place.
The First Minister said: 'Let me make it absolutely crystal clear that any of the behaviour Mr Findlay has recounted — which I know does take place in our schools — is completely and utterly intolerable.'
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