Transgender woman and activist boasts of using the Ladies toilets in Parliament after biological female Supreme Court ruling
The landmark hearing last Wednesday ruled that the definition of a woman is based on biological sex, and that trans women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) could potentially be excluded from single-sex spaces if 'proportionate'.
In an 88-page ruling, the justices said: 'The definition of sex in the Equality Act 2010 makes clear that the concept of sex is binary, a person is either a woman or a man.'
Despite this Marty Davies, a writer and campaigner, took to X to detail how she is protesting the change in the law from the heart of government.
She arrived at Parliament for Lesbian Visibility Week to hear the Minister for Women and Equalities Bridget Phillipson speaking in the chamber.
Which Davies described as her 'casually rubber stamping the stripping away for Trans+ rights'.
She wrote on X: ' Following the speech I went to the women's toilets just outside the Churchill room. I went to the toilet.
'I washed my hands. And no one was hurt.'
She joins a multitude of other activists who are defying the new rules, with one photographing themselves in a women-only space.
Joss Prior took a selfie in what looks like a women's toilets yesterday, posting it on X alongside the caption: 'Using women's spaces as you do.'
Meanwhile, Ashley Johnson threatened to 'p*** on the floor' if she is stopped from using the ladies toilets.
'Back to anxiety I had about using public toilets when I first transitioned. Thinking I'll still use the ladies and if any establishment stops me, I'll p*** on the floor in their public area,' she wrote on Facebook.
The ruling has caused much controversy among various groups, with transgender activists left furious.
Thousands of outraged campaigners took to the streets of London to protest - waving flags and chanting throughout the afternoon.
Protestors targeted a number of statues in the capital. Notably, a statue of the suffragette Millicent Fawcett was defaced with a banner reading 'F** rights'.
The Metropolitan Police said they were investigating the incidents as criminal damage after the statues were daubed with graffiti.
This weekend, pro-trans groups are organising demonstrations in towns and cities including Coventry; Portsmouth; Liverpool; Leicester; Oxford; Birmingham; Cheltenham; Cambridge; Derby; Bristol; Newcastle and Aberystwyth.
In Coventry, the group 'Coventry Trans Pride' has called an 'emergency protest for trans rights', meeting at the city's statue of Lady Godiva on Saturday afternoon.
They call on people to 'come together to show that we won't take these attacks on our rights sitting down… we will not disappear and we will not be silenced.'
In Darlington, a protest in the town's market square was called after the Supreme Court's decision was described as 'more than a simple clarification on wording, it's an attempt to push trans people out of public life completely.
In his first comments since the Supreme Court's judgment, Sir Keir Starmer yesterday said he believed 'a woman is an adult female, and the court has made that absolutely clear.'
He added: 'I actually welcome the judgment because I think it gives real clarity. It allows those that have got to draw up guidance to be really clear about what that guidance should say.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
5 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Governments have 'failed white working-class students' and Britain is falling behind as a result, Bridget Phillipson claims
Governments have ' failed white working-class students,' the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has said. As pupils wait in great anticipation for GCSE results day this Thursday morning, she warned that four-fifths of children from white working-class backgrounds struggled with basic English and maths skills. Ms Phillipson said that as a result, Britain is falling behind as the UK's productivity suffers and so does the economy. In 2024, only 19 per cent of white British, working-class children achieved a strong pass in maths and English GCSE and has been a trend in data since 2017. 'It's appalling, and I won't stand by and watch those numbers continue to grow. It's not just the life chances of those children that are being damaged – it's also the health of our society as a whole. Swathes of human capability and productivity lost. 'Fewer than one in five of all white British children on free school meals are leaving school with the maths and English skills to succeed in work and life. 'This data goes back to 2017. Alarmingly, it looks almost identical today to how it did then,' she said writing for The Telegraph. The Education Secretary added efforts to overcome the problem would focus on increasing school attendance as poor performance among white working-class pupils is thought to be closely linked to high absence levels. Officials fear that failure to provide young people with the skills they need to succeed in life will only further deplete Britain's already low productivity levels and could lead to less people entering work and more on benefits. It comes as a study from the Institute for Government (IfG) suggests ethnicity may be a factor in how badly poverty impacts on educational attainment. The think tank said disadvantaged white pupils have 'particularly poor educational outcomes' in terms of attainment in Year 6 Sats. Official data showed only 3 per cent of British white pupils from low income families attend a top university – one of the least successful groups. Last week, Ms Phillipson said it was a 'national disgrace' that so many white working class children were 'written off' and failed to achieve their potential. The IfG report referenced previous research which found this demographic is overrepresented in rural and coastal areas where there is 'lower funding… higher teacher vacancies, longer travel times and worse digital infrastructure'. The report adds: 'Factors from children's home environments, such as varying aspirations among parents from different ethnic backgrounds, also likely play a role.' The report examined the councils in England and identified the 'bottom fifth' for performance of disadvantaged pupils. It found the vast majority of these had 'above average shares' of white children within their population of disadvantaged pupils. On average nationally, 67 per cent of disadvantaged primary school pupils are white. The think tank has said tackling high absence rates – particularly among disadvantaged pupils – 'will be key' to narrowing educational inequalities. A Department for Education spokesman said: 'Tackling the baked-in inequalities in our education system will take time, but through our Plan for Change this government is taking action against the root causes that we know are holding young people back. 'We are driving high and rising standards for every child through the expert-led Curriculum and Assessment Review, new RISE teams and strengthened school accountability. 'This comes alongside work to tackle disadvantage including expanding free school meals, rolling out free breakfast clubs and revitalising family services in every local authority. 'But we know there is more to do, which is why we will bring about the reforms needed through our Schools White Paper later this year to create an education system where every child can thrive, regardless of their background.'
Scottish Sun
34 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Tory councillor's wife Lucy Connolly to be freed TODAY after she was jailed for racist Southport tweet
This comes after she lost an appeal to reduce her sentence in May FINALLY FREE Tory councillor's wife Lucy Connolly to be freed TODAY after she was jailed for racist Southport tweet Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A TORY councillor's wife who was jailed for posting a racist tweet after the Southport attack is set to be released from prison today. Lucy Connolly was sentenced to 31 months in prison in October after being found guilty of inciting racial hatred after she made the post on X just hours following the murders in Southport. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up However, Connolly - wife of Conservative councillor Raymond Connolly - will be released from prison today after serving less than a year of her sentence, the Telegraph reported. Posting on X the day three children were murdered by Axel Rudakubana in Southport, Connolly wrote: "Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the ba***rds for all I care... if that makes me racist so be it." She pleaded guilty to inciting racial hatred by publishing and distributing "threatening or abusive" written material on X and was jailed at Birmingham Crown Court in October last year. Critics have slammed her sentence in the past for being too harsh, although Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer earlier this year defended it. When asked in May if Connolly's imprisonment was an "efficient or fair use" of prison, after her Court of Appeal application against her jail term was dismissed, the PM said: "Sentencing is a matter for our courts, and I celebrate the fact that we have independent courts in this country. "I am strongly in favour of free speech, we've had free speech in this country for a very long time and we protect it fiercely. "But I am equally against incitement to violence against other people. I will always support the action taken by our police and courts to keep our streets and people safe." Connolly's post was viewed 310,000 times in three-and-a-half hours before she deleted it. Lord Young of Acton, founder and director of the Free Speech Union, said: "The fact that Lucy Connolly has spent more than a year in prison for a single tweet that she quickly deleted and apologised for is a national scandal, particularly when Labour MPs, councillors and anti-racism campaigners who've said and done much worse have avoided jail. "The same latitude they enjoyed should have been granted to Lucy." More to follow... For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online is your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video. Like us on Facebook at and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSun.
The Guardian
35 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Stella Creasy and Richard Tice call for scrutiny over which EU laws UK ditches
Stella Creasy and Richard Tice are pushing for Labour to allow a Brexit scrutiny committee to be formed in parliament, after the Guardian revealed environmental protections had been eroded since the UK left the EU. The Labour and Reform UK MPs argue that there is no scrutiny or accountability over how Brexit is being implemented. Creasy, the MP for Walthamstow and chair of the Labour Movement for Europe, said the UK needed a 'salvage operation' to clear up the environmental and regulatory havoc caused by Brexit. The analysis by the Guardian and the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) has found that since Brexit the EU has brought forward 28 new, revised or upgraded pieces of environmental legislation that the UK has not adopted, and the UK has actively chosen to regress by changing four different pieces of legislation including on protected habitats, pesticides and fisheries. Creasy said the prime minister, Keir Starmer, needed to move more quickly to repair relations with the EU and realign on environmental law. 'I am working with Richard Tice as well as other Brexit sceptics on restoring some sort of European scrutiny committee in parliament so we can decide if and when we want to diverge rather than it all being passive,' she said. Creasy said: 'We don't have a body in parliament that knows both UK and EU law and can forge a way forward. This data from the Guardian and IEEP makes the case for having a scrutiny committee looking at if we diverge, and if we strengthen or weaken environmental protections. MPs aren't scrutinising this at all at the moment; they don't even know about what's going on.' One major issue is the planning and infrastructure bill, which overrides the EU's habitats directive and allows rare habitats such as chalk streams to be destroyed if developers pay a nature restoration levy to government. Chris Hinchliff, the MP for North East Hertfordshire, had the Labour whip removed for proposing amendments to the bill, including one to protect chalk streams from harmful development. Creasy said she supported Hinchliff and that the UK should not be regressing from EU law. She said: 'I signed Chris Hinchliff's amendments as I think he was right to bring these issues to the fore. There are good reasons to be concerned. Nobody wants to be the dirty man or woman of Europe, do they?' Starmer and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, have consistently pitted the environment against growth, blaming bats and newts for a lack of housebuilding. Creasy said this was wrong: 'There is no trade-off between the environment and growth; you can do both.' She added that Labour had made some positive steps towards realigning with the EU: 'Under the Conservatives they were pushing very hard for isolation and they were saying there were benefits to have separate regulatory regimes as if pollution would stop at a border. It doesn't. The UK and EU reset deal is very clear about the climate crisis and the existential threats we face and that is encouraging.' There was now less of a fear of joining in with Europe and adopting good policies that the bloc came up with, Creasy said. 'The Tories wouldn't even join the European biosecurity alerts because it had the word 'European' in, when there was foot and mouth in France they didn't even want to know. We are over the hump of saying because it's European then we couldn't possibly do it. But now we need to scrutinise this Guardian and IEEP data and find the way forward.' She said she was relaxed about working with Reform MPs, even though their views are diametrically opposed to hers: 'Richard Tice and I can disagree over the benefits of alignment but we can both agree that parliament should examine these issues. Tracking environmental regulation has fallen to external bodies … no one's checking or holding the government to account.' Brexit campaigners said leaving the EU would allow the UK to 'take back control', but the UK has not decided on what to do about EU environmental directives and instead has passively fallen behind. For example, the EU has banned dozens of harmful chemicals under its Reach programme, while the UK's new chemicals regulator has yet to ban a single one. 'Brexit has not led to parliament taking back control,' Creasy said. 'We aren't actively making decisions on divergence. Those conversations aren't happening.' Creasy thinks the UK should 'dynamically align' with the EU, which means automatically adopting its environmental standards while reserving the right to reject some if they do not work for the UK. This means there would be less pressure on UK regulators to keep up, and it would also be helpful for trade, she believes. 'I've always been someone who supports the business case and the business case is you align by default unless there is a really good reason for why we shouldn't,' Creasy said. 'Since leaving the EU we have only actively chosen to diverge on a handful of things, but we have passively diverged on a lot.' She added: 'We need to say: can we align, how do we do that, why does it matter? We need a salvage operation because Brexit has been so damaging to our environment – there is no time to waste. We need to fight for the thing which will save the planet, which is to work with our nearest neighbours as quickly as possible.' A government spokesperson said: 'There are many areas of our environmental protections, like banning bee-killing pesticides, closing sand eel fisheries, restricting bottom trawling in sensitive marine areas, where the UK's approach is truly world leading. There is more to do, and we need to unlock growth and promote nature's recovery. Through initiatives like the nature restoration fund, our approach secures lasting improvements for nature and helps fix the failed status quo of time-intensive and costly processes to support the building of 1.5m new homes.'
