Latest news with #RossKC
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Scottish schools ‘must provide single-sex lavatories for pupils'
Scottish schools must provide single-sex lavatories for pupils, a judge has ruled. Lady Ross KC told the Court of Session in Edinburgh that she would issue a declarator, or court order, making clear that state schools needed to provide separate lavatories for girls and boys based on biological sex. It comes less than a week after the UK's Supreme Court ruled that trans women are not legally women. Parents had taken legal action against their councils after finding out their children had to use gender-neutral lavatories at their primary school. Sean Stratford and Leigh Hurley took legal action against Scottish Borders Council (SBC) over the facilities at the new Earlston Primary School. Their concerns were dismissed by head teacher Kevin Wilson and the council, which claimed it did not have to consult parents about lavatory policy. For Women Scotland (FWS), the feminist campaign group that won last week's Supreme Court case against the Scottish Government, supported the parents with their legal action. FWS said schools across Scotland had installed gender-neutral lavatories despite regulations introduced in 1967 mandating that separate facilities must be provided. Trina Budge, one of FWS's directors, said SBC had conceded on Tuesday evening that it had flouted the law on school lavatories. Ms Budge said the council had also agreed that it should not have allowed boys to compete in girls' events in the school's sports day and that pupils should not have been disciplined for misgendering other children. She predicted it would be the first of many such cases involving public sector bodies in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling. Lady Ross announced her intention to issue the declarator in a hearing on Wednesday morning. Court insiders told The Telegraph the final wording had not been finalised. However, Ruth Crawford KC, representing the council, accepted the terms of the declarator making clear that the bathroom policy had been unlawful. JK Rowling posted a celebration emoji welcoming the court order and wrote on X: 'School girls' right to privacy and dignity has been reclaimed in Scotland.' Ms Hurley, 39, works at Earlston Primary as a pupil support worker and first raised concerns in November 2023 about the £16.6 million school supporting the 'social transition' of another pupil. This included allowing them to take part in sports day races in their preferred gender. She said she later discovered that her son would face punishment if he 'misgendered' trans pupils and that the school was planning to have no separate lavatories for boys and girls. She told The Times: '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.' Mr Stratford, a 42-year-old firefighter, said: 'You're talking about children who still believe in Father Christmas and the tooth fairy. We've won, but common sense says we should never have been in this position in the first place.' Rosie Walker, their solicitor, said: 'All schools in Scotland will now have to look again at whether their toilets comply with The School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967, which require half of school toilet facilities to be for boys and half for girls. 'This case, on top of the Supreme Court decision last week, gives focus to the importance of protecting sex-based rights and single-sex spaces.' In addition to the declarator, 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. A council 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.' The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service confirmed that the court order had yet to be finalised. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Scottish schools ‘must provide single-sex lavatories for pupils'
Scottish schools must provide single-sex lavatories for pupils, a judge has ruled. Lady Ross KC told the Court of Session in Edinburgh that she would issue a declarator, or court order, making clear that state schools needed to provide separate lavatories for girls and boys based on biological sex. It comes less than a week after the UK's Supreme Court ruled that trans women are not legally women. Parents had taken legal action against their councils after finding out their children had to use gender-neutral lavatories at their primary school. Sean Stratford and Leigh Hurley took legal action against Scottish Borders Council (SBC) over the facilities at the new Earlston Primary School. Their concerns were dismissed by head teacher Kevin Wilson and the council, which claimed it did not have to consult parents about lavatory policy. For Women Scotland (FWS), the feminist campaign group that won last week's Supreme Court case against the Scottish Government, supported the parents with their legal action. FWS said schools across Scotland had installed gender-neutral lavatories despite regulations introduced in 1967 mandating that separate facilities must be provided. Trina Budge, one of FWS's directors, said SBC had conceded on Tuesday evening that it had flouted the law on school lavatories. Ms Budge said the council had also agreed that it should not have allowed boys to compete in girls' events in the school's sports day and that pupils should not have been disciplined for misgendering other children. She predicted it would be the first of many such cases involving public sector bodies in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling. Lady Ross announced her intention to issue the declarator in a hearing on Wednesday morning. Court insiders told The Telegraph the final wording had not been finalised. However, Ruth Crawford KC, representing the council, accepted the terms of the declarator making clear that the bathroom policy had been unlawful. JK Rowling posted a celebration emoji welcoming the court order and wrote on X: 'School girls' right to privacy and dignity has been reclaimed in Scotland.' Ms Hurley, 39, works at Earlston Primary as a pupil support worker and first raised concerns in November 2023 about the £16.6 million school supporting the 'social transition' of another pupil. This included allowing them to take part in sports day races in their preferred gender. She said she later discovered that her son would face punishment if he 'misgendered' trans pupils and that the school was planning to have no separate lavatories for boys and girls. She told The Times: '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.' Mr Stratford, a 42-year-old firefighter, said: 'You're talking about children who still believe in Father Christmas and the tooth fairy. We've won, but common sense says we should never have been in this position in the first place.' Rosie Walker, their solicitor, said: 'All schools in Scotland will now have to look again at whether their toilets comply with The School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967, which require half of school toilet facilities to be for boys and half for girls. 'This case, on top of the Supreme Court decision last week, gives focus to the importance of protecting sex-based rights and single-sex spaces.' In addition to the declarator, 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. A council 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.' The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service confirmed that the court order had yet to be finalised.
Scottish Sun
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Scottish Sun
Major update amid Scotland's gender ID row as ALL schools ordered to provide single-sex toilets
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) 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. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 The case had been brought by parents following concerns about pro-trans policies Credit: Alamy 3 The Supreme Court found 'sex' under the Equality Act referred to 'biological sex' Credit: AP 3 John Swinney admitted girls are scared of using mixed-sex toilets in schools Credit: Getty 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. NATS health secretary Neil Gray today failed to back nurse Sandie Peggie amid a row over single-sex space 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.'
Times
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Times
Judge rules Scottish schools must provide single-sex lavatories
A judge has ordered that Scottish schools must provide single-sex lavatories for pupils after parents won a legal fight against a council which insisted on installing only gender-neutral facilities. In a case hailed as the 'first of many' in which the rights of women and girls will be upheld following last week's Supreme Court ruling, Scottish Borders council conceded it had been wrong to flout the law by installing no sex-segregated bathrooms at the new Earlston Primary School. Lady Ross KC said she would issue a declarator, a court order, making legal obligations on Scottish state schools clear after Sean Stratford and Leigh Hurley brought a judicial review over their concerns around transgender policies at Earlston, where their son Ethan, eight, was a pupil. Stratford
