Latest news with #SeanStratford
Daily Record
3 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Record
Scots schools to convert gender-neutral toilets to single-sex after Supreme Court ruling
Currently, 52 schools across 11 council areas in Scotland only offer gender-neutral toilets Around 18 Scottish schools that previously offered gender-neutral toilets will convert back to single-sex facilities following a legal ruling. The schools, in Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, the Scottish Borders and Shetland, will add separate bathrooms for boys and girls. It comes after a landmark ruling at the UK Supreme court, which declared a woman is defined by biological sex under equalities law. Figures obtained by the BBC show that 52 schools across 11 council areas in Scotland only offered gender-neutral toilets. Of those, 10 are located in Shetland. court ruling before deciding how to respond. Meanwhile, City of Edinburgh Council said it was "considering what changes may need to be made". The local authority plans to provide an update over the summer. Five other councils - Clackmannanshire, East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire, Midlothian and Perth and Kinross - confirmed they had at least one school in their area which offered no single-sex facilities. They did not provide an update on any changes to provision since then. South Ayrshire, Moray, Stirling and South Lanarkshire councils said none of their schools offered any gender-neutral provision. In April, a Scottish judge ruled that all state schools must provide separate male and female toilets following a legal case brought by parents against Scottish Borders Council. The decision, handed down at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, came after Sean Stratford and Leigh Hurley challenged the council's policy at Earlston Primary School, where their eight-year-old son had been a pupil. Rosie Walker, solicitor for the parents and partner at Gilson Gray LLP, welcomed the judgment. She said at the time: "This case, on top of the Supreme Court decision last week, gives focus to the importance of protecting sex-based rights a nd single-sex spaces." Ms Hurley, 39, who works at the school as a pupil support worker, first raised concerns in late 2023 about the school's broader transgender inclusion policies, which included allowing a pupil to socially transition and participate in sports in line with their gender identity. She later discovered the school planned to have no sex-segregated toilet facilities, and that children could face punishment for "misgendering" peers. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. 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.' The couple ultimately withdrew their son from the school, citing emotional distress and concerns about their younger daughter, who would have also been expected to use gender-neutral toilets once she enrolled. Stratford, 42, said: 'We've won, but common sense says we should never have been in this position in the first place. We brought this to their attention when it was still a building site.'
Scotsman
28-04-2025
- General
- Scotsman
Sanity restored on schools sanitary provision after ruling
A landmark judgement by the Court of Session ruled that all Scottish schools must provide single-sex toilets School toilets are never the most pleasant of environments. How can they be? They are there to cater for the sanitary needs of children and adolescents, a place where a girl can deal with menstruation in private and where boys can compare their physique away from prying eyes. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Despite everyone's best efforts, school toilets smell of that potent mix of teenage perfume and body odour, and there is always at least one cubicle where the lock is broken or the toilet will not flush properly. Until recently, the one thing that you could guarantee was that boys and girls did not have to share such an intimate space – but that was before the emergence of gender identity ideology and councils were persuaded by transgender campaigners that schools should have mixed-sex facilities. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A 2023 report by the campaign group For Women Scotland showed that here in Edinburgh, six secondary schools offered mixed-sex WCs, with the Wester Hailes Education Centre providing just four girls-only WCs compared to 28 mixed-sex ones. The report also revealed that every one of the city's high schools allowed pupils to use opposite sex toilets. But not for much longer. A landmark judgement by the Court of Session last week ruled that all Scottish schools must provide single-sex toilets. It came after concerned parents, Sean Stratford and Leigh Hurley, discovered that the new Earlston Primary School in the Borders was only going to offer mixed-sex loos or gender-neutral to use officialese. The regulations for school toilets are clear, as their solicitor Rosie Walker of Gilson Gray LLP pointed out. 'There is no provision for gender-neutral toilets in the regulations. Any school not complying will be in breach of the regulations and could face a legal challenge from parents,' she said. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The rules, which came into force nearly 50 years ago, say that all state schools must provide half their toilet facilities for boys, of which no more than a third should be WCs, with the rest urinals. The other 50 per cent must be for girls only. After the court's decision, the Scottish government said it would carefully consider the implications of the judgement, adding, "The Scottish government is committed to ensuring that our Transgender Guidance for Schools remains up to date and fit for purpose…we will consider whether the guidance requires to be updated." The government surely does not have any option but to update its advice to reflect the law as it stands and not as trans campaigners like the charity LGBT Youth Scotland demands. Three years ago, For Women Scotland published legal opinion that confirmed mixed-sex toilets for pupils were unlawful, but schools, councils and the Scottish government ignored it. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Now taxpayers face a huge bill to rip out gender-neutral toilets and restore single-sex facilities. As Trina Budge, a director of For Women Scotland, said after the ruling, 'Girls' privacy, dignity and safety should never have been compromised and we hope lessons will be learned from this.' I for one am looking forward to the city's education convenor Cllr Joan Griffiths telling Edinburgh's parents how the council is going to make sure that from now on the dignity and safety of every pupil is guaranteed.
ITV News
24-04-2025
- Politics
- ITV News
Parents welcome court ruling that use of unisex toilets at Earlston Primary School was unlawful
Parents who were locked in a two-year battle with Scottish Borders Council over the use of gender neutral toilets at Earlston Primary School say the ordeal forced them to take their son out of school. Yesterday, a judge ruled that state schools in Scotland must provide single-sex toilets for pupils following a legal challenge brought by parents against Scottish Borders Council. The authority had installed gender neutral toilets at the school. Parents Leigh Hurley and Sean Stratford, whose child attended the school, complained to the authority about the use of the toilets, the punishment of children who "misgender" others and about an issue relating to trans children participating in sports day. All three issues were initially rejected, however, the lawyer representing them, Rosie Walker, lodged a petition for review in January. A court order, known as a declarator, is set to be issued by Judge Lady Ross KC to ensure the legal obligations of Scottish state schools are clear. Scottish Borders Council accepted the decision. What is the background to this ruling? It follows a decision by the Supreme Court on 16 April which ruled that 'woman' and 'sex' in the Equality Act refer to a biological woman and biological sex. Delivering the judgement, Judge Lord Hodge said the 'central question' is how the words 'woman' and 'sex' are defined in the 2010 Equality Act. He said: 'Do these terms refer to biological woman or biological sex, or is a woman to be interpreted as extending to a trans woman with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC)? 'The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex." Leigh Hurley and Sean Stratford were supported in bringing their case in the Court of Session in Edinburgh by For Women Scotland. 'I'm sorry if anyone was made to feel uncomfortable' Speaking on behalf of Scottish Borders Council, Cllr Julie Pirone apologised to parents. The family's lawyer believes the case will have 'far-reaching implications'. Rosie Walker, head of litigation at Gilson Gray solicitors, 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.' John Lamont, Conservative MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk reacts to the court ruling. The Scottish Government said it would 'carefully consider' the implications of the ruling. First Minister John Swinney spoke to ITV Border.
Spectator
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
Scotland's school toilet ruling is another win for women's rights
In the Scottish Borders, Earlston Primary School's newly built campus has no single-sex toilet provision. This astonishing planning decision was reportedly made after undertaking training by LGBT Youth Scotland. It was also based on the Scottish government's similar guidance, which one can easily assume may well be based on the same advice, so eager have the SNP been to outsource their thinking on policy in this area to activist lobby groups they generously fund to then lobby them. Yesterday, this illegality was brought to a halt, aided in no small part by the victory of For Women Scotland in the Supreme Court last Wednesday, which reconfirmed that the legal situation all along had been that 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010 means, well, sex. A week on from this, the Court of Session in Edinburgh ruled on Wednesday that Scottish schools must provide single-sex toilets for students in a win for worried parents. The latest ruling came about after parents Sean Stratford and Leigh Hurley raised a judicial review over the lack of single-sex provision at Earlston primary, which their young son attended.
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.
