Historic court ruling in UK confirms lesbians are same-sex attracted women
Today the UK Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that the terms woman and sex in the Equalities Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.
The issue was whether trans women who have a gender recognition certificate, are women in the eyes of the law and therefore are entitled to women’s legal protections.
For legal purposes under this ruling transwomen are not women. The terms women and sex in UK law must be interpreted as referring to biological sex
Transwomen cannot be counted in female quotas on Boards nor do they have a place on all women shortlists for political parties for example. We note that they still have legal protection from discrimination under the Equalities Act but they have it as transgender people, not as women.
This is a significant victory for For Women Scotland who have fought tenaciously for the rights of women and lesbians in their case against the Scottish Ministers. LAVA was particularly pleased to see Section 204 of the judgement which defines the characteristic of sexual orientation and says “Read fairly, references to sex in this provision can only mean biological sex. People are not sexually oriented towards those in possession of a certificate.” The concept of same gender attraction promoted by our Human Rights Commission is tossed emphatically out the window in this judgement, as is the idea that those who know that sex is both binary and immutable and that a woman is an adult human female are bigoted and hateful.
What other lesbians are saying:
The LGB Alliance UK have called the supreme court ruling a historic victory for lesbians. Read more about what they have to say here: https://lgballiance.org.uk/supreme-court-ruling-historic-victory-for-lesbians/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJtYUZleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHl4nUWPYYet3jT3besemXYigwhnSGw69qd67EaHuka5U19c8-UAmohIjjYQC_aem_6I8ABiwTrn0LWLlVk-EFig
Read what The Lesbian Project have to say here: Statement on the Supreme Court Judgment: For Women Scotland vs The Scottish Ministers — The Lesbian Project
Read more about the case here: https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2024-0042?fbclid=IwY2xjawJtSX9leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHkWtwG4hoJcH6zE0zQX7YwOHDwXUYfDSmcFxoqSdctgD02r5Qua_MWm9s1oh_aem_HjvC5ep8o1-WJd63qv1DHQ#judgment-deta