Allowing entry on the basis of self-identification of gender rather than biological sex is unlawful, high court told
Rules permitting trans women to share female changing facilities and swim in a women-only pond are discriminatory and unlawful, the high court has heard.
The City of London Corporation is breaching equality legislation by allowing trans people to use the single-sex ponds on Hampstead Heath, according to a claim brought by the rights group Sex Matters. It is seeking permission to challenge the admission regulations.
Daniel Stilitz KC, for the City of London, said Sex Matters had “steamed in”, bringing a premature legal action at a time when its officials were actively consulting pond users on its entry rules.
Public bodies are redrafting their policies on single-sex spaces in response to the supreme court’s ruling in April that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex.
