The government has been accused of mimicking Donald Trump’s America after newly-published guidance confirmed single-sex services must be on the basis of biological sex, sparking concerns that trans people will be pushed out of public life. The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published its updated code of practice more than a year after a landmark Supreme Court ruling in April 2025 which said the words “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.But charities and campaign groups have hit out at the guidance, with the Trans+ Solidarity Alliance (TSA) warning it will be a "Section 28 moment for this Labour government, defining their legacy on LGBTQ+ rights”, saying it is "worryingly similar to a US bathroom ban condemned by the UK foreign office in 2016.”Section 28 was a controversial law introduced by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government in 1988, banning local authority services – including schools – from "intentionally promoting homosexuality" or teaching the acceptability of same-sex relationships as a "pretended family relationship”.Meanwhile, in 2016, there was a wave of state and federal legislation in the US restricting transgender people from using public bathrooms that aligned with their gender identity. But EHRC chairwoman Mary-Ann Stephenson rejected any notion of the policing of toilets in the UK, instead arguing “common sense” should be used. The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published its updated code of practice more than a year after a landmark Supreme Court ruling in April 2025 which said the words “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex (PA)The new EHRC code covers a range of scenarios from sport, where it states trans people should compete alongside others of their birth sex rather than gender identity, to hospital wards, which it says can lawfully exclude trans patients if single-sex.The guidance, which was published on Thursday evening on the last day before Parliament broke off for recess, reads: “In separate or single-sex services, a trans man will be excluded from the men-only service because his sex is female, and a trans woman will be excluded from the women-only service because her sex is male.”The guidance, compiled by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), also suggests it can be deemed legitimate, in limited circumstances, to ask someone to confirm what their sex is but that this must be done “as sensitively as possible, and must respect their privacy”.On bathrooms, which the commission says are “necessary for everybody”, the code states that it would be “very unlikely to be proportionate to put a trans person in a position where there is no service that they are allowed to use”.It says it is “unlikely to be either practical or appropriate to approach any particular individual to make enquiries about their sex in relation to facilities, such as toilets, which are incidental to the primary service”.Responding to the guidance, TSA director Alexandra Parmar-Yee warned: "The law here is a mess, and clearly many businesses will just go gender neutral to avoid the headache, but the government risks pushing trans people yet further out of public life."This guidance is going to be a Section 28 moment for this Labour government, defining their legacy on LGBTQ+ rights. It's the sort of trans rights policy we would expect from Trump's America, and is worryingly similar to a US bathroom ban condemned by the UK foreign office in 2016."She added: "While some language has been softened, the same exclusionary core remains. Treating trans people like this puts the UK outside the international human rights norm, and the right thing for Labour to do here would be to urgently legislate to clarify Parliament's original intent for trans equality."Jess O’Thomson, the Good Law Project’s trans lead, notes there have been “big changes since the previous, transphobic draft” of the guidance after an earlier draft code was handed to ministers by the EHRC last September, but warned that is still “not good enough”. They said: “It’s good to see clear guidance that associations can be for multiple protected characteristics – so you can have an organisation for both cis and trans women. And the suggestion of checking people’s birth certificates before they can use the toilet has been axed.“But it still treats trans people as a third sex, suggesting they should be made to use separate spaces – entirely ignoring the harm this causes, and human rights law. We will keep fighting this discriminatory approach.”EHRC chairwoman Mary-Ann Stephenson rejected any notion of the policing of toilets and called for common sense to be used.“I think we have to have a common sense approach to this”, she said. “We’ve had separate toilet services for women and men for decades, and we don’t have people on the door checking who goes in.”She said unisex services such as self-contained lockable cubicles could be provided for trans people “who can’t or don’t want to use the services for their biological sex”.Ms Stephenson added: “The code makes it very clear that it wouldn’t usually be proportionate to be going up and asking people about their sex in toilets in a train station or shopping centre.”Meanwhile, For Women Scotland, who were behind the Supreme Court ruling last year, hailed the publication of the long-awaited guidance as a “significant milestone in ensuring women’s rights are upheld and protected”.And women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson said that Supreme Court ruling had “made it clear that sex means biological sex” under the Equality Act, “and that trans people are still protected by the Act”.The government insisted that the new code “gives organisations clear, workable guidance which will enable them to take a pragmatic approach to protecting and serving the needs of our society” and supports service providers such as hospitals, cafes and leisure centres “in ensuring they can make practical, and ultimately sensible decisions for every day scenarios, such as toilet provision”.Mary-Ann Stephenson chairs the Equality and Human Rights Commission (PA)The code of practice, which would apply across England, Scotland and Wales has now been laid before Parliament for scrutiny from both MPs in the Commons and peers in the Lords. It will not be enacted for 40 days.While a vote would not be required to enact the code and make it statutory, either House could pass a motion to reject it within that period.Ms Stephenson said she hoped the guidance is clear enough to “help reduce the risk of litigation”, but women and equalities committee chairwoman Sarah Owen suggested there would be “expected legal challenges” and that for trans people “this hellish limbo will continue”.She added that the committee will be calling Ms Stephenson and Ms Phillipson to answer questions on the issue “as soon as possible”.The Cabinet Office has been contacted for comment.