Joint Statement on proposals to amend the Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act is world-class legislation that took almost a decade to develop, and has been working well for 14 years. Under the Act, trans people can legally access single-sex services based on their gender, and services can exclude trans people, whether or not they hold a Gender Recognition Certificate, if it is a proportionate thing to do to achieve a legitimate aim.

We believe the thresholds that the Equality Act sets are a proportionate bar for services to address if they are to use these single-sex exemptions. Violence affecting women and girls is a significant concern, including for many LGBTQ+ women.

It is vital that there is sustained and meaningful investment to ensure there are services which meet the full diversity of need across the country. However, it is not necessary to re-define sex in the Equality Act for service providers to provide a range of services. This is something they do routinely already.

Joint Statement with:

Stonewall

LGBT Consortium

Mermaids

TransActual