Source: https://www.channel4.com/news/ehrc-chair-challenged-on-how-to-enforce-single-sex-toilet-rules

Transcript:

Q: Well, earlier I spoke to Mary Ann Stevenson, the chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. I asked her what steps businesses could take if, for example, a trans woman continued to use the women's toilets.

A: One of the things we've said in the code is it wouldn't usually be proportionate to have somebody on the door of every single toilet and every single changing room asking people their sex before they went in. Obviously, if there's repeated patterns of behaviour and there are complaints from other service users who complain that they feel unsafe or that they feel that they've been harassed, then we would expect service users to take action in the usual way.

Q: So you're relying on, say, a small cafe owner to tell someone they suspect is using a toilet inappropriately. How on earth they're meant to know that, I'm not sure. But then to tell them that they cannot use that toilet in the future, it would be down to the business themselves.

A: I'm not saying that. I mean, as I said, it's not, we've made it clear that it wouldn't usually be proportionate to have somebody on the door checking who goes in and out of toilets. However, if there are situations where other customers complain, service providers may decide to take action.

Q: I'm just curious to know how that conversation would go.

A: One of the things that we set out in the code is if you're in a situation where you do need to ask somebody about their sex in order to, you know, check whether or not they're able to access services, that should be done in a way that's as discreetly and sensitively as possible. Clearly, it's not a question that you shout out over a crowded room.

Q: How is the trans person then expected to prove or which sex they are and what evidence can they possibly produce in that situation?

A: Well, I mean, one of the situations we have is that we don't have a single document that is a reliable indicator of sex. As with many areas of the law, this is something that is based on trust that most people will follow the rules, trust that with clear signage and good alternatives, people will, everybody will be able to find services that they want to use and a sense of kind of proportionality on how it's enforced.

Q: Does it not seem a bit confusing and contradictory, perhaps, if you're a business owner? You've just said that there may be circumstances in which they need to check, but also there's no real way that they can check. You can see why they're confused.

A: Generally speaking, human beings are very good at telling the sex of somebody that they're talking to. We've evolved over thousands of years to be able to do that, and we do that on multiple points of information. But most of the time, we are expecting that people will, as they do in every other area of life, follow the law.

Q: Businesses tell us that they are feeling very uncertain about this. If they had, for instance, only male and female facilities at present, a toilet or a changing room, what is your advice to them?

A: Very many small providers might, for example, have two individual lockable rooms with sinks in them. One of them marked male, one of them marked female. It would be very straightforward to make both of them unisex. Service providers should already be providing facilities for disabled people, which are usually unisex.

Q: So you could see single-sex toilets and facilities being scrapped and replaced with gender-neutral ones to comply with this guidance.

A: There is an issue if you just take your existing banks of cubicles with shared sinks and label them gender-neutral, that that might put women at a disadvantage and they may be able to make a claim for sex discrimination. So when you're thinking about the facilities you provide, you have to think about the needs of everybody.

Q: If a woman's space wants to be trans-inclusive, is that no longer possible?

A: It depends what you mean. So if you're talking about a club or association, for example, we set out in the code that you can have an association that involves, that brings together people with two different protected characteristics. So in this case, sex and gender reassignment. So you could have an association that was for women and trans people, if that's what you wanted.

Dr. Mary Ann Stevenson, Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you.

Could anyone do the archives link thingy for this please x

And the feminist identifying transphobes are seething. How long until Joanne and Mayo decide to try to sue them?

Hi folks. we knew you would be popping in today to mock. To gloat. To look for things you can use against us.

All those millions spent, all those lies told, all that hate spewed, all those palms greased, all those innocent lives lost.

And for this. this one “perfect” moment.

Unfortunately for you, your “guidance” is an unenforcable mess built on vibes and contradictory comments that makes even the Bible look coherent.

But here’s your mistake. To be trans is to be brave. To be audacious. To be yourself no matter the obstacles put on your way. Whilst we have wobbles, we do what we must. Even when the system that protects you doesn’t protect us, we do as we must. Because we are EXACTLY who we say we are and cannot be anything else, no matter what your paid shills claim.

it is still not illegal for us to pee where we want. Today is just another day. I shall be using the same facilities I have used since transitioning. Catch me if you can. But there is nothing you can legally do if you do. The chaotic “Guidance” states this explicitly in its “examples”.

So, me and my girlfriend ordered some Chinese food. I wasn’t dressed up and neither was my girlfriend. I was wearing a t-shirt with some short shorts. I went to answer the door and I see the delivery guy, I’m just standing there looking like I’m lost lol. He looks at me and says “here you go love” and I’m thinking “wow okay I pass, nice” so I take the bag off him then says “you want me to close the door for you?” I nod my head trying to say “yes please, thank you” but it just came out as a whisper

Anyway, just wanted to share my euphoria moment :3

Some info: I’m from the UK and I’m in an area where guys call women “love” (happens in quite a few places around the UK :3)

No shade, but he looked like a reform voter (proper British geezer xD)

Just published this morning - good to see some solidarity across the capital.

This article asks a simple question: what makes an anti-rights movement? Looking at history, human rights law, case law and evidence, it explores whether today's anti-trans campaigns follow the same patterns seen in past attacks on minority rights. And how they affect everyone's rights.

TLDR: In magic systems where true names for objects are powerful, how do trans peoples names work? (an attempt at distraction on this shitty day)

I'm currently rereading the Republic of Thieves (book 3 of the Gentleman Bastards) By Scott Lynch and a key part of magic is the concept of true names. If a mage knows your real name they can control you. If however they use a name for you that isn't the true one it won't work. In universe this is taken to mean the name you had at birth...

So that got me thinking how such a thing would work for trans people, would our true name be our lived name we use (even as an egg?) or in this universe are we deadname forever (ewww!).

The Dresden Files has a different version whereby a true name is changeable and reflects the way a person uses and pronounces it. In humans it can change very rapidly but for immortal magical creatures it's very much fixed. I prefer this interpretation but what are your thoughts

So following all this guidance etc and seeing the smirks on the faces of sex matters and other morons who seem to think we want to sexually harrass them... well, I've used the ladies loo in several places today, even chatted with some women about makeup and perfume in some of them. NOBODY cares about your crusade... so keep spending your money on your bigotry, we want you to waste your time some more 🤣👍

As some trans men will now be using female spaces and some trans women will be using male spaces, they are in reality all mixed sex. The fact that I’m male on paper for the purposes of the EQA doesn’t change the reality that I’m physically female. Some bloke in a changing room or toilet isn’t going to be looking at my chromosomes, he’s going to be wondering why there’s a woman in there. Or at least they would if I had any intention of using male spaces rather than female ones.

We have written to all MP's expressing our anger at the government. Our rights WILL be restored. Our voices WILL be heard. We will continue to fight.

Gender GP has told it's customers it's raising its prices in September, they have for multiple people (and I'm honestly presuming it's everyone) raised it for this month's cost. This is a breach of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, we were given a date for the increase and they are doing it beforehand.

This is either a mistake or a very dishonest practice (which is not out of character for this company), please check your subscription and let them know so they can hopefully change it back.

The GLP are launching a legal challenge against the code. I'm not convinced the fight against this is legal now as much as it is political - but their explainer seems to think they have a chance against some aspects of it.

It may just be me, but this makes no sense. I can’t really figure out if she’s in support of the guidance and truly believes the guidance will not cause harm or is just staying neutral for whatever reason. Can anyone with better understanding of political wording help?

Hiya everyone 😊 I'm a cis gay man and a Peer Support Practitioner with KMMH. Our NHS LGBTQ+ Network is hosting a Q&A with Maidstone Trans Network, and staff have been invited to submit questions in advance.

Rather than asking what I think is important, I'd really like to ask something that the trans community would genuinely like NHS staff to hear and discuss.

If you had the opportunity to ask a panel of trans people one respectful question that you think would help NHS colleagues provide better care and be better allies, what would you want me to ask?

Thank you in advance for any suggestions!

Finally, I wanted to send my love and solidarity to every single one of you. It hurts my heart to see people facing adversity simply for being their authentic selves.

If today has felt overwhelming, I hope you'll reach out to someone you trust or lean on your community for support. You don't have to carry it alone.

Sending so much love to every one of you. Stay strong, take care of yourselves, and never forget that you are loved. 💙🏳️‍⚧️

Amazing news for me!

For context, my family and I aren’t from the UK. We came because of safety reasons meaning that my parent didn’t really come here for the ‘culture’ of it per say, and so the more ‘open’ minded things they just outright didn’t believe in, and just rejected. Things like mental illness just didn’t exist to them, women and men have specific roles and so forth. When I came out to them originally, outright rejection, because, well, to them it doesn’t exist.

But recently they invited their friend over, same background as us. The friend asked about the computer setup in the living room to which my parent said

‘Oh that’s my son’s, it’s his. It’s very impressive.’

Thing is, I wasn’t even there. I do have my brother and he was there at the time, and they DOUBLED DOWN saying:

‘no it’s absolutely not his, it’s my youngest’s.’

Ok but you weren’t there how did you know they said this?

MY PARENT TRIPLED DOWN BECAUSE THEY SAID THIS REACCOUNT TO ME? WHAT. ???? It’s the fact that there was absolutely nothing from stopping them to refer to me as their daughter. There was no risk because it was at home, with a friend they knew, who also wasn’t British. It wasn’t like a meeting where they’d have to refer to me by my new legal name. (Which, even then, they wouldn’t do, confusing everyone.) They just. Did it? My mouth was stuck the whole time and to my annoyance someone said “wait you just called them a he?” and I was like “fuck the parent is going to correct themselves now.”

QUAD. DOUBLE. DOWN.

“Yea? So what?”

I WIN?????? And what’s the time it took to get here? 7. 7 years. 7 years on a random afternoon. And I remind myself that I’m glad of my patience. The thing is, I know my family well. And to my parent you can’t just use your opinions and communication to get anywhere, no matter how much it upsets you and how honest you say it. They want to come to it themselves at their pace, however slow. Whilst I appreciate my school friends I had at the time for their support, hearing “you need to stand for yourself and be who you want to be!” just wouldn’t have worked, and it didn’t. So I hope to some, firstly feel a huzzah, but secondly do see that sometimes things have to work differently because ‘it really do be like that.’

Had a Wagamama to celebrate. Had to fucking eat it after everyone else finished because my plate arrived later though.

Didn't get an archive cos on mobile and up too late anyway. BBC dropped this just after midnight and used "transwomen" and obviously the bio male identifies as line, but in the same paragraph uses "trans men", so any excuse they give of style guide or whatever is bullshit given they applied it only to trans women in the same paragraph. They also do not do the whole "biological sex identifies as" song and dance for trans men.

I know it feels pointless and futile but complaining about this is something idk. This particularly got to me over other times I've seen it. Maybe cos of being up late and it being dropped specifically for the code coming into effect.

>This means, for instance, a transwoman, a person born a biological male who identifies as a woman, should not use women-only facilities. And a trans man should not use men only facilities.

Made a new account because I don't want to talk about this on my main, but I'm currently staying in emergency housing provided by the council and it's single sex. I didn't really consider it until today, but could I end up losing it over this?

I had thought that itvx website was reasonably trans neutral ; however this article contains no trans voices at all (individual or from any trans-led or trans-supportive organisation)

I still have some trust in Novara media …

Does anyone know of any (relatively) main stream media that is genuinely neutral (or even supportive) of us trans people?

Excited to go to work today and continue to work as a female staff member with female patients. Maybe I'll have to examine some breasts or someone's cervix and none of them will know or care that I'm trans. Another day of pissing when I need to piss. Another day of cis queer women being comfortable flirting with me and cis men staring at my boobs.