The Supreme Court ruled trans women are not women
Lucy Johnston said:
“I know there's a court case going on about it, so perhaps that's under dispute.”
The Supreme Court judgment was widely reported as a landmark ruling on the definition of woman, and the framing that it settled the question of trans women's legal status was dominant in news coverage at the time.
The Supreme Court was asked a narrow technical question: what does the word "sex" mean within specific provisions of the Equality Act 2010. It was not asked whether trans women are women in any broader social, medical or general legal sense, and it did not answer that question. The Court was explicit that trans people retain full protection from discrimination under the Act, including trans women being protected as women across a wide range of circumstances. What the widespread "landmark ruling on the definition of woman" framing left out is that a technical interpretation of a specific statute is a long way from the sweeping legal and social settlement much of the coverage implied. Trans people whose protections are real and intact are the ones who lose out when that distinction disappears.
What I said at the time:
“The Supreme Court were asked to decide what the definition really was in the Equality Act, because the Equality Act protects sex and gender... they also said very clearly that transgender women are women and they need to, they can ask for protection under the Equality Act as women.”
Trans people whose legal protections are misunderstood as having been removed, and the public who form policy views based on an inaccurate reading of the judgment.