A trans woman is a man for the purposes of the Equality Act
Helen Joyce said:
“A trans woman is a man for the purposes of the Equality Act and in reality.”
The Supreme Court ruling on the For Women Scotland case was widely reported as confirming that 'woman' in the Equality Act means biological woman, so this claim sounds like a straightforward statement of settled law.
The Supreme Court was answering a narrow question: what does 'sex' mean for the purposes of one protected characteristic in one specific legal context. It was not making a statement about who trans women are, in law or in reality. The Equality Act also protects 'gender reassignment' as a distinct characteristic, and that protection remained entirely intact after the ruling. A trans woman who is refused a service, harassed, or treated worse than others because she is trans still has real, enforceable legal recourse under the Act. Telling trans women otherwise does not describe the law accurately, and it leaves people who deserve protection believing they have none.
What I said at the time:
“Remember we said that the Equality Act looks at 2 characteristics, sex and gender reassignment. But the Supreme Court ruling... does not say that transgender women are men. It still absolutely protects transgender women as women, but then when it was talking about sex as a protected characteristic, it said for the sex 1 we are talking about biology.”
Trans women who may be misled into believing they have no legal protections, and service providers who may unlawfully discriminate believing they are legally required to do so.