In London, thousands of people went onto the streets for trans people's rights. The occasion was a court decision, according to which a British equality law of 2010 only applies to biological women.
According to media, thousands of people in the British capital London have demonstrated against a judgment by the Supreme Court to definition a woman about the biological gender. The demonstrators who gathered in front of the parliament wore posters with inscriptions such as “trans women are women” and “trans rights are human rights”.
The court had judged last Wednesday that the biological, not the social gender, was counting in equality between men and women. The judgment is considered pioneering – for example when it comes to the question of whether trans women are counted in women's quotas as women and whether they can use places such as women's locking rooms.
Activists' groups had followed concerns. Some expressed fear that due to the court decision, hate crimes against trans people would continue to increase. “It will be incredibly worrying for the trans community and everyone who supports them,” said the managing director of the LGBTQ+organization Stonewall, Simon Blake. LGBTQ stands for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, trans and queer people. Trans people do not identify with the gender that was attributed to them at birth.
Harry Potter author JK Rowling supported lawsuit
The women's rights organization for Women Scotland (FWS) complained. It did not agree with the way the Scottish regional government interpreted the gender term. Support came from the Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who has long made the topic of women's rights versus of trans people their central concern and which was partially criticized for her controversial statements.
The British government of Prime Minister Keir Strander announced that it had always supported the protection of rooms separated according to organic gender. “This decision brings clarity and security for women and providers of services such as clinics, women's shelters and sports clubs,” said a government spokesman. The presiding judge Patrick Hodge emphasized that the judgment did not mean that trans people would not be fully protected against misogynistic discrimination.
Of the approximately 66 million people in England, Scotland and Wales, around 116,000 identified as trans gender, according to the recent census. Around 8,500 certificates were issued to recognize gender.
