EHRC guidance update is a troubling rollback on inclusivity
Commenting on the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s updated Services, Public Functions and Associations Code of Practice on the grounds of single-sex spaces, Scottish Greens spokesperson for equality, Maggie Chapman MSP said:
“This guidance is deeply troubling, authoritarian and cruel. An equality and human rights body should be advancing inclusion to defend every person in the country’s right to exist and fully participate in society. Yet, what we are seeing is the fundamental rights of marginalised people being rolled back even further.
“These changes will affect everyone. For trans people, for anyone who doesn’t fit societal norms, for business owners, social groups and workplaces, this guidance makes life harder for everyone. It poses challenges, invasive questioning and suspicion, and puts people at real risk if they don’t conform to gender stereotypes.
“The people who will most feel the impact of this and worry about how they can go about their lives after today will be trans people and their loved ones. They are already enduring an onslaught of prejudice.
“Trans people just want to be able to go about their daily lives like anybody else, using facilities they need to use, without the fear of prejudice, discrimination or violence.
“The EHRC goes far beyond what the Supreme Court judgement did, and now the UK Government is willing to prolong a culture war in which most people probably have very little interest in participating.
“Trans rights are human rights, and we must not allow the UK government or anyone else to demolish the rights or to remove protections from a community that is already under fire.
“The demonisation of trans people by politicians and large parts of the media is echoing the same homophobic rhetoric of the 1980s and 90s. We have made such progress since these dark days and we must not go backwards.
“A lot of people are scared and confused by what this means for them and their loved ones. But the forces of prejudice were defeated before, and we know they can be defeated again.
“The Scottish Greens will continue to stand up for trans and non-binary people’s rights today, tomorrow and always.”
