The Government is considering a major overhaul of equality laws in a bid to prioritise women's rights and biological sex over gender identity.
Britain's human rights watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), submitted a 310-page revised version of its Statutory Code of Practice to the Government last week.
The proposed changes would protect women-only spaces and require transgender people to routinely present Gender Recognition Certificates.
Organisations would also be compelled to define the difference between sex and gender under the plans.
The guidance, last amended in 2010, is now considered "out of date" by the EHRC.
The proposed changes would protect women-only spaces and require transgender people to routinely present Gender Recognition Certificates (file photo)
GETTY
The commission is now pushing for the radical overhaul following fears that existing guidelines on sex and gender were being "loosely interpreted" by hundreds of public bodies - including allowing self-identifying trans people into single-sex spaces without proper scrutiny.
The revised code will protect biological sex over gender identity as far as possible under current law.
Its provisions include greater protections for single-sex spaces and compelling all service providers and public-facing organisations to clarify the difference between sex and gender.
It also permits organisations to routinely ask for a Gender Recognition Certificate from trans individuals seeking access to single-sex spaces.
The code is currently being scrutinised by ministers and officials, including Government lawyers.
MORE ON WOMEN'S SPACES:
- NHS trust could face 'enforcement action' to protect 'women's safe spaces' after trans doctor used female changing room
- Watch moment Michelle Dewberry tears into GB News guest as she asks same question FOUR times in tense trans row: ‘Fed up of it!’
- ‘There’s a REASON we have single sex spaces’: Miriam Cates in furious clash with trans advocate over gender identity in schools
A trans protest sign (file photo)
GETTY
Don't Miss
The overhaul comes after several high-profile legal cases brought under the Equality Act, including that of Maya Forstater in 2021.
An employment tribunal ruled that her belief that trans women are not real women "must be protected" under the Act, setting a new legal precedent.
Forstater had been dismissed from her job after expressing gender-critical views on social media.
Another case involves nurses at the Darlington Memorial Hospital who are suing their employer for sexual discrimination and harassment.
The NHS Trust allowed a biological man who identifies as a woman to use female changing rooms - despite not having a Gender Recognition Certificate.
A Government source told The Telegraph the changes "will transform the weather" on sex and gender issues.
Last year, EHRC chairwoman Baroness Falkner identified some 400 instances where the Equality Act had been misinterpreted.
Baroness Falkner, chairman of the EHRCWIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Most Read
If implemented in full, the revised code is expected to put the Government on a collision course with activist groups such as Stonewall, which has fought for trans people to be allowed into single-sex spaces.
The code could be presented to Parliament before the summer recess.
But Government sources have counselled caution - and said Ministers have not yet fully digested the revised code and that a timetable for implementation is still yet to be set out.
The Prime Minister has repeatedly said that single-sex spaces should be protected.
The code could be further updated depending on the imminent Supreme Court ruling in the case of For Women Scotland vs The Scottish Ministers.
This landmark case, due for ruling on Wednesday, concerns whether sex-based protections should only be afforded to those born as women.
