Anti-Trans Ruling in UK Strips Protections From Trans Women

In a lawsuit backed by anti-transgender activist J.K. Rowling, the United Kingdom Supreme Court has ruled that the legal definition of “woman” under the 2010 Equality Act refers exclusively to the sex a person is assigned at birth. This decision could have far-reaching consequences for trans women’s access to gender-specific services and may accelerate broader efforts to roll back protections for trans people across the U.K.

“What it feels like for pretty much every trans, nonbinary person in the U.K. is that you’d like to exclude us wholesale from UK society. So today we’re feeling very alone,” Jane Fae, director of the advocacy group TransActual UK, told BBC.

This ruling means that trans women — even those with Gender Recognition Certificates — are excluded from legal protections and entitlements designated for women under the act. As a result, they can be barred from spaces and positions legally reserved for women in Scotland, including certain public board appointments and single-sex services such as shelters and hospital wards.

“The UK Supreme Court can rule whatever it likes about whether trans women are legally women or not. The law will eventually change and equality will prevail,” English comedian and actress Sooz Kempner wrote on Bluesky. “Fuck this government and its alignment with such hate.”

While LGBTQ groups in the U.K. noted that the Supreme Court’s decision clearly reaffirmed the Equality Act’s protection against discrimination for all trans people on the basis of “gender reassignment,” they also voiced deep concern about the broader implications of the ruling.

Activists in the United States have similarly raised alarms, warning that — similar to countries like Hungary, where anti-LGBTQ sentiment has justified widespread civil rights rollbacks and broadening surveillance apparatuses — Trump’s current attacks on trans rights are emboldening global leaders to follow suit.

“Waking up to devastating news for British trans people facing a truly awful ruling from their Supreme Court,” Gillian Branstetter said on Bluesky. “This follows a manufactured campaign of lies, panic, and ignorance based on a playbook now unfolding in the US. I know the fight continues, but my heart is with you today and always.”

Trans legal scholar Alejandra Caraballo has warned that this ruling will “effectively mean legal segregation of trans people.”

“One of the first things they’ll do after this is to eliminate the ability to change gender markers on IDs and passports. Similarly, they’ll apply the same requirements around sex in visa and immigration applications as the Trump administration did effectively barring trans people from the UK,” Caraballo said on Bluesky.

​The case was brought by For Women Scotland, a self-described feminist organization that has been widely characterized as part of the trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF) movement. Rowling — who recently clashed with comedian John Oliver over his measured take on transgender athletes and mocked asexual people on International Asexuality Day — contributed £70,000 to the group’s legal crowdfunding campaign.

“This is what billions spent in propaganda to eradicate the trans community around the globe has gotten them. Multiple billionaires, political parties, and countries are fixated on eradicating the trans community to scapegoat us as a political weapon to attain more power,” Caraballo said on Bluesky.

The ruling may also further embolden anti-trans movements in the United States, as anti-trans crackdowns in the U.K. often serve as a playbook for similar actions across the Atlantic. For example, anti-trans groups in the U.S. have already adopted the widely discredited U.K.-commissioned Cass Report to push for restrictive legislation.

“Extremely devastating news for transgender people in the United Kingdom. So much of what we face in the United States has shared roots in that country, and this Supreme Court decision there will make people far less free,” trans activist and journalist Erin Reed said on Bluesky. “Crackdowns on trans people are international, not limited to borders.”

This development is especially alarming given the Trump administration’s escalating federal attacks on trans rights and will likely have significant implications for U.S. politics — particularly as states like Iowa have already removed transgender civil rights protections from their Civil Rights Act.

“This is all going to get harder, but they literally cannot legislate you out of existence. When tomorrow arrives, you will still be here, you will still be who you are, and we will all still be here with you,” musician Ted Leo posted on Bluesky.