cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/32225244

The UK's EHRC recently opened a public review period for their new Code of Practice for following the Equality Act of 2010.

Despite previous claims that this judgement does not reduce trans rights, its new Code of Practice tells a different story.

I spent 8 hours reading through the entire Code of Practice, analysing it and writing up my feedback. Like all the trans people who organized a Mass Lobby over this, I also concluded that this new guidance was horrific. See Trans Solidarity Alliance's guidance on this situation.

Amongst many other dangerous and belittling statements about "biological sex" and how trans people should use services that align with their sex at birth stated throughout the entire thing, it clearly states in Section 13.3.19 that single sex services cannot lawfully include trans people of a matching gender. Asserting that this would amount to discrimination against cis people of the opposite sex.

Picture this: You're a trans person that has suffered domestic abuse. You seek a support group to help you. You find a women's support group friendly to trans women. A gender critical finds out about this, and asks a cis male friend to threaten to sue the support group for discrimination. The support group is forced to make a difficult decision: become trans-exclusionary, leaving you with no support or go to court on the matter.

This EHRC views the complaint by the cis man, here as completely lawful and in following with the Equality Act, an act meant to protect minorities, and urges organizations to not include trans people because of it.

It bases its entire guidance on the idea that trans people are not their acquired gender, and it's ok to pry into and treat them as their birth sex.