Summary
A Message From Our Founder - Steph Richards. TransLucent's planned litigation schedule, where the money goes when you donate.
A Message From Our Founder – Steph Richards
Six years ago, I founded TransLucent – this post doesn’t look back; it looks forward to our litigation in the courts and specifically applying for:
1) A Judicial Review against the EHRC Code of Practice
2) An intervention application re the Hampstead Heath Ponds
3) And possibly the Sandi Peggie EAT appeal.
To be clear, I never founded TransLucent to be a leader in trans litigation; we got here simply because we got asked!
TransLucent has a strong position for legal “standing” – in short, as a trans advocacy organisation, we have “skin in the game”
Not having standing, in legal jargon, is described in court as “busy bodies,” a term aimed at Sex Matters by the City of London counsel at the High Court in the first of their cases in relation to Hampstead Heath Ponds and yes, the TransLucent team were there that day, including Robin Moira White, Prof Stephen Whittle OBE, Dr Debora Diamond and myself.
Sadly, since we were first asked to intervene in a trans litigation, we have refused several other approaches by lawyers and other stakeholders – this always comes down to the lack of funds.
Another asset (besides that of “standing”) is that TransLucent can boast our incredible FOI data harvested over five years, showing there are virtually no problems with trans women using single sex spaces in hospitals, local authority-controlled toilets and changing rooms.
Courts like data, especialy FOI data which cant be disproven – unlike pseudoscience medical reports and anecdotal gender-critical comments in their legal statements like “Jayne said his penis was showing through his bikini bottoms”
So where does the money go?
If you follow Prof Stephen Whittle OBE, TransLucents Joint-CEO on LinkedIn and Facebook, you will have noted he is a sticker for transparency. The cost so far in the EHRC Judicial Review case?
As of the 27th July, 2026, £12,192.80, and as we are in the final stages before we can file, costs will obviously increase. See the official “update” on the Crowdjustice web page – in total we may need to raise up to £100,000, but are in a good position to achieve that. So far you have donated over £41,000
Talking of Crowdjustice, they send your donations directly to our solicitors; TransLucent never sees a penny even after (hopefully) winning our legal cases and getting costs. Any monies retained must always be used in further legal cases that benefit the trans community or given to charities. We opt to support trans legal cases.
GoFundMe, the organisation we use to fight for trans inclusion at Hampstead Heath Ponds, works slightly differently; we do receive those donations, but one benefit of using it is that their commission charges are slightly lower than Crowdjustice.
Still, all monies raised go directly to the TransLucent Legal Fund, which currently supports the costs involved in challenging Sex Matters in relation to the Hampstead Heath Ponds.
I hope this post answers some questions our supporters may have had, and that, going forward, trans people and allies will continue to support TransLucent and donate either on an ad hoc basis, via Crowdjustice, or GoFundMe or more regularly by standing order, which can be arranged by emailing contact@translucent.org.uk
By donating directly to TransLucent, there are no third-party commission charges and every single penny goes towards advocating for the trans and gender diverse community …and absolutely nothing else.
Thank you for your support.
Steph
