Author: Translucent Team

The EHRC and the Commons Women and Equalities Select Committee on 9th June 2026 By Robin Moira White Introduction I attended the entire above session via video. The Chair of the EHRC, Mary-Ann Stephenson and its CEO, John Kirkpatrick, were examined by the Committee. It is clear that the effect of the FWS judgment, viewed through the lens of the draft code produced by the EHRC, is segregation and exclusion of trans people in the UK, not integration and inclusion. The guidance in the code has been widely criticised as unhelpful and unworkable, and the whole sorry situation has led…

Translucent Response to the EHRC Draft Code of Practice (2026) The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) Draft Code of Practice has been published. While presented as a technical update to reflect the Supreme Court’s judgment in For Women Scotland (FWS), our detailed legal analysis reveals that the Commission has exceeded its mandate, introducing technical errors, internal inconsistencies, and significant legal omissions that will harm trans people and mislead service providers. Unlawful Conditions on Protected Status The Draft Code attempts to rewrite the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010) by stealth.  Paragraph 2.46 introduces extra-statutory requirements for “permanence” and “consistency of…

Petition on restoring trans rights The publication of the Draft Code on Services and Associations on Thursday, 21 May 2026, has brought into sharp focus how the Supreme Court judgment in ‘For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers’ of April 2025 has interfered with the rights of trans people in the UK. Rebecca Bennett (not a member of the TransLucent team) has created a petition (ending on 19th December 2026) with over 18,500 signatories. https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/770527 Her request reads as follows: I want the House of Commons to disapprove of the Equality Act 2010: Draft Code of Practice for services, public functions…

Trans Rights Petition To Government We can confirm that an application to call for a debate to reverse the Supreme Court Judgment (FWS v SGM) has been made to the Government’s Petitions Office. The petition also calls for the Government to restore the full effect of the Equality Act 2010 and the Gender Recognition Act 2004 before the judgment was handed down, and to reject the recently published EHRC Draft Code of Practice. We are currently awaiting approval from the Petitions Office. Should the petition be approved, we will share it widely. Please be ready to encourage all those who…

TransLucent letter to Olivia Bailey MP Olivia Bailey MP Sanctuary Buildings Great Smith Street London By email only. 15th May 2026 Dear Minister for Equaities – LGBT Re: The United Kingdom’s Continued and Accelerating Decline in the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Map and Index We write to you on behalf of the trans community across the United Kingdom to express our profound concern regarding this country’s continuing and accelerating decline in the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Map and Index – an internationally recognised annual benchmarking tool that scores 49 European countries on legal and policy protections for LGBTI people. The facts are deeply concerning…

TransLucent Steps Up to Safeguard Trans Inclusion at Hampstead Heath The anti-trans group Sex Matters is once again taking legal action in an attempt to exclude trans women from the Hampstead Heath Ladies’ Pond. Their challenge aims to force the City of London Corporation to abandon its inclusive policy, risking a harmful precedent for trans rights nationwide. TransLucent is planning to apply to intervening in this case to ensure trans voices are heard and our community’s rights are vigorously protected. Our Legal Stand We have instructed our legal team at Leigh Day to prepare a formal intervention. Sex Matters bases…

Dance of Identity – Can you support? Summary Currently awaiting post-production, Dance of Identity is an intimate documentary chronicling the life of Sophie, a transgender woman from Yorkshire, and her partner, Sandi. Watch Trailer on YouTube – Click HERE.  Dance of Identity – Can you support? Dance of Identity follows the life of Sophie, a transgender woman from Yorkshire, and her partner, Sandi. Filmed over a transformative six-year period, the movie explores Sophie’s quest for a “normal” family life and her determination to perform female ballet roles—all while navigating the physical and emotional journey toward gender-affirming surgery. However, Sophie’s personal…

The Horrifying Consequences of the FWS v SGM Supreme Court Judgment   On 16 April 2025, the Supreme Court ruled that “sex”, “woman” and “man” in the Equality Act 2010 mean biological sex as recorded at birth, not a person’s acquired sex under a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC). The Court accepted that the Gender Recognition Act 2004 changes a person’s legal sex “for all purposes”, but then carved out the Equality Act by insisting that its protections and exceptions are in many situations tied only to biological sex – the exception being if a trans woman is “perceived” to be a…

A Response to Losing Focus by MurrayBlackburnMackenzie OPINION: TransLucent — April 2026 MurrayBlackburnMackenzie (MBM) has published a report, Losing Focus: Women’s Charities and the UK Supreme Court Ruling, which purports to offer legal and policy analysis of the position of women’s charities following the Supreme Court’s judgment in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers. TransLucent welcomes rigorous legal debate on these issues. However, we are concerned that Losing Focus presents a highly selective and, at times, potentially misleading account of the law, and that its recommendations, if followed uncritically, could cause serious harm to transgender women who rely…