How Many Complaints About Trans Women Using Toilets?

How Many Complaints About Trans Women Using Toilets?

New 2025 FOI Data Reveals!

In the summer of 2025 (and for a second year), we sent fifty Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to some of the largest local authorities in England, asking how many complaints they had about a trans woman using toilets or changing rooms under their control. Our FOIs covered the whole year ending 31/12/24 – all but three local authorities replied. We sent multiple requests to those three asking to respond, but sadly, they failed. In consequence, we will make representations to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in complaint. 

Of those who did, nine said they had no information, clearly indicating they didn’t perceive any issues and wouldn’t bother collecting data. However, thirty-eight did, and they included some of the largest cities in the UK, including Birmingham (pop 1,183,618), Leeds (845,189) and Manchester (589,670). The total population of the responding local authorities exceeded 16.5 million people.

How Many Complaints About Trans Women Using Toilets?

In total, 36 local authorities reported having no complaints, while two reported receiving one complaint each, providing details on their FOI responses. The 36 local authorites were: BCP (Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole), Birmingham, , Buckinghamshire, Central Bedfordshire, Cheshire East, Cheshire West & Chester, Cornwall, County Durham, Doncaster, Dudley, East Riding of Yorkshire, Hillingdon, Kirklees, Lambeth, Leeds, Leicester, Lewisham, Liverpool, Manchester, North Yorkshire, Newcastle, Newham, Northumberland, Nottingham, Redbridge, Richmond, , Shropshire, Somerset, South Gloustershire, Southwark, Stockport, Tower Hamlets, Wakefield, Wandsworth, Wigan, and Wiltshire County Council. 

The nine who didn’t collect data on how many complaints about trans women using toilets were: Bradford, Brent, Bristol, Croydon, Dorset, North Northants, Sandwell, West Northants, and the Wirral. The local authorities, which reported ONE complaint each, were Bradford (a complaint about policy, rather than about an individual – for full details refer to the PDF response below) and Sheffield, where the complainant “perceived” the person was transgender. Given that many cisgender butch lesbians are often confused with trans women, that could have been the case.

It’s a matter of speculation how many public toilets and changing rooms (often located in sports centres and swimming pools) local authorities control. However, across the UK, Toilets Map.Org indicates there are over 11,000.

Since the Supreme Court judgment (FWS v SGM), the right-wing media, gender-critical activists, along with some transphobic politicians, not to mention our supposed human rights organisation (EHRC), who are charged with promoting equality and inclusion but fails dismally, have been talking about the toilet issue incessantly.

Yet the data don’t match the hype and hysteria.

At TransLucent, we have a strict policy of “truth, clarity and justice” – our mission is not to erode womens rights but to seek inclusion and acceptance of trans people in society. For many years, we have advocated for toilets for all – women, men, gender-neutral, and for those who need accessible toilets. Sadly, the trans hostile gender-critical movement does not agree, seeking to marginalise still further an already marginalised community that suffers discrimination on numerous levels.

Our investigation in relation to how many complaints about trans women using toilets replicates the previous investigation, when ONE complaint was made.

Writing about toilets and changing rooms can be very draining, as can trans women be cared for in NHS hospital wards, where over the past years we have undertaken four different investigations covering three years, three months. In those investigations, we have found only one complaint about a trans woman. PDFs of the NHS responses to the last investigation are available by searching the relevant page on our website. 

In response to our latest investigation, our CEO, Steph Richards, said:

In the UK today, some 69,000 women report rape every year, and only just over 2% see satisfaction in court. One in four women suffers domestic abuse in their lifetime, but nothing gets done about it, and about 70,000 women every year get sacked purely because they are pregnant and get no redress.

These issues and many others, specifically healthcare ones, affect women very badly, but most media outlets seek to propagate a culture war against the trans community and ignore the issues that matter to women, preferring to write and talk about trans women and toilets.

Our data proves that in reality, the “trans issue” is a non-issue – people have far more critical issues in their lives than where trans people pee. 

I would like to thank our team, and in particular Rachel, for putting this investigation together. I know it’s a huge amount of work”. 

In total, TransLucent have now undertaken six investigations regarding single sex spaces (aka womens toilets, changing rooms and NHS womens hospital wards) and published the results of 382 FOI requests, revealing just four complaints in total (one being about policy rather than a trans woman specifically). 

How much longer will trans women have to endure this victimisation?

That, we do not know.

How Many Complaints About Trans Women Using Toilets – well, TWO in a full year – one of which was a policy complaint.