Thousands of demonstrators of Trans rights gathered on the Place du Parliament in London on Saturday, a few days after the United Kingdom Supreme Court ruled that a woman is a person born biologically female, thus excluding transgender women from the legal definition.
With a discomfort that develops on what the decision means for the rights of transgender persons, the demonstrators met for an “emergency demonstration”, with activists waving pedés and holding banners with slogans such as “trans women are women” and “trans rights”.
“This is a terrifying moment for your rights to have removed you,” said the 19 -year -old transgender woman Sophie Gibbs. “I have been disappointed to think that we could live in a society that seems so progressive now but which is willing to make such a dangerous and harmful decision.”
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has ruled on the terms “woman” and “sex” in the 2010 equality law “refer to a biological woman and to biological sex” in a long-awaited judgment which was rendered on Wednesday. The decision essentially means that trans women who hold certificates of gender recognition are not considered women in the eyes of the law.
The Trans community fears that the historic decision to undermine its rights and to be a catalyst for new judgments which erode the progress made in recent years.
The highest court in the United Kingdom said that transgender persons remain protected against discrimination.
“This is a Pandora box situation where I just think we allow certain things, then we have essentially opened the door to authorize much more than we never think they are accepted or pushed,” said Zuleha Oshodi, 29.
The head of the Human Equality and Rights Committee said that the decision would mean that transgender women will be excluded from the women's toilets, hospital services and sports teams.
Scottish Prime Minister John Swinney said on Saturday that he “understood” the people of the “wounded and anxious” felt the verdict, while accepting that the decision must be followed.
In the latest census, some 116,000 people identified as Trans in Great Britain. About 8,500 gender recognition certificates were issued.
The Supreme Court's decision came from a 2018 law adopted by the Scottish Parliament which required at least 50% of women to the board of directors of Scottish public organizations. Transgender women with gender recognition certificates were to be included in the quota meeting.
The judgment was celebrated by groups, notably for Women Scotland, a group of genus criticism supported by JK Rowling, who says that the security of women is threatened by the authorization of transgender women in unique spaces.
