Equality body changes advice on transgender rights

 (Photo: Pexels/Sharon McCutcheon)

The equality watchdog has agreed to change advice relating to transgender rights after being challenged by a campaign group.  

Ann Sinnott, director of the Authentic Equity Alliance, said that the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) had issued mistaken advice to public bodies and businesses on trans access to single-sex spaces like toilets, The Times reports.

Her lawyers argued that the advice was a misinterpretation of equalities law. 

Commenting on her campaign, Sinnott said it was about striking an "appropriate balance" between trans rights and women's rights. 

The commission confirmed in writing to campaigners earlier in the summer that it would remove a sentence from its guidance. 

The contentious sentence reads: "Where someone has a gender-recognition certificate they should be treated in their acquired gender for all purposes and therefore should not be excluded from single-sex services."

The Times reports that the alliance wanted the EHRC to go further by publicly declaring that the previous advice had been incorrect in the eyes of the law, and taking steps to inform employers and training companies of this. 

A spokesman for the commission told the paper: "We have received the pre-action letter and will be responding in due course."

 

News
Rwanda’s president on the defensive over church closures
Rwanda’s president on the defensive over church closures

Rwandan President Paul Kagame defended the government's forced closure of Evangelical churches, accusing them of being a “den of bandits” led by deceptive relics of colonialism. 

We are the story still being written
We are the story still being written

The story of Christ continues in the lives of those who take up His calling.

Christians harassed, attacked all over India at Christmas
Christians harassed, attacked all over India at Christmas

International Christian Concern reported more than 80 incidents in India, some of them violent, over Christmas.

Christian killings in Nigeria could double in 2026 if extremist threat is not dealt with - report
Christian killings in Nigeria could double in 2026 if extremist threat is not dealt with - report

Already more Christians are killed for their faith in Nigeria than all other countries combined.