A BUNGLING Health Minister today could not answer which changing rooms a trans person should use.
Confused Karin Smyth also struggled to determine whether trans people should be in hospitals.
It comes a day after the Supreme ruled that trans women are NOT women.
In a landmark judgement it was unanimously determined that “sex is binary” and female-only spaces must be protected on the basis of biology.
Asked about the ruling's impact on previous NHS guidance, which stated trans people should be accommodated according to their legally recognised gender, Ms Smyth told the BBC: “If I remember, the guidance you're alluding to is an appendix to some previous guidance, and one of the issues, as I said earlier, that we are already looking at with the NHS is how they make sure that trans people are treated with privacy and dignity.
“But the ruling is very clear that sex means biological sex, and… the NHS will obviously be complying with that as every other public body will.”
Quizzed separately on whether trans women should use female , Ms Smyth told Times Radio: “Look I think we need to make sure that in this discussion we are following both the law so that is clear for women and for service providers and you know…this varies upon what the provision of those service providers are.
“Large organisations, smaller organisations, many smaller organisations.”
After multiple attempts at answering what the ruling means for the NHS, Ms Smyth told LBC: “If people do go to hospital, if they are on a ward, should be in a single sex space.”
Britain's equality watchdog is rushing to rewrite its rulebook after the court ruling shook up the law on sex and gender.
The Equalities and Commission (EHRC) says it’ll urgently update its guidance — as ministers face mounting pressure to spell out what the verdict means for , hospitals and workplaces.
Baroness Falkner, who chairs the EHRC, said the impact of the ruling “cannot be overstated”; and vowed a rapid of the watchdog’s advice to reflect the fresh legal clarity.
Following yesterday's judgement, a top legal expert declared places reserved for women must shut out all blokes — including trans women.
Naomi Cunningham, barrister and chair of campaign group Sex Matters, said: “It is now clear that in any situation in which it is lawful to operate a single-sex or separate-sex service for women, it is not merely lawful but compulsory to exclude all men.
“And ‘men’ for these purposes includes trans women, whether or not they hold gender recognition certificates (GRCs).
“The same is true in reverse of single-sex or separate-sex services for men.”;
Bev Jackson, co-founder of LGB Alliance, said the decision wipes out “any semblance”; of doubt about whether males can join women’s spaces.
She said: “The legal definition of ‘woman’ is clear now. This means that any club, association or other group of any size — for example, a lesbian social club — can now legally operate on a single-sex basis.”;
In an 88-page ruling Supreme Court judges Lord Hodge, Lady Rose and Lady Simler found that “the definition of sex in the Equality Act 2010 makes clear that the concept of sex is binary, a person is either a woman or a man.”
Lord Hodge stated it was the unanimous decision of the court that “the definition of the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex”;.
The top judge added that the Act still offers protection from discrimination for trans people.
The debate over trans rights and women’s spaces has been intensifying for years, with key legal challenges and public figures sparking a nationwide challenge against extremist woke views on gender.
But the issue exploded in 2020 when national treasureslammed the growing trend of replacing “biological sex”; with “gender identity,”; sparking outrage from the trans lobby.
Ms Rowling’s defiant stance – declaring that “sex is real”; – triggered death threats, but also turned her into the figurehead for the “gender-critical” movement.
Then came Kathleen Stock, a philosophy professor at Sussex University, who said that men can’t just declare themselves women, only to be bullied into quitting her job in 2021 by woke-mob protestors.
Ms Stock’s forced exit ignited fury, as many argued that and women’s rights were under attack, with feminists rallying behind her to defend the right to speak out on sex-based issues.
In 2019, tax expert Maya Forstater was axed from her job after tweeting that sex is biological, but in 2021, she won a huge victory when antribunal ruled her views were protected by free speech.
Ms Forstater’s win turned the spotlight on the debate, making her one of the most prominent voices in the fight for a clearer distinction between sex and gender.
In 2022 the next major showdown was launched when a women’s refused to admit a trans woman to a female-only refuge, claiming it was necessary to protect vulnerable women.
The charity argued that admitting trans women posed a risk to women’s safety, especially for those who had survived male violence, sparking massive protests and legal battles.
The case hit the Supreme Court in 2023, where the judges ruled that, in some cases, it’s perfectly legal to exclude trans women from women’s spaces to protect biological women.
The ruling sent shockwaves through the trans rights movement, with gender critics calling it a win for common sense.
Meanwhile, controversy surrounding trans women in female prisons hit a boiling point in 2022 when , sparking outrage across the country.
Bryson, born Adam Graham, was convicted of raping two women before transitioning, but his placement in a female prison raised concerns that convicted male criminals could exploit gender identity laws to gain access to women’s spaces.
The Scottish government’s decision to house Bryson in a women’s prison was met with fierce backlash, with critics warning it set a dangerous precedent for protecting women behind bars.
In response to the outcry, Scotland’s Justice Minister was forced to reverse the decision and place Bryson in a male facility, highlighting the tensions between gender identity policies and safeguarding vulnerable women.
The case of Bryson is just one of several incidents that have brought the issue of trans women in women’s prisons to the forefront and paved the way for the FWS legal challenge.
