The much anticipated ruling centred on whether a trans woman with a gender recognition certificate (GRC), a formal document giving legal recognition of someone's new gender, is protected from discrimination as a woman under Britain's Equality Act.
“The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms 'women' and 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex,“ Deputy President of the Supreme Court Patrick Hodge said.
Transgender rights have become a highly political issue in Britain and other parts of the world. Some critics say the conservative right has weaponised identity politics to attack minority groups, while others argue that liberal support for transgender people has infringed on the rights of biological women.
Scottish guidance
The guidance said a trans woman with a gender recognition certificate was legally a woman. FWS, which was backed by lesbian rights groups, lost its case in the Scottish courts, but the Supreme Court ruled in its favour.
Britain's Labour government said the Supreme Court's decision would bring clarity for hospitals, refuges and sports clubs.
In an example of the ruling's potential impact, a Scottish health organisation that is being sued by a nurse it suspended over her response to a trans woman using a female changing room said it had noted the judgment.
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who has been vocally gender critical, was among those who welcomed the decision.
The Supreme Court said trans people - whether trans women or men - would not be disadvantaged by its decision as the Equality Act afforded them protection against discrimination or harassment.
“Today is a challenging day, and we are deeply concerned at the widespread, harmful implications of today’s Supreme Court ruling,“ a consortium of LGBT+ organisations, including prominent group Stonewall, said in a statement.
Trans woman and campaigner Ellie Gomersall said it was “another attack on the rights of trans people to live our lives in peace”.
Phillip Pepper, employment partner at law firm Shakespeare Martineau, said the court's decision could “create further division and increase tensions” in the short term.
“However, it will offer long-term clarity for businesses which have been left to interpret ambiguous, contradictory legislation on their own until this point, potentially landing in hot water as a result,“ he said.
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