Thousands flood London streets in protest march against Supreme Court gender ruling
"We stood strong in the face of our oppressive government and the ever harsher police force," a Trans Kids Deserve Better spokesperson told Attitude
Tens of thousands gathered in central London today (19 April) to protest the UK Supreme Court decision on Wednesday 16 April that the word ‘woman’ in UK law refers to ‘biological women’. By 2pm, Parliament Square in London was overflowing with LGBTQIA+ protestors that spilled into the square’s surrounding traffic lanes, as the protest travelled along Victoria Street, past the Department of Health and Social Care, before reaching the Department of Work and Pensions and ending in St James Park.
The atmosphere was defiant, as people from the LGBTQIA+ community chanted for trans rights and called out public figures like JK Rowling and Health secretary Wes Streeting for their trans-exclusive views. Slogans on banners included ‘Fuck the Cis-tem’, ‘Kindness is Universal’ ‘Protect Trans Lives’ and even ‘What a sad little life, Joanne’ – a reference recently used in an op ed by Attitude.
A spokesperson from Trans Kids Deserve Better told Attitude: “Today we pooled together 10 times more people than we expected to show up. We stood strong in the face of our oppressive government and the ever harsher police force. Our community held together and we showed that we can be united – unions, grassroots trans organisations, and many other groups came together to say ‘fuck you’ to transphobia and the Supreme Court ruling.”
Estimates by organisers put the protest attendance at above 20,000 people – an impressive amount since the protest was organised in just 48 hours after the UK Supreme Court announced its ruling.
Severe erosion of trans rights under new ruling
The controversial decision by the highest court in the UK means that a trans woman could be denied access to women’s spaces such as toilets and changing rooms, and NHS services such as hospital wards. It also means that trans women will now be searched by male police officers.
The ruling comes at the end of a long legal battle that began in 2018 when the women’s group For Women Scotland brought a case against the Scottish government for including trans women in its gender quotas for public sector boards.
The Scottish government argued that anyone with a gender recognition certificate should enjoy same-sex protections, while For Women Scotland argued these protections should extend only to people assigned female at birth – an argument which was supported by a number of Scottish courts before For Women Scotland brought an appeal to the Supreme Court.
In spite of Lord Hodge’s words regarding today’s ruling not being seen as a “triumph”, a number of For Women Scotland activists were seen celebrating and drinking champagne outside of the court once it had adjourned.
Lord Hodge also noted that trans people have separate protections under the Equality Act, but that to interpret the words “woman” and “sex” as being based on what sex a person is “certificated” with rather than biologically born with would weaken the rights of biological women.