In April 2025, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the categories of ‘sex’ and ‘women’ as protected under the Equality Act 2010 refer exclusively to biological sex assigned at birth
Rolling back hard-won legal protections, the UK Supreme Court’s ruling now means that all trans folks, even those with a Gender Recognition Certificate, are no longer protected by the equality rights pertaining to their lived gender. This also permits their automatic exclusion from single-sex spaces.
Whilst the Supreme Court judge Lord Hodge stressed that the law still protects against trans discrimination, this ruling will undoubtedly be used to justify an increase in overt transphobia – particularly transmisogynistic violence – exacerbating an epidemic already rife in the nation known as “TERF Island.”
The case was brought to the Supreme Court by For Women Scotland, a key group in the “gender-critical” or trans-exclusive radical feminist (TERF) movement who claim to “work to protect and strengthen women and children’s rights”. This rhetoric is the ultimate doctrine of TERF-ism and, arguably, it is nowhere more powerful than in the UK. A particular strain of hate spearheaded by the likes of J. K. Rowling, who herself donated £70,000 to For Women Scotland’s campaign, TERF-ism masquerades it’s pointed and coordinated attack on trans people’s freedoms in terms of female empowerment and protection.
Crucially, the Supreme Court heard from no trans voices during the trial. Scottish trans organizations reportedly felt too at risk of bad press and threats of violence to apply to intervene and the two trans advocates that did so were refused by the court. However, from the gender-critical side, the court accepted fresh, untested evidence.
So whilst For Women Scotland members were photographed on the steps of the Supreme Court callously celebrating and popping champagne, trans communities in the UK have been left to feel dehumanized and question their safety in public.
A further blow came when the Equality and Human Rights Commission released an interim update stating that whilst trans people are banned from using toilets and other services of their lived gender, they may also be legally excluded from services for their birth-sex and must instead use mixed-sex facilities, effectively calling for their segregation.
The backlash was immediate and powerful. Over 20,000 people protested in London a few days later and an open-letter to the court has been signed by over 400 actors and industry figures. The Good Law Project, a political non-profit, is also challenging the Supreme Court on the basis that the ruling breaches the UK’s obligation to human rights precedents set by the European Court of Human Rights.
How does this compare to the state of trans-inclusivity and legal protection in Canada?
Elsewhere in the world, even amid transphobic political climates, dominant feminist movements seem clued-in to the power that comes with trans-inclusive coalition and solidarity. Fortunately, Canada appears to be in on this too.
Speaking with Fae Johnstone, executive director of 2SLGBTQIA+ advocacy group Queer Momentum, she explained “trans-inclusion is not a question-mark in Canada’s feminist movement, it is a foregone conclusion. We recognize that patriarchy impacts women, be them cis or trans, and impacts gender minorities of all kinds”.
After all, what good has biological essentialism ever done for feminism?
Even more shameful in the UK case is the support that For Women Scotland’s campaign received from the LGB Alliance, Scottish Lesbians and The Lesbian Project. Little explanation is needed as to why it is nonsensical for members of the queer community to help drive a moral panic against trans people, when the exact same rhetoric has historically been mobilized against themselves. Yet again, it seems Canada is safe from such organizations, with the queer community on the whole being vehemently trans-inclusive.
Whilst Canada may not be at risk of Rowling-esque hate crusades or Gays Against Groomers, anti-trans rhetoric in Canada exists within anti-freedom and religious far-right groups.
Jay Lannon is a member of Lawyers Against Transphobia, an ad hoc group of lawyers and justice workers that arose in opposition to a wave of transphobic movements in recent years, such as the “1 Million March 4 Children” in Fall 2023. Lannon explains how “it’s much less a protect-the-women narrative than protect-the-children” that anti-trans groups in Canada depend upon.
This has been the case for the most recent legal changes to trans rights in Canada happening in Saskatchewan and Alberta. Firstly, to clarify: the Human Rights Code of Canada was changed in 2017 to protect against discrimination on the basis of “gender identity” and “gender expression” and all human rights law is enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The only way to override a particular segment of the Charter is to invoke a notwithstanding clause which is meant to be scarcely used in rare circumstances where there is genuine concern about government overreach.
Yet this did not stop Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe in August 2023, when he invoked the notwithstanding clause to forward his ‘Parent’s Bill of Rights’. This policy requires that all youth under 16 need parental consent to use their chosen name and pronouns at school, effectively outing youth to potentially dangerous home environments. Despite the court issuing an injunction on the basis that the policy could pose irreparable harm by denying children the expression of their gender identity, Moe doubled-down and used the notwithstanding clause to override charter-protected rights.
Then in 2024, Alberta’s premier Danielle Smith chimed in, introducing some of the harshest anti-trans legislation in Canada. Bills 26 and 27, passed by a United Conservative Party majority in December 2024, not only echo Moe’s requirement of parental permission for name and pronoun change in schools, but also severely restrict the provision of gender affirming healthcare.
As Lannon stressed, anyone who works with youth understands that the real case for “protecting the children” involves granting children the freedom to explore, play and thrive in a supportive environment. It seems that, like in the UK, the fight for better rights for women and children is being co-opted to target the trans minority.
“Underneath the anti-trans agenda, is the effort to remove checks and balances on government overreach on the lives of private citizens, and the effort to push a certain way of being regardless of opposition, of risk and danger,” said Johnstone.
In broader strokes, gender identity and expression are protected by the majority of provincial governments. Most recently, Manitoba is looking to add gender expression to their human rights code, being one of the last provinces to explicitly do so. Although with police-reported hate-motivated violence towards queer and trans people increasing by 69 per cent in 2023, there is still much to do.
So, what are the chances of a UK Supreme Court ruling situation happening in Canada? According to Lannon, technically, the Canadian Supreme Court could define the basis of “biological sex” as trans-exclusive. However, due to the court’s incredibly strong history of protecting equity rights, this is unlikely. What is more plausible is further passing of legislative measures by provincial governments, pressured by anti-trans movements – as we have seen in Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Considering the fresh election results, the chances of transphobic rhetoric infiltrating federal politics have been lessened. Still, Lannon reminded us that what is most concerning remains the overriding of charter equality rights by provincial governments.
“Our job now, under a Liberal government, is to start pushing for more proactive protections, we can’t just leave it up to broad equality protections any more,” Lannon said.
To those reading and thinking of how to react, Lannon had a final statement: “These governments and these groups want you to think this is just about the rights of trans kids, but it’s about all our equality rights. So if you’re having trouble getting motivated about those of trans kids, get motivated about your own, because they are one in the same.”