May 21, 2025
LONDON (AP) — The U.K. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a woman is someone born biologically female, excluding biological males claiming to be transgender from the legal definition in a long-running dispute between a feminist group and the Scottish government.
Several women's groups that supported the appeal celebrated outside court and hailed it as a major victory in their effort to protect spaces designated for women.
“Everyone knows what sex is and you can’t change it,” said Susan Smith, co-director of For Women Scotland, which brought the case. “It’s common sense, basic common sense, and the fact that we have been down a rabbit hole where people have tried to deny science and to deny reality, and hopefully this will now see us back to reality.”
The ruling brings some clarity in the U.K. to a contentious issue that has also roiled politics in other parts of the world as women, parents, LGBTQ+ groups, lawmakers, and athletes have debated gender identity rights.
Five judges ruled unanimously that the U.K. Equality Act means biological males can be excluded from some groups and single-sex spaces, such as changing rooms, homeless shelters, swimming areas, and medical or counseling services provided only to women.
The ruling means that a biological male with a certificate that recognizes them as female should not be considered a woman for equality purposes.
But Justice Patrick Hodge said its ruling “does not remove protection from trans people,” who are “protected from discrimination on the ground of gender reassignment.”
The case stems from a 2018 law passed by the Scottish Parliament stating there should be a 50% female representation on the boards of Scottish public bodies. Transgender women with gender recognition certificates were to be included in meeting the quota.
“Interpreting ‘sex’ as certificated sex would cut across the definitions of ‘man’ and ‘woman’ ... and, thus, the protected characteristic of sex in an incoherent way,” Hodge said. “It would create heterogeneous groupings.”
The British government welcomed the ruling, saying it would provide clarity and confidence for women.
“Single-sex spaces are protected in law and will always be protected by this government,” it said.
Scotland’s semi-autonomous government said it accepted the judgment.
“We will now engage on the implications of the ruling,” First Minister John Swinney posted on X. “Protecting the rights of all will underpin our actions.”
For Women Scotland had argued that the Scottish officials' redefinition of woman went beyond Parliament’s powers. But Scottish officials then issued new guidance stating that the definition of woman included someone with a gender recognition certificate.
FWS successfully sought to overturn that.
“Not tying the definition of sex to its ordinary meaning means that public boards could conceivably comprise of 50% men and 50% men with certificates, yet still lawfully meet the targets for female representation,” the group’s director Trina Budge said previously.
The challenge was rejected by a court in 2022, but the group was granted permission last year to take its case to the Supreme Court.
Aidan O’Neill, a lawyer for FWS, told the Supreme Court judges — three men and two women — that under the Equality Act, “sex” should refer to biological sex as understood “in ordinary, everyday language.”
“Our position is your sex, whether you are a man or a woman or a girl or a boy, is determined from conception in utero, even before one’s birth, by one’s body,” he said. “It is an expression of one’s bodily reality. It is an immutable biological state.”
The women’s rights group counted among its supporters author J.K. Rowling, who reportedly donated tens of thousands of pounds to back its work. The “Harry Potter” writer has been vocal in arguing that the rights of trans women should not come at the expense of those who are born biologically female.
