UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has suggested that transgender people who do not wish to use toilets corresponding to their biological sex should instead use disabled facilities, following a recent Supreme Court ruling.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Badenoch said this would be a practical and cost-effective solution for businesses, avoiding the need to build separate gender-neutral toilets. Her comments came after the Supreme Court clarified that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act refer to biological sex, not gender identity.
Badenoch argued the issue was being overcomplicated and noted that most workplaces and public venues already have unisex disabled toilets that could serve as an alternative for transgender individuals.
“Almost all businesses I see have disabled loos. They are unisex, different from gender neutral. Trans people can use those,” she said. “If you are providing a single-sex space, it has to be a single-sex space.”
She emphasized that the debate had been driven not by trans people themselves but by concerns about men exploiting inclusive policies to access women’s spaces. She also pointed out that toilet guidance was issued by the government two years ago, though it was initially met with ridicule.
Separately, senior Labour minister Pat McFadden confirmed that transgender public sector workers would be expected to use facilities matching their biological sex, in line with new guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). However, he clarified that there would be no formal enforcement, saying, “there isn’t going to be toilet police.”
The Supreme Court’s Easter ruling has had broad implications. It reasserted that “woman” in the Equality Act refers to biological women, prompting the EHRC to issue updated guidance.
Schools, for instance, must now provide separate changing facilities for boys and girls over the age of eight, while making alternative arrangements for transgender pupils where necessary. However, trans girls cannot use girls’ facilities, and trans boys cannot use boys’ ones.
The EHRC also clarified that sports clubs with 25 or more members may lawfully restrict membership to biological women or men. This means that, for example, a lesbian women’s sports club may legally exclude trans women. A detailed code of practice based on the ruling is expected to be submitted to the Government by June.
