‘State wants to kill us’: UK court ruling leaves trans people in fear, says campaigner: Video
A landmark ruling by the UK’s Supreme Court redefining the legal meaning of “woman” as based on biological sex has sparked outrage, fear, and despair among trans communities across the country.
The court's judgment clarified that under the Equality Act, "sex" refers to biological sex, not gender identity. This means that spaces and services designated as women-only can legally exclude trans women, even if they hold a Gender Recognition Certificate, if they were not born female.
"It really does feel as though the state wants to kill us," said Helen Belcher, a prominent trans rights campaigner and chair of the advocacy group TransActual.
Speaking to the AFP following the court’s decision, Belcher said the ruling represents a fundamental denial of trans people's identities and lived realities.
Belcher, 61, who is also a Liberal Democrat politician, said the implications of the ruling are already being felt within the trans community.
"I fear for people's mental health. I fear for people's physical health. I fear for people's ability to earn money. They've issued a ruling that sex is biological, but they haven't defined what biological means,” said Belcher
Belcher warned and reasoned that the judgment leans on a rigid and outdated framework, dismissing scientific literature that recognises sex and gender as complex spectrums.
“They're relying very much on a Trumpian, evangelical Christian simplistic world model,” Belcher said, “ignoring all huge amounts of scientific literature, which says that sex is not binary, it's not simple, it's really complex. In their judgment, they have decided basically that intersex people and non-binary people don't exist. And it's awful."
Belcher, who transitioned more than 20 years ago, described the ruling as a deeply personal blow.
“To go through that process - sometimes painful process - of getting to understand myself, having invasive medical questioning, some painful surgeries, to then be told, ‘Yeah, but you're still a man,’ is deliberately and intentionally cruel.”
The ruling has brought back the already polarised national debate over trans rights. However, the Supreme Court justices emphasised that trans people remain protected under the Equality Act against discrimination and harassment.
