The UK Supreme Court today ruled unanimously that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex.
The decision, in an 88-page judgment, came following a lengthy legal case between the Scottish government and the women’s rights group, For Women Scotland, regarding equalities legislation,reports bbc.com.
Judge Lord Hodge said the decision was not “a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another.”
However the court ruled the Equality Act 2010 would be “incoherent and impracticable” if the “certificated sex” view – letting a person with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) be classed as that gender – took hold.
The ruling said that “the concept of sex is binary, a person is either a woman or a man.”
There was an outpouring of emotion following the verdict, as women’s rights campaigners celebrated.
For Women Scotland said the judges had said what they always believed to be the case, that women are protected by their biological sex.
The UK government stated that the decision provides clarity for hospitals, refuges and sports clubs.
Charity Scottish Trans asked trans people “not to panic” about the news.
