Britain's prime minister Boris Johnson has said “biological males” should not compete in women’s sports, while women should have access to single-sex spaces in places such as hospitals and prisons.
Mr Johnson said it seems to him to be “sensible” that people assigned male at birth should not be able to participate in women’s sporting events.
And, in what appeared to be a nod to controversial guidance issued by the UK's equalities watchdog earlier this week, he said that women should have spaces in hospitals, prisons and changing rooms which are “dedicated to women”.
During a visit to a hospital in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, he said: “I don’t think that biological males should be competing in female sporting events. And maybe that’s a controversial thing… but it just seems to me to be sensible.
“And I also happen to think that women should have spaces, whether it’s in hospitals or prisons or changing rooms or wherever, which are dedicated to women.
“That’s as far as my thinking has developed on this issue. If that puts me in conflict with some others, then we have got to work it all out.
“That doesn’t mean that I’m not immensely sympathetic to people who want to change gender, to transition.
“It’s vital that we give people the maximum possible love and support in making those decisions.
“But these are complex issues and I don’t think they can be solved with one swift, easy piece of legislation. It takes a lot of thought to get this right.”
Conversion therapy ban
Mr Johnson made the comments after being asked about the decision not to include transgender people in the UK government’s proposed ban on conversion therapy.
The government has faced fierce criticism over a series of U-turns last week on the promised legislation and whether transgender people would be protected by it.
His remarks also come on the heels of guidance from the equalities watchdog on single-sex spaces and circumstances where it said transgender people can be excluded by service providers.
We have published a new practical guide to the law for providers of single-sex spaces 📄
This will help service providers to make lawful decisions about any services they offer to women and men separately.
Read more: https://t.co/F1Wf1DmtrR— EHRC (@EHRC) April 4, 2022
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The UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said on Monday that organisations such as refuges and gyms can legally exclude transgender people from single-sex services in certain scenarios, such as to prevent trauma and enable privacy.
Organisations must balance the impact on all service users and demonstrate “a sufficiently good reason”, it added.
This could be to enable privacy or decency, to prevent trauma, or to ensure health and safety.
It gave hypothetical examples of how the Equality Act could be followed, such as a leisure centre choosing to exclude trans women from female-only fitness classes “because of the degree of physical contact involved”, or a gym introducing self-contained gender-neutral changing facilities if there are concerns about the safety of trans men in communal changing rooms.
It is the first time guidance on this issue has been set out, and follows pleas for clarity from the UK Commons Women and Equalities Committee and service providers.
But LGBT+ charity Stonewall said the guidance is likely to cause more confusion and a greater risk of illegal discrimination.
The British prime minister’s comments also follow the case of transgender cyclist Emily Bridges, who said she has been “harassed and demonised” after being prevented from racing in a women’s event.
The 21-year-old had been due to race against the likes of Laura Kenny at the National Omnium Championships in Derby last weekend, her first race in the female category, but a few days earlier British Cycling announced that world governing body the UCI had ruled her ineligible.
It is understood that, although British Cycling accepted that she had met the requirements – current transgender regulations require riders to have had testosterone levels below five nanomoles per litre for a 12-month period prior to competition – the UCI has not yet granted her a switch in licence.
In a statement on social media, she wrote: “No-one should have to choose between being who they are and participating in the sport they love.”
