Liberal Democrats reject EHRC guidance on transgender protections
The party’s Brighton conference backed revised guidance and a cross-party review of legal protections for transgender people.
The Liberal Democrats have rejected Equality and Human Rights Commission guidance on implementing the Supreme Court’s ruling that a woman’s legal definition is based on biological sex.
Delegates overwhelmingly backed the motion at the party’s annual conference in Brighton, calling the EHRC guidance “discriminatory and unworkable”. The motion says the code places an undue burden on service providers.
The guidance, issued in May, sets out how organisations should balance transgender rights with requirements for some spaces to remain single-sex. Critics argue it could exclude transgender people from some toilets and changing rooms where gender-neutral facilities are unavailable.
The conference motion calls for revised EHRC guidance and a dedicated cross-party parliamentary committee to examine how the law should better protect transgender people’s rights.
The proposal faced opposition from some conference speakers, who argued the party should accept last year’s Supreme Court ruling and focus on electoral priorities. It nevertheless passed easily on a show of hands.
Party leader Ed Davey broadly supported the motion earlier in the day, describing the EHRC guidance as “not fit for purpose”. The conference decision is a Liberal Democrat position and does not itself change the law or the commission’s rules.
