UK Leaked Guidance Allows Questioning Trans People in Facilities

A U.K. commission submits a 300-page guidance allowing facilities to question transgender women about single-sex space access based on appearance. Essential protection for women's spaces, or discriminatory policing based on harmful stereotypes?

Published 11 hours ago

UK Leaked Guidance Allows Questioning Trans People in Facilities

story

Above: Women's groups protest in London, U.K., on Nov. 1, 2025. Image credit: Mark Kerrison/Getty Images

The Spin

Right narrative

This guidance finally provides at least some protection for women's spaces by allowing facilities to question individuals based on appearance and behavior. Without it, predators have gotten away with horrible crimes, such as in Scotland, where ministers ignored clear warnings about allowing men in women's prisons, leading to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawsuits.

GB News The Telegraph

Left narrative

This discriminatory guidance is not only transphobic but misogynistic, allowing discrimination against both trans people and, simply by virtue of how they look, cisgender women. The proposals would turn staff into bathroom police, harassing anyone who doesn't conform to narrow femininity standards and denying basic dignity to transgender people seeking essential services.

The Pinknews The Independent

Cynical narrative

This issue was doomed from the start, as no policy could possibly conform to the polar opposite ideals of either side. Under orders from the Supreme Court, which understandably ruled that appearance can be more important than biology in public settings, the EHRC did its best to thread a very controversial needle. Until the government takes a strong stance either way, which still won't make everyone happy, this legal debate will go on forever.

Spectator (UK)