"A year of chaos and harm": Alex Parmar‑Yee, director of the Trans+ Solidarity Alliance, marks one year anniversary of anti-trans Supreme Court ruling

A leading trans equality campaigner has warned that the past year has been marked by “chaos and harm” for trans people, as campaigners marked the first anniversary of a controversial Supreme Court judgment on the definition of “woman”.

Alex Parmar‑Yee, director of the Trans+ Solidarity Alliance, said the ruling had led to widespread confusion and exclusion, after the Supreme Court’s judgment in the FWS case last year and following new changes announced this week to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) code of practice.

Speaking on the anniversary of the judgment, Parmar‑Yee said trans people had been excluded from “everyday aspects of life that most people take for granted”, including access to basic facilities, social groups and workplaces.

“This has been a year of chaos and harm,” she said. “We have also seen organisations that want to include us left at the mercy of anti‑trans lawfare.”

“We need action from Labour to protect trans people, defend inclusive organisations and respect human rights."

The Supreme Court’s ruling, handed down a year ago this week, has prompted ongoing debate over how the Equality Act 2010 should be interpreted in relation to trans people, particularly around access to single‑sex spaces.

More than 650 organisations and dozens of MPs have raised concerns about the practical impact of the ruling, saying it has created confusion for employers and service providers. Women’s and LGBTQ+ organisations have also warned that attempts to force trans exclusion through legal action risk undermining inclusive spaces, and in some cases have led to the closure of community groups altogether.

Parmar‑Yee said any guidance changes introduced by the government would need to go much further to resolve what she described as the “mess this ruling has created”.

“For trans people to be meaningfully protected by equality laws, they must protect our ability to live our lives as ourselves as Parliament intended,” she said. “Any changes to guidance from this government will need to be more than trivial tweaks to make a difference.”

She urged the Labour government to act decisively, saying failure to do so would see further erosion of legal protections and continued harm to trans people.

“We need action from Labour to protect trans people, defend inclusive organisations and respect human rights - or we will see yet more years of legal protections being undermined and trans people harmed,” she said.

International human rights bodies have raised concerns that the direction of UK policy on trans inclusion may be incompatible with international human rights frameworks. Meanwhile, reports from advocacy groups have documented an increase in discrimination against trans people and others who do not conform to gender stereotypes in public spaces and the workplace since the ruling.

Trans+ Solidarity Alliance is a non‑profit organisation campaigning for trans equality in the UK.