The U.K. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a woman is someone born biologically female, excluding transgender people from the legal definition in a long-running dispute between a feminist group and the Scottish government.
Several women's groups that supported the appeal celebrated outside court and hailed it as a major victory in their effort to protect spaces designated for women.
“Everyone knows what sex is and you can’t change it,” said Susan Smith, co-director of For Women Scotland, which brought the case. “It’s common sense, basic common sense and the fact that we have been down a rabbit hole where people have tried to deny science and to deny reality and hopefully this will now see us back to reality.”
Five judges ruled unanimously that the UK Equality Act means trans women can be excluded from some groups and single-sex spaces, such as changing rooms, homeless shelters, swimming areas and medical or counseling services provided only to women.
The ruling means that a transgender person with a certificate that recognises them as female should not be considered a woman for equality purposes.
The ruling brings some clarity in the UK to a contentious issue that has polarised politics in some other countries, particularly the US Republican-controlled states over the last four years have been banning gender-affirming care for minors, barring transgender women and girls from sports competitions that align with their gender and restricting which public bathrooms transgender people can use.
Since returning to office in January, President Donald Trump has signed orders to define the sexes as only male and female and has tried to kick transgender service members out of the military, block federal spending on gender-affirming care for those under 19 and block their sports participation nationally. His efforts are being challenged in court.
Justice Patrick Hodge said the British ruling “does not remove protection from trans people", who are still protected from discrimination under UK law.
The case stems from a 2018 law passed by the Scottish Parliament saying 50% of the membership of the boards of Scottish public bodies should be women. Transgender women with gender recognition certificates were to be included in meeting the quota.
“Interpreting ‘sex’ as certificated sex would cut across the definitions of ‘man’ and ‘woman’ ... and, thus, the protected characteristic of sex in an incoherent way,” Hodge said. “It would create heterogeneous groupings.”
The campaign group Scottish Trans said it was “shocked and disappointed” by the ruling, saying it would undermine legal protections for transgender people enshrined in the 2004 Gender Recognition Act.
Maggie Chapman, a Green Party lawmaker in the Scottish Parliament, said the ruling was “deeply concerning” for human rights and "a huge blow to some of the most marginalised people in our society".
“Trans people have been cynically targeted and demonised by politicians and large parts of the media for far too long,” she said. “This has contributed to attacks on longstanding rights and attempts to erase their existence altogether.”
Groups that had challenged the Scottish government uncorked a bottle of champagne outside the court and sang, “women’s rights are human rights".
“The court has given us the right answer: the protected characteristic of sex – male and female – refers to reality, not to paperwork," said Maya Forstater of the group Sex Matters. In 2022, an employment tribunal ruled that she had been the victim of discrimination when she lost out on a job after posting gender-critical views online.
The British government welcomed the ruling, saying it would provide clarity and confidence for women.
“Single-sex spaces are protected in law and will always be protected by this government,” it said.
Scotland’s semi-autonomous government said it accepted the judgment.
“We will now engage on the implications of the ruling,” First Minister John Swinney posted on X. “Protecting the rights of all will underpin our actions.”
For Women Scotland had argued that the Scottish officials' redefinition of woman went beyond Parliament’s powers. But Scottish officials then issued new guidance stating that the definition of woman included someone with a gender recognition certificate.
FWS successfully sought to overturn that.
“Not tying the definition of sex to its ordinary meaning means that public boards could conceivably comprise of 50% men and 50% men with certificates, yet still lawfully meet the targets for female representation,” the group’s director Trina Budge said previously.
The challenge was rejected by a court in 2022, but the group was granted permission last year to take its case to the Supreme Court.
Aidan O’Neill, a lawyer for FWS, told the Supreme Court judges – three men and two women – that under the Equality Act “sex” should refer to biological sex as understood “in ordinary, everyday language".
“Our position is your sex, whether you are a man or a woman or a girl or a boy, is determined from conception in utero, even before one’s birth, by one’s body,” he said. “It is an expression of one’s bodily reality. It is an immutable biological state.”
The women’s rights group counted among its supporters author J.K. Rowling, who reportedly donated tens of thousands of pounds to back its work. The “Harry Potter” writer has been vocal in arguing that the rights for trans women should not come at the expense of those who are born biologically female.
Rowling said she was “so proud” of the “extraordinary, tenacious” For Women Scotland campaigners who took the case on a years-long battle through the courts.
Rowling wrote on X that “in winning, they’ve protected the rights of women and girls across the UK.”
Opponents, including Amnesty International, said excluding transgender people from sex discrimination protections conflicted with human rights laws.
Amnesty submitted a brief in court saying it was concerned about the deterioration of the rights for trans people in the UK and abroad.
“A blanket policy of barring trans women from single-sex services is not a proportionate means to achieve a legitimate aim,” the human rights group said.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
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Hungary amends constitution, bans public LGBTQ+ gatherings
April 14 (UPI) -- Hungary's parliament amended its constitution Monday to ban public LGBTQ+ gatherings, as it declared children's rights to "moral, physical and spiritual development supersede any right other than the right to life."
The amendment, which required a two-thirds vote, passed by a vote of 140 to 21 along party lines.
"Hungary's National Assembly has passed the 15th amendment to the Fundamental Law," announced government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs in a post on X.
It is a "constitutional safeguard against ideological influences that they argue threaten the well-being of children, particularly in the context of events like Pride parades," he added. "The sweeping changes prioritize children's rights."
While the new amendment alleges LGBTQ+ pride marches are harmful to children, critics call it another step toward authoritarianism.
"This whole endeavor which we see launched by the government, it has nothing to do with children's rights," said Dániel Döbrentey, a lawyer with the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, who called it "pure propaganda."
"It's not just about pride, it's about any assembly that is organized by the opposition," Momentum MP David Beto told the BBC. "This is only the first step they're taking in this one year campaign, and we are going to see many more laws enacted and passed in parliament that is very much against any democracy or any rule of law."
The amendment, which comes after a law was passed last month to ban LGBTQ+ pride marches, will allow the Hungarian government to temporarily suspend the citizenship of any dual nationals who are determined to be a threat to the country's security. It also mandates two genders.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has been in office since 2010, praised the legislation after declaring last month, "We won't let woke ideology endanger our kids."
How can woke ideology endanger kids? It celebrates fleshly desires as opposed to godly desires that God specifically commands us to develop. It opens the door to practicing sin and closes the door to practicing Christianity. Wokeness is an attack on the Christian church. LGBTQ+ was practiced in Sodom and Gomorrah - see if you can find those two cities today.
"Hungary's constitutional amendment is now law," Orban wrote Monday in a post on X.
"We're protecting children's development, affirming that a person is born either male or female and standing firm against drugs and foreign interference," he said.
"In Hungary, common sense matters."
Idaho will require schools to teach fetal development, show ultrasound video to students
Idaho's Republican Gov. Brad Little has signed a law requiring schools to teach about fetal development, a move proponents believe will enable children in the state to learn that life begins at conception.
Little signed Senate Bill 1046 into law last week, following its approval by the Republican-controlled Idaho Senate in a 27-8 vote on Feb. 27 and the Republican-controlled Idaho House of Representatives in a 63-6 vote on March 18.
The votes fell mainly along party lines, with most Republicans supporting the measure and most opposition coming from Democrats. Three Democrats in the Idaho House joined Republicans in supporting the legislation, while two Senate Republicans joined Democrats in opposing it.
Beginning with the 2025-2026 school year, Senate Bill 1046 declares that each school district serving students in grades five through 12 "shall include instruction on human growth and development" in the curriculum.
The "human growth and development" lessons must include "A high-definition ultrasound video, at least three (3) minutes in duration, showing the development of the brain, heart, sex organs, and other vital organs in early fetal development."
The other requirement for the new curriculum involves the presentation of "a high-quality, computer-generated rendering or animation showing the process of fertilization and every stage of human development inside the uterus, noting significant markers in cell growth and organ development for every week of pregnancy until birth."
The curriculum must be included in any course "that discusses or provides instruction concerning human biology, discusses or provides instruction concerning contraception, or discusses or provides instruction concerning sexually transmitted diseases or sexually transmitted infections."
Lila Rose, pro-life activist and founder of the advocacy group Live Action, said in a statement that the "study of human development is a fundamental aspect of science education."
"I am thrilled that with the passage and signing of SB1046, students in the great state of Idaho will gain a deeper understanding of the incredible process of how human life begins," she said.
"This is a significant step toward equipping Idaho's students with accurate, necessary, and scientifically accurate information regarding human life in the womb," Rose added. "Idaho is now one of the pioneering states to ensure state-of-the-art education explaining and illustrating human development, like Live Action's Baby Olivia video, is included in state education standards. Through vivid, life-like animation, students can now witness the beauty and reality of life in the womb from the moment of fertilization."
Critics of the bill have argued that it could limit what teachers can include in their instruction on the topic. The Idaho Freedom Foundation contends, however, that "harmful myths" are being advanced by Democrats that human life does not begin at conception as a justification for more expansive legalized abortion.
Idaho joins North Dakota and Tennessee as the states that require education on fetal development.
"Every American student deserves access to the truth about when life begins and how it develops," Rose said. "These truths inform minds and foster a culture that respects human life at every stage of development."
The "Baby Olivia" video, shared by Rose in an X post published as Tennessee implemented a similar law to Idaho's Senate Bill 1046 last year, shows unborn babies at various stages of development as part of an effort to make the point that life begins at fertilization.
Identifying conception as "the moment that life begins," the narrator asserts that "At fertilization, her gender, ethnicity, hair color, eye color and countless traits are already determined."
The video also details how the baby "begins to implant in the uterus about one week after fertilization."
"Her cells organize into what we call an embryo. At three weeks and one day, just 22 days after fertilization, Olivia's heartbeat can be detected," the video continues. "The buds of her arms and legs appear by four weeks. She begins to move between five and six weeks, with both spontaneous and reflexive movements. At six weeks from fertilization, her brain activity can be recorded and bone formation begins."
Additional development milestones highlighted in the video include the emergence of fingers and toes as well as the ability to hiccup at around seven-and-a-half weeks gestation, the ability to suck her thumb, swallow, grasp an object, touch her face, sigh and stretch nine weeks into the pregnancy, the maturation of taste buds by week 12, the ability to sense her mother's movements 14-18 weeks into the pregnancy and the development of speaking movements in her voice box at 18 weeks gestation.
Insisting that "babies have survived outside the womb" as early as about 20 weeks into pregnancy, the video notes that "at 27 weeks, her eyes are responding to light, she can recognize her parents' voices and will even recognize lullabies and stories." The video concludes by labeling childbirth as the end point of Olivia's nine-month "journey."
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